and Laboratory Methods. 1595 



siphon breaks, when the bath fills again and empties as before, and so on until 

 washing is completed. A glass candy tray, a trifle over nme inches long and 

 wide enough to hold two slides side by side, is recommended for decolorizing 

 the specimens. Small strips of glass are cemented in the ends of the tray so 

 that when the slides are placed in it specimen side down, just sufficient space 

 remains for the required amount of decolorizer. After decolorizing, the speci- 

 mens may again be washed in the bath, after which they are ready for examina- 

 tion. — Jour. Bost. Soc. Med. Sd., 5 : 8. 



A Device for Paraffin Embedding. — This device consists of a printer's 



composing stick, six inches long and 

 two and one-fourth inches wide. It has 

 an adjustable slide, fastened by a thumb 

 set-screw, and set at a distance of four 

 inches from one end, giving a space 

 four inches long and two and one-half inches wide. This space may be divided 

 by nonpareil slugs and quads into compartments of any desired size, to hold the 

 blocks of material. When the tissue is ready for embedding, a small amount of 

 melted paraffin is poured into the compartment, the tissue properly arranged 

 therein, and the compartment filled with paraffin. The stick is then cooled on 

 ice or in cold water, so that it requires only a few minutes to accomplish the 

 \vork. — Am. Med. 1:1. 



RiNGiNc; Slides. — Many amateurs are unable to finish well made mounts 

 with neatly made rings of cement. This is often caused through using the cement 

 too thick. Professional mounters have two bottles, one containing the cement, 

 the other the solvent — generally turpentine or methylated spirits. The brush is 

 first dipped in the solvent, then in the cement, and a thin coat is deposited on 

 the slide as it is rotated on the turn-table. Some build up the ring at once, 

 others allow the first layer to dry and then complete the process. Each time a 

 fresh brushful of cement is taken, it should be preceded by a dip in the solvent. 

 The cement can then be deposited with cleanness and regularity. — Kno^vledgc, 

 24: 186. 



The annual meeting of the American Society of Naturalists and Affiliated 

 Societies will be held at Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday of Convocation 

 Week, that is, December 31st and January 1st. The discussion before the 

 naturalists will be on Wednesday afterpoon, and the annual dinner, at which the 

 president. Prof. Wm. T. Sedgewick, will give the address, will take place in the 

 evening. The subject selected for the discussion is " The Relations of the 

 American Society of Naturalists to Other Scientific Societies." — Science., 14 : 356. 



A new science building, to cost $300,000, is being constructed at Colorado 

 College. 



