2396 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



The teachers are urged to start their pupils collecting along some one or 

 more of the lines for which provision to identify the material has been made, 

 the object being to get the pupils started before the close of the school year, so 

 that they will continue the work during the summer, and have, when school 

 begins again in the fall, a large stock of material ready for study, identification, 

 classification and exhibition in the school museum. The Committee, however, 

 does not recommend the collecting of bird skins, bird eggs or birds' nests on 

 account of the destruction of the birds, which would thereby be encouraged. 

 This is a beginning from which, doubtless, many other lines of work will 

 develop, and we shall be glad to keep our readers in touch with the results 

 accomplished by the Academy along these lines. In nearly every state there is 

 a body of enthusiastic workers meeting together annually, presenting the results 

 of their labors, results which would be invaluable not only to those who attend 

 the meetings and hear the papers read, and to those who read the papers through 

 the medium of the printed Proceedings, but to the entire body of science teachers 

 of that state. Would it not be of even greater importance to see that these 

 results are placed in the hands of science teachers in such a form as to be 

 available by them for every day work, than to place them in the hands of those 

 who now ordinarily receive them ? 



The Journal will be pleased to hear from other states as to what is being 

 done in this line, and to offer its services, as far as practical, for the dissemina- 

 tion of this information. 



[ NEWS AND NOTES. J 



A New Test for AlbuiMin. — This new and simple test is based upon the 

 following facts : (1) Albumin is coagulated by carbolic acid ; (2) Equal volumes 

 of non-albuminous urine and a mixture, composed of equal parts of carbolic acid 

 and glycerin, form an emulsion which clears up entirely upon agitation, leaving 

 a perfectly transparent and highly refractive liquid ; (3) Equal volumes of al- 

 buminous urine and the above mentioned carbol-glycerin solution, when mixed 

 together, produce a white turbidity, which remains, in spite of agitation, and 

 does not precipitate on standing, nor redissolve. 



The test is very sensitive, distinctly showing the presence of 0.1 per cent, of 

 albumin in the urine, the degree of turbidity being proportionate to the per- 

 centage of albumin contained in the urine. 



The method of applying the test is very simple, and requires as little or less 

 time than the other reliable tests for albumin, and, as the carbol-glycerin solu- 

 tion is a non-irritating mixture, it is much to be preferred to the disagreeable 

 nitric acid. 



The solution consists of carbolic acid and glycerin, equal parts. Glycerin is 

 added to prevent the formation of a permanent emulsion between the carbolic 

 acid and the watery element of the urine, and is added in excess so that no 

 possible error can occur from this cause. 



Test. — '1 c. c. of carbol-glycerin solution are poured into a small test tube, 

 and 2 c. c. of the filtered urine are added. Mix thoroughly with a glass rod, or 

 agitate. If a clear, transparent liquid results, there is no albumin present ; but 

 if the slightest turbidity is noticeable, the urine is albuminous. — Med. Rec. 



