NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. 
A Cheap and Portable “Turntray.”—In the “social” use 
of the microscope, there is, aS every microscopist well 
knows, a great amount of discomfort in having continually to 
be shifting one’s seat, which is alike troublesome and fatiguing 
to one’s friends as to one’s self, but this is of minor impor- 
tance compared with the unfitting the eye for observing, and 
which, with a binocular, is a far more serious drawback than 
with the single tube, so that some contrivance to obviate this 
has become almost a necessity. The revolving table is 
certainly capable of rendering this changing unnecessary, 
but the table is not only not without its inconveniences, but 
it has also the more objectionable item of cost to prevent its 
coming into general use. Nor does it appear that any 
efficient substitute for it has yet been brought into favour. 
What is required is a tray capable of holding one full-sized 
instrument together, its lamp and condenser so arranged 
that it may be passed from the observer to a friend sitting by 
his side, or to a party of four or five or more in succession. The 
indispensable essentials for it to possess are, first, efficiency ; 
that is, sufficient solidity and steadiness to prevent vibration, 
and to move freely without friction or noise ; next, cheapness ; 
then comes portability; and last, but not least, it must 
possess a certain amount of “good looks” to ensure its 
admission to the drawing-room. These desiderata I have 
succeeded in combining in what I have styled a “ turntray,” 
and which has delighted all who have seen it. 
It consists of a stout rectangular board, twenty-three 
inches long and thirteen and a half inches wide, working on 
a pivot at one end, and on two revolving runners at the 
other, and being thus supported on three points, it is always 
steady in any position. The ends are strengthened by two 
other inch-thick crop pieces, which are also raised for the 
working parts so as to bring the surface upon which the 
instrument stands as near to the table as possible, leaving 
the lower side only just free from touching it. Being under 
