NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 95 



figured and described by Mr. Sorby, are also numerous in the silica. 

 Along with the confused broken materials which they contain are 

 also minute black specks. The form of these stone cavities is often 

 very irregular and ill-defined. Occasionally perfect spheres occur, 

 which may be assumed to be gas cavities. They are, however, rare. 



NOTES AND MEMOKANDA. 



Elections of Naturalists to the French Academy. — At the meet- 

 ing of the Paris Academy of Sciences, on the 7th ultimo, three 

 elections to the section of Anatomy and Zoology took place. The 

 places to be filled were those of M. Agassiz, elected a Foreign 

 Associate, and MM. Pictet and Pouchet, deceased. In the first case, 

 M. Steenstrup obtained 38 votes and Mr. Darwin 6 ; in the second, 

 Mr. Dana obtained 35 and Mr. Darwin 12 ; in the third. Dr. Car- 

 penter obtained 35, Mr. Darwin 12, and Mr. Huxley 1 vote. Messrs. 

 Steenstrup, Dana, and CariJenter were therefore declared duly elected. 

 The treatment of Messrs. Darwin and Huxley is well understood, and 

 must be appreciated by their supporters. 



A New Form of Microscope. — At one of the meetings of the 

 Microscopical Society of Illinois, Dr. Adams read a letter from Pro- 

 fessor Sanborn, of Boston, Massachusetts, on a new form of microscope, 

 to be used for the examination of parts of the observer's own face. 

 The instrument consists of an ordinary microscope tube bent twice at 

 right angles, forming thereby a body and two arms. Inside the tube 

 at the angles are affixed prisms or mirrors. The objective being ad- 

 justed in one arm and the eye-piece in the other, the light traversing 

 the axis of the objective is reflected by the mirror or prism in the first 

 angle and thrown on the mirror in the other angle, whence it jmsses 

 through the eye-piece. The instrmnent is held in position by a clamp 

 fixed to the middle of the body, and firmly screwed to a table or rest. 

 The observer assumes the reclining position, and, adjusting the eye to 

 the eye-piece, brings the objective to bear on the part of the face 

 under examination. Sunlight is used for illumination, and the objec- 

 tives are, of course, low. It is the purpose of the Professor to study 

 in this way the pathological processes involved in vesication, &c. 

 Anyone possessing a microscope can, at slight expense in procuring a 

 tube and mirrors, avail himself of this means of study, by using his 

 own objectives and oculars. 



Mounting with Balsam. — In ' Science Gossip ' for June, a corre- 

 spondent, Mr. C. L. Jackson, thinks that Mr. F. Kitton (a distinguished 

 authority) is quite wrong in saying the most important condition in 

 mounting with .balsam is to keep the balsam free from chloroform. 

 Until he began to use chloroform very freely in the different processes 

 of mounting with balsam, he could make very little j^rogress. Mr. 

 Kitten's plan he found very troublesome, and to result in many 

 failm'es. His own plan is to mix chloroform with the balsam until it 



