THE MICROSCOPE. 6 3 



MICROSCOPY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. 



BY C. H. STOWELL. 



IT is the intention of this article to give the readers of The 

 Microscope something of an idea of the nature and extent of 

 the microscopical work in this University. I shall not attempt to 

 give a history of this branch of study only to state that when a 

 medical student here in 1872 there was but one microscope in the 

 department, and not half a dozen in the whole University. At the 

 present time any student in the University can avail himself of the 

 following work in microscopy: 



Normal Human Histology. — This course consists of thirty 

 lectures in the amphitheatre on the use of the micro- 

 scope and on histology. Classes of twenty are formed for 

 laboratory work. There are five of these classes at work every 

 week, each class meeting on a given day. Thus the student gets 

 one lesson a week, from 1:30 to 5 p. m. Each afternoon lesson 

 is preceded by a qi^iz and by a description of the work for 

 the day. These classes continue for fifteen weeks, when other 

 classes are formed. The first two lessons are preliminary ones. 

 The student is taught the manipulation of the instrument, use 

 of accessories, etc. Then follows the study, of such subjects as 

 blood, ^epithelium, bone, tooth, cartilage, elastic tissue, muscle, kid- 

 ney, stomach, liver, intestine, brain, spinal cord, and various miscel- 

 laneous subjects, as the oesophagus, tongue, skin, etc. The students 

 are given instruction in mounting so that each specimen is preserved 

 as it is studied. The average number of mounts per student is about 

 twenty. Each student is required to have at least twelve mounts, 

 and some ambitious ones mount as high as fifty or sixty. Over 

 six thousand mounts are carried away, each year, by students in 

 this department. The object of the course is, first, to make the 

 student better acquainted with the structure of tissues, and second, 

 that he may become familiar enough with the microscope and its 

 manipulations to work to advantage without the aid of an instructor. 



Vegetable Histology. — The first course consists of work in struc- 

 tural botany for a term of twenty weeks. Lectures are given on all 

 subjects studied in the laboratory, in about the following order: 

 First, preliminary work with the microscope, how to manipulate it, 

 how to use accessories, etc. Special attention is given to the correct 



