66 THE MICROSCOPE. 



scribing the limitations to be set to the researches of a professor in 

 the University. 



" The committee have held seven formal meetings, and have had 

 numerous individual interviews with each other and with those in- 

 terested in the use of microscopes. They have had a separate and 

 special consultation with each instructor having microscopes 

 in charge, and have obtained written statements embodying desir- 

 able statistics, and the views of the several instructors respecting 

 the proper demands of their respective chairs, and the most prac- 

 ticable method of uniting all the operations and all the interests in 

 a single scheme. We have been met by a spirit of accommoda- 

 tion and even of self-sacrifice which deserves the expression of our 

 thanks. 



" *We find a total of 104 microscopes belonging to the Univer- 

 sity and employed in different branches of instruction. 



" The total cost of these microscopes and the accessories used 

 with them is about $5,252. Omitting the first-class Grurrow micro- 

 scope purchased in 1S56 for $500, including a complete outfit of 

 accessories, and an old Powell and Leland valued at $150, and also 

 an old inverted microscope set down at $50, the purchases made in 

 recent times, that is, since 1872, amount to about $4,568. The 

 present value of all these instruments and accessories may be put 

 at $4,618. The deterioration of microscopes and their accessories, 

 when properly used and protected, is not rapid, except when the 

 brass-work is unavoidably exposed to corrosive fumes, as in the 

 investigations in a chemical laboratory. 



'• Your committee have considered the practicability of concen- 

 trating into one central laboratory all the microscopic instruction 

 and investigation undertaken in the University. A moment's con- 

 sideration, however, suffices to show that this cannot be done in an 

 absolute sense; though we shall recommend an approximation to it. 

 There is a large demand for the use of microscopes in immediate 

 connection with the materials to be investigated, and which are 

 and must remain somewhat scittered. The microscopes in the 

 chemical laboratory, for instance, are brought into requisition in 

 connection with the reactions of manipulatory chemistry, and often 

 in the progress of a manipulation. The instruments must be 

 momentarily accessible to the roo n for chemical operations. In 



* 



This number has been increased by twelve giving a grand total of 1 10 Ed. 



