THE MICROSCOPE. 83 



when instructions will be given in the various microscopical manipu- 

 lations, in drawing with the camera lucida, in urinary analysis, in 

 section cutting, double staining, mounting, finishing of slides, photo- 

 micrography, detection of adulterations, etc. A number of Zent- 

 mayer's microscopes have been procured for the purpose, and all 

 necessary arrangements have been made to make the instruction as 

 practical as possible. 



On this subject, concerning the use of the microscope in the 

 examination of drugs, we have received a communication from Mr. 

 H. M. Wilder, which we publish in full. 



"Professor P. D. Penhallow (Cambridge) has written a small 

 guide for the use of beginners in vegetable histology, consisting of 

 a series of tables giving the action of reagents upon cell-contents, 

 cellulose forms, and plant products, and preceded by short para- 

 graphs upon the special uses of the different reagents and the be- 

 havior of vegetable products. This book, or rather pamphlet, of 

 forty pages, has been published in first-class style, by S. E. Cassino, 

 Boston, (printed on heavy paper 9^ inches by six inches, with a very 

 generous margin (i| inches and 2 inches), has nine blank leaves, 

 and is exceedingly well bound; in view of the "getting up" the price 

 of one dollar is not too much. This is, however, only a rudimentary 

 guide,suitable for beginners. The most complete work on the subject 

 is "Botanisk Mikrokemi," by V. A. Poulsen, Copenhagen 1882, 8vo. 

 (Danish), which has since been translated into German, and, as I 

 see from late French journals, also into French. It treats of all the 

 reagents which up to date have been proposed, 46 pages, then of 

 the behavior of the different plant products, 22 pages, and is pre- 

 ceded by an exhaustive list of over one hundred books, pamphlets 

 and articles bearing on the subject." 



"This reminds me that as yet, we have not a single hand-book 

 or treatise on practical microscopy as applied to the requirements of 

 pharmacy, neither in the English, French nor German languages. 

 All that we possess is a short pamphlet of 34 pages, by Prof. Mark 

 W. Harrington, Ann Arbor, on the identification and microscopical 

 examination of crude drugs, etc.; and a series of very thorough 

 articles on the microscopical examination of single drugs, by Hy. 

 Pocklington, which appeared in the London Pharmaceutical Journal 

 and Transactions, for 1872, '73 and '74. What we want is a manual 

 of microscopical manipulation, not a mere outline (such we have), 



