WATER, WATER ANALYSIS, AND THE MICROSCOPE. 309 
and it is sometimes necessary to take some out carefully, disturbing 
the general arrangement as little as possible. 
May I append to this an expression of my hearty desire that in- 
stead of the hap-hazard way in which suitable ponds for the 
preservation and growth of microscopic life are allowed to exist, 
efforts should be made to get those worthy of consideration pro- 
tected, and influence used to establish new ones in places where 
they would cost nothing more than a trifling first outlay, and would 
prove centres of attraction to the microscopist, botanist, and others. 
How often have I heard it regretted that those famous preserves in 
Sutton Park known to many as “‘ Webb’s Stews,” should have been 
so ruthlessly and needlessly destroyed, and yet these things could 
probably be replaced in the same grounds at a very trifling cost 
compared with the pleasure they would yield. 
Even to those who do not pay any special attention to micros- 
copic life, I can strongly commend a garden pond, provided that 
art is used only as far as necessary for furnishing a perfectly water- 
tight basin, and that the rest is made as natural and wild as may be, 
for, besides the plants, the creatures of large size, as frogs, toads, 
water-tortoises, newts, snails, and insects afford so much interest to 
every lover of nature that the garden pond becomes a never-failing 
source of pleasure. 
WALER WATER ANALYSIS, AND SEE 
MICROSCOPE. 
ne 
NE of the most popular subjects in connection with microscopy, 
and one which has always been well received by mixed 
audiencies, has been the exhibition upon the screen by means of 
the oxyhydrogen microscope of the organisms found in water. 
We have often feared that the zeal of the exhibitor has on many 
occasions outrun his discretion, and in his anxiety to produce 
something remarkable for his listeners has led them to believe 
that all waters abound with organisms as curious in their structure, 
and as various in form as those he has pleasure in exhibiting to 
them. ‘This is not the case however. One may get many dips 
from a river, canal, or pond without meeting with any living 
creature ; but it is more than probable that some inhabitants of 
the waters may be met with, though not in the quantities some 
would have us believe. 
The water supply taken from our service pipes is popularly 
supposed to be teeming with organisms of a kind capable of 
