208 THE MICROSCOPE. 
good illustration of these formigerous plants is Myrmecodia, an 
epiphytic genus of Rubiace, and others are found scattered through | 
the orders Myristicaceee, Euphorbiacez, Verbenacexe, Melastomacez, 
and Palme. 
Dr.Beccari explains the phenomenon on the basis of variability 
and heredity. When a seed of Myrmecodia falls on the branch of a 
tree and germinates, a small swelling makes its appearance on the 
tigellum, serving the purpose of a reservoir of water for the plant 
during the dry season, but never attaining any great development 
without the intervention of ants. When these visit it for the sake 
of food, they .cause a hypertrophy of the cellular tissue similar to 
that of galls; and this individual peculiarity is transmitted to the 
descendants until it becomes fixed by heredity. These phenomena 
occur in many species of Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum.—Jour 
Royal Mic. Soe. 
INVESTIGATION WITH THE Microscopr.—Under the above title 
Dr. H. G. Gabel presents an interesting and instructive paper (Chi- 
cago Med. Times.),—in which he calls the attention of the profession 
to the great service which the microscope is rendering in the field 
of medicine. He also offers several pleasant bits of advice and 
practical suggestions. 
“ Before attempting any original investigation, ” he says, “ the op- 
erator should instruct himself in every part of microscopic work and 
should examine the same object in many different ways, and under 
different conditions. The experience thus gained will be of the 
greatest importance to him in special investigation, his eye and 
mental faculty will be subjected to careful training, which alone 
will render success possible and avoid the most unfortunate mis- 
takes. The microscope affords the most refined and elevated kind 
of pleasure by the exhibition of objects of extreme beauty and in- 
terest,—as the display of some objects under polarized light, and 
the brilliant scales of some insects when viewed as opaque objects 
by means of a good condenser, surpass anything known to us in 
our daily experience. There is not a mote that dances in the sun- 
beam, nor a particle of dust that we tread beneath our feet, but con- 
tains mines of knowledge yet unworked. The microscope is the 
key that unlocks a world of wonders and beauty before invisible, 
which, one who has once gazed upon it can never forget and never 
cease to admire. Butas an instrument of research the microscope 
