1896 THE MICROSCOPE. 153 



lie may as well be a blind microscopist. What is true 

 of normal vision is preeminently true of aided vision, 

 which aid the microscopist, but it produces changes also 

 in the relative conditions of objects, and of such changes 

 the mind must take cognizance ; it is an element too 

 often overlooked. In short, the revelations of the mi- 

 croscope becomes the alphabet and the systematic ar- 

 rangement of these revelations in the human mind forms 

 its language, a language that requires study to compre- 

 hend ; a language also that needs mucli further devlop- 

 ment and amplification. Physicians, as a rule, can be 

 novices only in microsco[)ical science, following where 

 others lead ; they stand at your feet, at the feet of the 

 microscoscopists of the world, in the relation of pupil to 

 teacher, asking for more light to illuminate the intri- 

 cacies of human existence. 



Give to them this light; save for them the microscope 

 with all of its powers and possibilities which are vast ; 

 prevent it by your efforts from relapsing into a state 

 of " innocuous disuetude." 



PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 



BY L. A. WILSON, 



CLKVEl^AND, OHIO. 



The Hepaticae. — These plants are the liverworts or 

 liver moses. They may be found abundantly on the 

 g-round, on rotten wood, on stones, near water falls and on 

 moist rocks. The eye easily distinguishes most of them 

 from true mosses. They require the microscope and gen- 

 erally low powers for their investigation. They are beau- 

 tiful and interesting; when gathered they may be kept in 

 boxes and when examined in a drop of water always look 

 green and fresh and in the dead of winter remind us of 

 the woods and fields. They are analyzed chiefly by their 

 leaves which furnish an almost endless varietv. To ex- 



