Touniwunel'ff ] ^oijol Microsco^picol Society. 283 



objects before us. During the time Mr, Page and I were at the 

 microscope Mr. White was examining some of the specimens with 

 a hand-lens ; and as he held up a large-sized one between his finger 

 and thumb on the broad surfaces of the glasses, Goadby said to him, 

 " Don't hold them in that manner, but by the opposite edges, as 

 they have only recently been mounted and will not bear the pressure 

 of the glasses together ;" so Mr. White shifted his hold on the 

 glasses to the manner directed by Mr. Goadby, and quickly soiled 

 his fingers by a small portion of the fluid that he had pressed out 

 by his first mode of handling them. Having exhibited the whole 

 of his treasures, Mr. Goadby departed, promising to come again on 

 the following Monday evening with a fresh stock of beautiful objects. 

 After his departure Mr. White said, "Well, I tliink I know the 

 material in which Goadby 's specimens are mounted." I had observed 

 Mr. White repeatedly smelhng his fingers, and my cm'iosity was 

 somewhat excited by his actions ; he then allowed us to participate 

 in the odour, and expressed his opinion that the material in question 

 was neither more nor less than Canada balsam. We then arranged 

 to meet at my house on the following Thiu'sday ; Mr. White under- 

 taking to find the Canada balsam and I the other necessary mate- 

 rials. On the appointed evening we proceeded to work ; Mrs. 

 Bowerbank proviclently supplying us with a large old iron tea-tray 

 to hold our materials, and well it was that this precaution was taken, 

 as the sequel will j)rove. Mr. White produced his Canada balsam, 

 and poured out an ample supply on one of the usual sized glass 

 slips, and we then adjusted on the convex surface of the fluid one of 

 the wings of a butterfly, and gently pressed it into the fluid, so as 

 to expel the air from beneath; a further quantity of the balsam 

 was poured over the upper surface until the object was completely 

 immersed in the fluid. A second crown-glass slip was then laid over 

 the first, for thin glass had not then been brought into use, and the 

 two slips were gently but firmly pressed together, and secured in their 

 places by thread bands, and so we proceeded to prepare six or eight 

 objects in succession, and by that time we were fairly brought to a 

 standstill, our fingers being Canada balsamed up to the knuckles, and 

 our hands hke the feet of a web-footed animal when we attempted 

 to separate om' fingers from each other, so we were compelled 

 to strike work and adjourn to the regions below, where, by a 

 liberal use of spirit of turpentine, yellow soap, and hot water, 

 we cleaned the objects we had mounted and restored our hands to 

 a comparatively clean condition ; we then commenced an examina- 

 tion of our specimens, and were amply rewarded by finding that 

 they were in every respect equal to some of those exhibited to us by 

 Mr. Goadby. On the following Monday he made his appearance 

 with a new series of objects, and after having examined the greater 

 portion of them, while one of us was talking to Mr. Goadby, Mr. 



