18 The Microscope. ' 



{m). Hsematoxylin. 



Haematoxylin, satiu-ated alcoholic solution 4 cc. 



Ammonia-alum, strong saturated solution. 150 cc. 

 Let stand eight days; filter, and add 



Glycerine 25 cc. 



Methyl- alcohol 25 cc. 



This stain works best after standing for some weeks or months. 



(Grenacher.) 



{7o be continued.) P > <ir^, 



EDITORIAL. 



LOCAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



\ LL of oiu' readers are familiar with the American Society of 

 -*■ ■*■ Microscopists, its aims, and the results accomplished by it. 

 By the meetings of this society, microscopists from all parts of the 

 country are annually brought together, and they and science are 

 mutually benefited. The meetings of a national society, however, 

 must be few and far between, and those who attend them, in numbers, 

 but a feeble representation of the thousands interested in microscopy. 

 That the concerted action of those interested in a common pursuit is 

 necessaiy to their highest development, is proven by the tendency of 

 all scientists to band together in general and special scientific societies. 

 Microscopists must depend, therefore, upon local societies for that 

 personal intercourse for which their scientific souls yearn. 



Let us inquire into the condition of the various societies through- 

 out the country. In the pages of The Microscope, from month to 

 month, are reported the proceedings of a number of societies, and 

 these reports in several instances show a vitality and energy that are 

 exhilarating. These are the societies recently launched upon their 

 careers, and filled with the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, or 

 which have been recently stimulated to renewed life by a meeting of 

 the national society in their midst, or more rarely societies that have 

 upon their lists of members a sufficient number of skilled microscopists 

 to keep alive their interest. The majority of them, however, have 

 fallen into a state of " innocuous desuetude," fi'om which all ordinary 

 measures seem powerless to arouse them. 



Now, can we not ascertain the cause of this unfortunate 

 state of affairs ? With the cause known, can we not apply a remedy ? 

 From long continued observation of the workings of a society, which 



