The Microscope. 341 



made by him. The sketches, however, convey but an imperfect idea 

 of the beauty and perfection of the originals, from which the 

 sketches were made. 



I trust that this expose may encourage those who are pursuing 

 the grouping of diatoms, for either pleasure or profit, to a complete 

 success, and that on this side we may have a few names celebrated 

 for the fineness and perfection of their work. 



Mobile, Ala. 



DR. MINOT'S AUTOMATIC MICROTOME. 



J. S. KINGSLEY. 



nr^ HIS, the most recent of the many forms of apparatus for 

 -*- section-cutting, is, in the writer's opinion, the best of the 

 automatic forms. Equipped with it, and a Thoma or Schanze 

 instrument for celloidin sections, any laboratory may be considered 

 as well prepared for any ordinary section work. 



In the Minot microtome, the general features of which can be 

 seen from the cut, the knife is stationary, while the object is moved. 

 Motion is communicated either by a crank or by a belt to the balance 



wheel from a water-motor. Each revolution of the shaft raises and 

 lowers the object-carrier, the section being cut on the downward 

 stroke. The object-carrier is advanced towards the knife, when at 



