The Microscope. 349 



glj'cerine, fluids perhaps the best adapted of any for the preser- 

 vation of Algae. 



Dry mosses and fungi may also be prepared in the same way. 



Coal Ashes.* — I do not know whether it is the same with 

 coal from other districts, but I may say that our British coal ash 

 forms a beautiful opaque object, and shows vegetable structure 

 to perfection. To obtain a specimen take the white or yellow 

 ash on the point of a dessert knife, then putting a pat of soft 

 balsam on a slide, invert it over, and just touch the ash without 

 squeezing it at all. Daylight is better than lamplight to in- 

 vestigate by. — T. Inman. 



Every microscopist should have fastened to his work table 

 near the place upon which his microscope usually stands, a 

 small pane of glass with one-half of the lower surface covered 

 with black paper the other half with white. The paper need not 

 be pasted to the glass, indeed it is better to have it unattached, 

 the fastening of the pane to the tabic keeping the paper in 

 place. The glass may be as large as desired, but 4x5 is a 

 satisfactory size, according to the writer's notion. This simple 

 arrangement will be found exceedingly useful in arranging 

 objects on the slide, whether for temporary or for permanent 

 preparation. Objects to be examined in a watch-glass with a 

 pocket lens will be more readily seen if placed over the white or 

 the black paper, as the necessities of the case may" require. 



A simple method of drawing microscopic objects, which 

 will be found useful by those unable to employ the camera 

 lucida, is to have a circle of thin glass ruled in squares, and 

 dropped into the eye-piece so that the lines may be seen in the 

 field and crossing the object ; then by using sectional paper, 

 that is, paper ruled in small squares, very good representations 

 of what is seen may be reproduced. This manner of drawing is 

 well known, but the way of making the lines on the glass is per- 

 haps not so well understood. A piece of cover glass should be 

 cemented to a glass slip and then coated with a thin layer of 



*Interuational Journ. of Micros. 



