THE MICROSCOPE. 205 
A SLIDE OF HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS. 
J. D. BECK. 
] HAVE found slides thoroughly cleaned in two or three hours, in 
a cold solution of concentrated lye, full strength, in clean, soft 
water. I have left them in the lye one or two days without any 
perceptible injury. In my opinion, it cleans them better than the 
bichromate and acid solution. I put them into a large tumbler half 
full of lye, one at a time, and in five or six hours pour off the lye and 
pour clean and soft water on them to cover them, at about 100° F.,* 
and separate them with a knife, and in.ten minutes, or in an hour, 
pour off and drop them vertically into a clean tin box, punched full of 
large holes, and turn a stream of clean, soft water on them till 
thoroughly washed, and drop them into clean water; then proceed 
as follows: Cut strips of clean newspapers—I prefer white printing 
paper—three and a half inches wide and any desirable length; take 
one slide out of the water and lay it on one end of the paper 
crosswise, and turn it over on the paper and press it down. Then 
lay another slide on top and roll them over on the paper. Lay 
the third slide on the upper slide, covered with paper, and roll the 
pile over on the paper, and so forth until the paper is full of slides, 
and lay the pile of slides with the loose end of paper under them, 
or fasten it with mucilage or rubbers. 
In this manner there is a sheet of porous paper between every 
slide in the pile, which absorbs all the water with its impurities, thus 
leaving the slides dry, clean and free from spots or deposits of 
impurities in water the usual result when standing them on their 
ends to drain off, as recommended in micro-technical works. A 
drop of the purest-distilled water, when allowed to dry on a clean 
slide, will show deposits of impurities difficult to remove. Slides 
put up in this manner, with’so little trouble, are kept cleaner from 
air and dust than those packed in a box without this protection, and 
exposed every time the box is opened or uncovered, for days or 
weeks. 
It is not absolutely necessary to keep these papered slides in 
dust-tight boxes, but it is advisable to keep a half or whole gross of 
cleaned slides together in one box, with a lid to exclude dust, at 
least. A paper of six, twelve or more slides can be taken out of a 
box and one slide removed from the paper, which is easily wiped 
clean from fibres, or a thin film of moistness, etc., while the rest are 
well protected at all times. 
* Strong lye, used with heat, is liable to cut or injure glass. 
