144 On the Preparation of Specimens  [‘oumai Seo eo 
V.—On the Preparation of Specimens of Soundings for the 
Microscope. By Professor A. M. Epwarps. 
In the course of his gatherings it not unfrequently happens that 
the microscopist acquires specimens of the bottom of the ocean, 
from various localities, which, if properly prepared, furnish him 
with many beautiful objects for observation and study. And the 
beauty of these objects, the remains of once-living organisms, are of 
such a marked character and present so many points for admiration, 
that even to the unscientific observer they become sources of plea- 
sure, often leading to farther inquiry into their life-history, so that 
imperceptibly almost, and by gradual degrees, the possessor becomes 
a student in fact, and is induced to follow up his investigations to 
some practical end. 
At the present time such specimens are of especial interest on 
account of the remarkable revelations made by the deep-sea dredging 
lately carried on upon our coast and in Europe, and the bearing of 
these specimens upon Geology, Zoology, as well as other branches 
of science. ‘The immense tracts covered by what Dr. Carpenter has 
characteristically termed ‘“ Globigerina-mud,” on account of it teem- 
ing with Foraminifera so called, and the connection of Professor 
Huxley’s “ Coccoliths” and “ Coccospheres” with the formation of 
the chalk-beds of the Cretaceous, open up to the microscopists an 
universe of new facts for investigation. Added to these calcareous 
organisms the specimens of sea-bottom present us with silicious 
forms, both animal and vegetable, of surprising delicacy and beauty 
of outline and structure, and it was to these last-named that my 
attention has been more particularly turned. 
Among such specimens of sea-bottom, the soundings taken at 
different times and at various points on the coast of the United 
States by the Coast Survey, have been subjects of extreme value to 
the scientific observer, while they have, at the same time, furnished 
many unscientific possessors of microscopes with matter for admira- 
tion, wonderment, and joy; the graceful Diatomacez, the symme- 
trical Radiolaria and marvellous Foraminifera often present in such 
profusion, serving to enable the preparer to put up slides of sur- 
passing beauty. . 
One of these soundings, for which I am indebted to the Smith- 
sonian Institution, was of such a character that I was extremely 
desirous of studying as completely as possible the forms presented 
in it, belonging as they did to all of the three families mentioned, 
besides which it contained several minute mollusca and the remains 
of sponges and other organisms. It was, as is shown by the remains 
present, of such a character as to consist essentially of Calcium 
Carbonate, commonly known as Carbonate of Lime, and Silicon 
