1893.] THE MICKOSCOPE. 73 



this question : Why do slides sell for 50 or 75 cents when the 

 glass and other materials cost only 3 to 6 cents ?" 



Another dealer whom we esteem very highly said that he would 

 not answer an anonymous query and he could see no benefit to 

 himself in answering it under any circumstances. But he added 

 in postscript that he had never heard of making Farrant's medium 

 in accordance with F.'s recipe, and that he was sure it did not 

 originate in a standard text-book. Still another dealer, who de- 

 clined " to enter into any published controversy on the subject," 

 wrote the following very reasonable reply : 



" We do not see what is to prevent F. or some other person, if 

 we answer this question, from continuing to propound questions 

 of a similar nature ; for instance, the question might be : How is 

 it that we charge 75 cents for mounted specimens of Bacillus tu- 

 berculosis when the slide only costs one (1) cent and the cover 

 costs less than a cent and the bacilli costs nothing? In other 

 words, the whole thing costs two (2) cents, and we charge 75 

 cents for it according to this theory. 



"Again, why do you charge $3.00 for a slide cabinet when the 

 lumber in the cabinet is worth less than 20 cents? Of course, it 

 is needless to explain to such people that it is necessary to pay for 

 labor, and that dealers must pay rents, etc. The more you say, 

 the less they believe. If F.'s idea of analyzing the prices on mi- 

 croscopical material was pushed to the extreme there would be no 

 use in our advertising our goods in the microscopical journals or 

 by other means, as it can always be clearly proven that where a 

 man has knowledge he can, as a rule, make up a microscopical 

 preparation cheaper than the dealers can sell it, and if all the mi- 

 croscopists made up their own preparations there would be no use 

 in the dealers advertising their goods." 



F. takes no account of the bottle, nor of the skill, nor of the 

 time consumed, nor of the need of profits. Yesterday I paid a 

 dentist $2 for an hour's work in cleaning my teeth. Why did I 

 not do it myself? We pay doctors for advice and for recipes 

 which can be found in the books and medical journals. 



Carpenter on the Microscope gives this : Farrant's medium is 

 made by dissolving 4 parts of picked gum arabic in 4 parts of cold 

 distilled water, and then adding 2 parts of glycerin. The solu- 

 tion must be made without the aid of heat, the mixture being con- 

 tinually stirred, but not shaken. Afterward the liquid must be 

 strained through fine cambric, previously well washed out by a 

 current of clean cold water. Keep in a glass-stoppered bottle con- 

 taining a small piece of camphor. 



And now we have only to add the request that subscribers who 

 try F.'s recipe or Carpenter's and succeed with it will write to 

 us the results for the benefit of others who feel inclined to econo- 

 mize their money and use their time in this manner. 



