206 
than by increasing the magnifying 
power of the eyepiece, which ac- 
cords with the results of some 
experiments performed many years 
ago by Dr. Carpenter. Of course, 
the practical utility of increasing the 
magnifying power entirely depends 
upon the character of the specimen. 
Into the question of preparing spe- 
cimens I must not, however, now 
enter, further than to say that my 
specimens are immersed in the 
strongest glycerine that can be pro- 
cured. I never represent a struc- 
ture more highly magnified than is 
necessary to bring out the points; 
but I find that, with an improved 
method of preparation, I desire 
higher magnifying powers; and I 
am quite certain that great advan- 
tages will be reaped when powers 
far higher than any yet made or 
thought of shall be brought to bear 
upon many structures. The ques- 
tion of preparation is scarcely more 
than a mechanical one, and new and 
more exact means of preparation 
will soon follow improvements in 
the optical part of the microscope. 
It should be stated that many 
specimens of muscular fibre, nerve 
fibres, nerve cells, &c., have been 
prepared, so that they can be mag- 
nified 3,000 diameters, and points 
can be made out (as, for example, 
what appears a single fibre can be 
resolved into several) which cannot 
be seen, or, at any rate, have not 
been observed, by an ordinary mag- 
nifying power. 
The object-glass I have employed 
is the first twenty-sixth made for 
me by Messrs. Powell and Lealand, 
which is a most excellent working 
glass. That it defines exceedingly 
well, and admits plenty of light, is 
obvious from the fact that 1t will 
allow of the tube being increased in 
length. By a working glass I mean 
one that can be employed without 
trouble or difficulty, and does not 
require any elaborate arrangements 
with regard to illumination, adjust- 
ment, &c. In fact, I use it without 
even a condenser, employing only 
the common concave mirror. There 
is plenty of room for focussing, 
Notes and Correspondence. 
[ Jan. 
although, of course, specially thin 
glass or mica must be employed. 
I have made and published many 
drawings of tissues of the higher 
animals magnified with this glass, 
and it need scarcely be said, that 
as it can be brought to bear upon 
textures of this class (even bone 
and teeth), thin sections of which 
are obtained only with great diffi- 
culty, it must be readily applicable 
to other departments of microscopi- 
cal inquiry. 
Lionet S. Bratz, F.R.S. 
King’s College, London. 
Scientific Education and Natural- 
History Science in the Kingdom 
of Italy. 
Genoa, Nov. 18, 1863. 
THE state of science and scientific 
education in Italy at the present 
moment, when this country is on 
the point of emergence from political 
nonentity, and is beginning to feel 
that it is one of the great powers of 
Europe, possesses peculiar interest, 
and may well justify a few remarks 
in an English journal established 
to record the progress of science. 
Itself the birthplace of many de- 
partments of human knowledge, as 
well as of many of those men who 
have been most distinguished in 
science as well as art, Italy still 
contains, or has only very recently 
lost, men of European reputation in 
Physics, in Astronomy, in Geology, 
in Zoology, and in Botany; and 
though some of the most eminent 
of those now living have been 
diverted from their ordinary pur- 
suits by the pressing claims of po- 
litical events, and the absolute 
necessity that all true men should 
unite in securing the one great ob- 
ject of nationality and unity, there 
is abundant proof of healthy activity 
which in due season may be expected 
to yield great results. 
The Universities of Italy have 
gradually become lowered in general 
reputation, owing to the extreme 
facility afforded to very young men 
to pass examinations and obtain 
