THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 



YOL. I. 



T^EW York, Apeil, 1880. 



No. 4. 



How to Cut and Grind 

 Glass Slides. 



BY F. M. HAMLIN, M. D. 



The appearance of many of the 

 sHdes which I have received in ex- 

 change, indicates that many amatenr 

 microscopists attempt to do their 

 own grinding ; and a few, with a 

 subhme indifference to all that is 

 neat and tidy, send them out with 



Fig. 14. 



the rough edges untouched, just as 

 they were left by the diamond, and 

 varying greatly in width. Such 

 slides, besides being unsightly, are 

 liable to cut the fingers of those who 

 handle them, that is, if any one 

 handles them more than enough to 

 pack them up and return to their 

 owner, with " thanks " which are 

 wholly conventional, who is sur- 

 prised, and probably disgusted, at 

 the number of " duplicates " there 

 are in the land. 



Since many, from motives of 

 economy, or that laudable spirit 

 which desires to know how, and to 

 be able to do various things, 



attempt to do this work for them- 

 selves, I offer some directions which 

 are the fruit of my experience. 



First of all, it is important to get 

 the slides cut to a perfectly uniform 

 size. The amateur will, in all pro- 

 bability, have to do the cutting 

 himself, for I have never yet been 

 able to get a glazier to cut any two 

 pieces of glass of the same size, and 

 with his method it is impossible to 

 secure uniformity. I have, therefore, 



D 



Fig. 15. 



devised a simple cutting-board 

 which secures the desired unifor- 

 mity without trouble. I take a per- 

 fectly flat piece of board, of conve- 

 nient size, and prepare it as is shown 

 in Fig. 14, The cleat B is fastened 

 at the end, and at right angles to it 

 are fastened two other cleats {A, A) 

 exactly three inches apart and with 

 their ends just so far from cleat B 

 that when the rule R is laid against 

 them, it will permit the diamond to 

 cut just one inch from cleat B. 

 When a piece of glass {G) three 

 inches wide, is laid between cleats 

 A, A, and the rule is placed over 

 it and held against the ends, the 



