1880.] 



MICKOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



167 



might have executed the alleged 

 forgery. Under all circumstances 

 a man's handwriting, he believed, 

 would exhibit, when carefully ex- 

 amined, certain peculiarities which 

 had become as natural to him as 

 breathing, and which he could not 

 rid himself of. A man might imi- 

 tate a signature in its prominent 

 letters and first syllables very suc- 

 cessfully, but it would be simply a 

 miracle if, when he came to the 

 latter part of the signature, some 

 peculiarity of his own handwriting 

 would not unconsciously be impart- 

 ed to that which he sought to imi- 

 tate. The very fear of exposure, 

 the nervousness from which few 

 men at such times could completely 

 rid themselves, would ensure the 

 presence of some unconscious trait 

 of the writing which would make 

 its identification where there were 

 two or three words or more almost 

 certain. A well-known case in point 

 was that of "Whittaker, the West 

 Point cadet, where among several 

 hundred specimens of the students' 

 handwriting, written carelessly and 

 at times when they had no idea 

 their penmanship would ever be 

 examined by others, the specimens 

 being marked in cypher, several 

 experts, none of them knowing the 

 conclusions which the others had 

 reached, or whose handwriting it 

 was that they had agreed upon, all 

 selected the specimens which were 

 known by the ofiicers to be those of 

 Cadet Whittaker. 



Dr. Carl Seller then addressed the 

 Society on the subject of mounting. 

 He said that the microscopists of 

 both Europe and America were 

 divided into two classes on this im- 

 portant question. Many believed 

 that balsam should be the only ma- 

 terial used in most cases and others 

 as decidedly glycerin. He was of 

 the opinion that all tissues which 

 can be hardened and cut into sec- 



tions are best mounted in balsam, 

 and such specimens as membranes, 

 hairs, cilia, etc., are best mounted 

 in glycerin. If one wished to show 

 delicate, fine lines he should use 

 glycerin. The advantages of balsam 

 are that it does not destroy colors, 

 makes a specimen clear and does not 

 deteriorate. The disadvantages are 

 that the specimen is apt to shrink, 

 also the slowness of drying. The 

 advantages of glycerin are that deli- 

 cate membranes may be preserved, 

 while its disadvantages are that it 

 always interferes with the coloring. 

 The specimen also tends to deterior- 

 ate. Specimens mounted in glycer- 

 in are very apt to suffer from leak- 

 age. There are substances which 

 in some cases combine the advanta- 

 ges of both, without the disadvan- 

 tages of either. Among these the 

 speaker mentioned Farrant's medi- 

 um and dammar cement. 



The remarks of Dr. Seller were 

 the subject of criticism by several 

 members. 



In reply to a question of the 

 President as to whether a simple 

 solution of balsam became cloudy in 

 alcohol, Dr. Seller said if the balsam 

 was evaporated to di*yness first the 

 volatile oils were dispelled and the 

 solution would be clear if the alco- 

 hol was first warmed. 



"Notes on the Structure, De- 

 velopment and Position of an Unde- 

 scribed Flagellate Infusorium," was 

 the title of a paper read by James 

 H. Fisher. He referred at first to 

 the but little explored domain of the 

 lowest forms of animal life, which 

 so nearly approached the vegetable. 

 The infusorium which he described 

 he found in a small stagnant pond 

 near Mount Hope. The body of the 

 little animal was shaped like a cylin- 

 drical fiask, green in color, the mouth 

 resembling the neck of a bottle, and 

 provided with a flagellum presuma- 

 bly for both prehensive and susten- 



