1883.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



37 



NOTES. 



— The death is announced of Mr. An- 

 drew Pritchard, at the age of 78 years, au- 

 thor of Pritchard's "'Infusoria," a work 

 which, since the date of its pubhcation in 

 1 841 has been highly valued by microscop- 

 ists throughout the world. The work rap- 

 idly increased in size with successive edi- 

 tions, for forty years ago very little was 

 known about the infusoria, and improve- 

 ments in the microscope were just begin- 

 ning to be made. The fourth edition was 

 published in the year 1S61, and is now very 

 difficult to obtain, being held as high as 

 $30 for worn copies. 



— We are indebted to Messrs. Bausch 

 & Lomb for a tine cabinet photograph of 

 their works at Rochester. This firm has 

 developed an extensive trade in micro- 

 scopes and objectives,^ through the excel- 

 lence of their work, and careful attention 

 to the demands of customers. 



— Those who are using dry plates in 

 photographing with the microscope will 

 find a good and cheap developer, recently 

 proposed by Mr. H. J. Newton, of this 

 city, an excellent one. 



Solution A. — Washing soda, 500 grains; 

 water, 10 ounces. 



Solution B. — Oxalic acid, 30 grains ; 

 pyrogallic acid, 20 grains ; ammonium 

 bromide, 10 grains; water, 10 ounces. 



These solutions will keep. For use, 

 mix equal parts of each together. We 

 copy the formula from the Photograpiiic 

 Times. 



— The twelfth edition of Messrs. R. & 

 J. Beck's " Illustrated Catalogue of Micro- 

 scopes and Optical Instruments " has re- 

 cently come to hand. This Catalogue 

 contams such a great number of illustra- 

 tions of microscopical accessories, that it 

 serves the purpose of a dictionary to the 

 beginner, or even for those of longer 

 experience who do not use many accesso- 

 ries. Among other articles we notice a 

 description of the Sorby microspectro- 

 scope, as made by the Messrs. Beck, and 

 also an illustration and explanation of the 

 more recently-devised Sorby binocular mi- 

 crospectroscope. 



— The excellent Microscopical Journal 

 pubHshed by Mr. Bogue, in London, 

 heretofore known as The AWthern Mi- 

 croscopist, begins its third volume under 

 a new name, more in keeping with its 

 comprehensive character. It is now 

 The Microscopical A'ews and Northerri 



Microscopist. Under the able editorial 

 management of Mr. George E. Davis, the 

 magazine has become one of our best 

 English exchanges. We observe one 

 change which the editor believes "will 

 be heartily welcomed " by the subscribers. 

 This is precisely the change that was an- 

 nounced by this J )URNAL one year ago, — 

 the condensation of the rejjorts of meet- 

 ings of societies. 



— Dr. Charles Shepard, of Grand 

 Rapids, Mich., has favored us with two 

 beautiful preparations of mineral crystals, 

 mounted in brass cells, which are not only 

 very inexpensive, but also very neat and 

 convenient. The cells we have are turned 

 from I -inch and |^-inch brass tubing, 

 and are about ^inch in depth. The up- 

 per edge 'is rounded off, and a bit of cork 

 forms the bottom of the cell. The speci- 

 mens are mounted on sealing-wax dropped 

 upon the cork. No covers are used. 

 The cells can be attached to glass slips, 

 but they take up less room, and are cjuite 

 as convenient when used as they are. We 

 can commend this method for mounting 

 mineral crystals ; the specimens of 

 auriferous pyrites and crystallized copper 

 are very fine. 



— In July last year, Mr. H. H. Davi- 

 son inquired through the Journal 

 whether the StepJianoceros was abundant 

 in this country. Mr. A. D. Balen has 

 been making some inquiries, and he 

 states that the only places where it has 

 been found, so far as he can learn, be- 

 sides two ponds in New Jersey in which 

 he has found single specimens, are the 

 following: — Mr. E. B. Grove has found it 

 in Roger's Glen, Oneida Co., N. Y., the 

 Rev. W. R. Cross at Camden, Me., and 

 Mr. C. F. Park, near Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



A new method of silvering glass for 

 reflectors has been devised by Prof. 

 Palmieri, and described in Les Mondes, 

 without giving the exact proportions of 

 the ingredients used however. He has 

 found that silver is reduced from an 

 ammonical solution by glycerin, the ac- 

 tion being hastened by heat and the addi- 

 tion of a few drops of caustic potash and 

 alcohol or ether. The coating is said to 

 be exceedingly brilliant and perfect. Al- 

 though the best proportions are still to 

 be determined by experiment, the meth- 

 od may be useful to microscopists who 

 wish to resilver small pieces of apparatus, 

 mirrors, etc. One secret of success will 

 be in having the glass surface to be sil- 

 vered perfectly clean. . 



