1888.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 15 



the dye is added drop by drop, until a deep opalescent color, but no precipi- 

 tate, is produced. Cover-glass specimens of bacteria, floated on this hot so- 

 lution, are stained in two minutes. 



The following solutions are used for contrast staining : — 



1. ^/z^e.— Alcohol. 50 ; water. 30 ; nitric acid. 20: as much methyl-blue 

 as is dissolved by shaking. 



2. Bj'o'don. — Alcohol, 70; nitric acid, 30; as much vesuvin brown as will 

 dissolve. 



3. Green. — Alcohol, 50; water^ 20 ; nitric acid, 30 ; as much malachite 

 or methvl-green as will dissolve. 



The cover-glasses are stained in these solutions for 1-2 minutes, washed 

 in water or i per cent, acetic acid, and then in 50 per cent, alcohol and dried 

 (firsdv bet^veen folds of blotting paper, and then bypassing them several 

 times through a flame) . In this way one can obtain a perfectly double-stained 

 specimen in four minutes. 



EDITORIAL. 



American Microscopes. — There is perhaps no article of American man- 

 ufacture which has not some one to oppose it upon the ground that foreign 

 articles are better. We hear this of optical goods, and the erroneous notion 

 goes out that all foreign microscopes are better than those of American make. 

 That this idea in its general application is incorrect is patent to most persons 

 who compare the articles. But for a certain prestige which belongs to foreign 

 goods people would often select the more convenient home-made article. 

 Take an example from our personal observation in the Ime of lithological 

 microscope stands. The new instrument of Bausch & Lomb or the stand of 

 Mr. VV. H. Bulloch will bear very close comparison in all the departments 

 of the mechanism for special lithological work with the stand of Voight & 

 Aschgesung — the stand which is regarded as the best. For a specialist it is 

 sometimes necessary to employ the foreign stand in order to secure some pecu- 

 liar device it in:iv have, but the majority' of users are not specialists. The 

 disadvantages of foreign stands, apart from any aesthetic consideration against 

 the forms adopted bv German makers, begin to be felt when one imports di- 

 rectlv, and must endure loss of time, higher cost, and the vexation consequent 

 on the details of custom-house business, even if the delicate goods themselves 

 sufler no injury from the careless handling of inexpert inspectors. And they 

 continue to be felt whenever there is any break or injury which ought to re- 

 ceive attention from the maker but cannot because of his inaccessibility. 

 The same is felt in a lesser degree whenever inquiries occur which would be 

 referred to the manufacturer if he were near at hand. 



We believe that better objectives for a given simi and for some studies are 

 made in Germany than in England, France, or America, but we do not be- 

 lieve that our best American goods are, in any respect, inadequate to the 

 work required of them. In our American designs for stands, accessories, 

 and most of our lesser optical utensils, we are greatly in advance of the for- 

 eign model. Messrs. Zentmayer, Bausch & Lomb. Qiieen. Bulloch, the Gund- 

 lach Optical Co., and other American makers, not only deserve the highest 

 credit for what they have accomplished and are doing, but they are meeting 

 with the gratifying and universal success which they have been earning. 



Questions. — It would doubtless add to the value of the Journal if any 

 who may have questions they desire to ask about microscopical or biological 

 matters would forwai'd them. We are always glad to receive questions from 



