98 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[May, 



than. Readers who desire some of this 

 material for mounting would do well to 

 send a good preparation of some kind to 

 Mr. Nevins as an exchange. 



— The first annual soiree of the Wash- 

 ington Microscopical Society was given 

 at the Washington High School building 

 on the evening of March 24th. It was at- 

 tended by a large number of persons, who 

 had never before seen such a display of 

 microscopes and apparatus. There were 

 forty-three microscopes on the list, and 

 the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company 

 sent several of their new stands for ex- 

 hibition, which were greatly admired. 

 There is not much to be said about the 

 exhibition, it being no different from 

 others of the kind — a collection of fine, 

 showy objects, of all kinds, along with 

 some others of a more special interest, 

 among which we may mention the bacilli 

 of tubercle, and of cholera, and some 

 very fine sections of fish-eggs made and 

 exhibited by Mr. John A. Ryder. The 

 printed program was far from creditable 

 to the society, being replete with egregious 

 blunders, such, for Example, as ' Bacilli ' 

 instead of Bacillus, and ' Lepido syren ' 

 instead of Lepidosiren. We trust more 

 care will be exercised in this respect on 

 future occasions of the kind. An abstract 

 of the address of Prof. Seaman is printed 

 on another page. 



— The Rev. Mr. Wolle is engaged upon 

 a comprehensive work treating of the fresh- 

 water alga; of the United States. It will 

 be illustrated with about one hundred 

 plates, of the same character as those in 

 his work on the desmids. About fifty 

 plates are already drawn. Mr. Wolle has 

 been spending a short time in Horida, 

 where he has doubtless found a rich field 

 for collecting algas. 



— Mr. Henry Mills recently favored us 

 with a call on his way home from Florida. 

 He has found sponges in the fresh-water 

 streams abundant there, although it is the 

 general impression that they are not com- 

 mon in that state. We hope to receive 

 from him an account of his sojourn there, 

 before long. 



— We have received some sample glass 

 slips from Messrs. Emmerich & Son, which 

 they are offering at $2.00 per hundred, if we 

 are not mistaken in the figures. They 

 are made of very white and clear glass, 

 quite thin, and polished on the edges. 

 >A^e should say they were very good slips 

 indeed. They are probably made in 

 Germany. 



— We notice the Liverpool (Eng.) Mi- 

 croscopical Society has adopted the new 

 time. The council now meets at eighteen 

 o'clock, they have tea and coffee at 

 eighteen thirty, and the chair is taken at 

 nineteen o'clock precisely. A very little 

 calculation doubtless enables the members 

 to reduce these figures to ordinary watch- 

 time. It is cjuite right that scientific so- 

 cieties should take the initiative in this 

 matter, and if we are to have the new 

 plan (which is old enough among astron- 

 omers and navigators) let us aid in its 

 immediate introduction. 



— At at recent meeting of the New York 

 Pathological Society bayberry-tallow was 

 recommended for embedding tissues for 

 sections. A writer in the Louisville Med. 

 News in a report of the meeting says : — 



' It is obtained from the ordinary bay- 

 berry-bush, and is used by furniture manu- 

 facturers for oiling the sliding surfaces of 

 bureau-drawers, etc. They claim for the 

 bayberry-tallow that it is cheaper and bet- 

 ter than celluloidine, and far superior to 

 paraffine and other kinds of wax hereto- 

 fore used. A special feature claimed for 

 it is non-solubility in alcohol, except when 

 warmed to about the temperature of the 

 body or a little above it, and hence the 

 specimen may be kept indefinitely in al- 

 cohol at ordinary temperatures. Another 

 count to the credit of the new tallow is 

 that tissues injected with it or embedded 

 in it can be shaved in thinner sections 

 than those allowed by other materials, and 

 that on account of its firmness it allows of 

 a more even cut. After making a.section 

 the tallow may be removed from the speci- 

 men by simply placing it for a few min- 

 utes in a bath of warm alcohol. The ex- 

 hibitor took occasion to mention the usual 

 precaution that in heating the alcohol it 

 must not be held over a flame, etc. The 

 specimen presented with the paper was a 

 section of the smallest bronchi, which 

 showed up beautifully under a low magni- 

 fying power.' 



— The old and rather worn-out contro- 

 versy of monoculars vs. binoculars bids 

 fair to be gone over again in the columns 

 of the English Mec/ia/iic. Perhaps it is 

 well to have such discussions occasionally. 

 It refreshes one's memory concerning 

 many little points (microscopic in more 

 than one sense), and reminds us that there 

 are differences of opinion on every sub- 

 ject. If any reader is uncertain which 

 kind of a stand is the better, we would 

 advise him to try both. 



