160 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY. 



[August. 



the Army Medical Museum. We would 

 esteem it a favor if readers who know of 

 such instruments, that might be obtained 

 now or at some future time, would kindly 

 give us the desired information for future 

 use. 



— One of our correspondents has a full 

 set of the Monthly Microscopical Journal 

 and the continuation of it, \\\q Journal of the 

 RflVcll Microscopical Society, to the end of 

 1884, all bound, which he is willing to sell 

 very cheap. If any reader desires to ob- 

 tain the set we will be pleased to afford 

 any assistance possible. 



— Dr. Lardowsky has highly recom- 

 mended a new staining fluid for the cel- 

 lulose walls of plant cells and to reveal 

 karyokinetic figures. It is obtained from 

 ripe huckleberries. The juice is pressed 

 out and diluted with twice its volume of 

 water, and a few drops of alcohol added. It 

 is then boiled and filtered hot. In use it 

 is diluted with water. It stains objects 

 that have been hardened with chromic 

 acid. By staining a section and then 

 plunging it into a one per cent, solution 

 of acetate of lead a lilac color may be 

 obtained. 



— Mr. Carl Zeiss is about to publish a 

 new catalogue ot his microscopical appa- 

 ratus, which will include, among other 

 new things, an apparatus for photomi- 

 crography, which has been very favorably 

 spoken of by those who have seen it. 

 Messrs. Emmerich & Son, the agents for 

 Mr. Zeiss in this country, will soon have a 

 supply of the catalogues, and doubtless 

 will also have an invoice of the latest pro- 

 ductions at an early day. 



— The trip made by Mr. WoUe to 

 Florida, which was mentioned in these 

 columns some time ago, has led to the dis- 

 covery of at least twenty species or va- 

 rieties new to our flora, although no speci- 

 ally good localities for collecting algae 

 were found. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Microscopical Exhibitions 

 To THE Editor: — I enclose a programme 

 of our last exhibition. You must not 

 be too severe upon these affairs. Your 

 ideas upon microscopical subjects are usu- 

 ally very correct, but 1 cannot help think- 

 ing that you are a little in error on that 

 point. S'our plan for soir<ies would 

 be excellent if an audience of microsco- 

 pists could be secured. But the general 

 public does not want to be instructed as 



much as it wants to be amused, and a 

 programme on your plan would hardly be 

 as attractive to an average audience as the 

 kaleidoscopic affairs now in vogue. By 

 making such a display as attractive as 

 possible, the result will be, I think, that 

 more persons will become interested in 

 microscopy — at first superficially, but 

 finally deeply — than by any other method. 

 From what I have seen and heard I 

 firmly believe that some of the best work- 

 ers in the line of microscopical research 

 have' originally had their latent aptitude 

 in that direction awakened by the sight of 

 some pretty object at the house of a friend 

 or at a microscopical soiree. 



Hope your Journal is doing as well 

 financially as it is in every other way. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Annual Report of the Operations of the 

 United States Life-saving Senncc for 

 the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1884. 

 Washington : Government Printing 

 Office. 1885. (8vo, pp. 476.) 



'The Influence of Cocaine, Atropine, and 

 Caffeine on the Heart and Blood-vessels. 

 By H. G. Beyer, M. D., M. R. C. S., 

 Passed Assistant Surgeon U. S. N., Hon- 

 orary Curator, Section Mat. Medica, 

 U. S. National Museum. (Pamphlet, 

 PP- 3I-) 



An account of experiments conducted 

 at the Museum of Hygiene, at Washing- 

 ton, by the author. They were made on 

 the heart of the terrapin. The method of 

 experimenting is fully described and the 

 results given in detail. Cocaine and atro- 

 pine act similarly upon the heart. Mor- 

 phine in considerable doses antagonizes 

 the effect of cocaine. Caffeine increases 

 the rate of pulsation, and strengthens the 

 contractions, and appears to be cumula- 

 tive in its action. The article was origin- 

 ally published in the Aiiwr. Journ. Med. 

 Sciences. 



Exchanges. 



[E.\changes .ire inserted in this column without 

 charge. They will be strictly limited to mounted ob- 

 jects, and material for mounting.] 



Wanted : Well cleaned and selected Foraminifera, 

 for which cash will be paid or slides given 



EDWARD G. DAY, 

 Riverside, Conn. 



Hundreds of varieties of fresh-water Algae, including 

 Volvox, Desmids, Rivularia, Draparnaldia, Tetra- 

 spora, &c., &c., for selected exchanges by list. 



J. M. ADAMS, 

 Watertown, Md. 



