1892.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 267 



these various cells and organs. What the use and value of these 

 various cells and organs are to the plant I will not discuss here, 

 as that falls in the domain of botany rather than of microscopy. 

 If I have by means of the above paper succeeded in inducing some 

 of the many pharmacists scatteretl throughout the broad confines 

 of our great country to make their first attempt at microscopical 

 work, I shall feel amply repaid for my efibrts, for it will only 

 require the first eflbrt to make the microscopist out of any of 

 them ; if not a microscopist, certainly a microscopical enthusiast, 

 which will before long cause them to become full-fledged micros- 

 copists. 



MKTROSC OriCAL APPARATUS. 



Substitute for Glass for Covers and Slides for the 

 Microscope. — I think the price of slides and covers for micro- 

 scopic use is enormously high, and as they can be made of a sub- 

 stance much cheaper, and at the same time possessing properties 

 which glass has not, viz., being imbreakable, that it should be 

 known. In using celluloid, wliich is wood rendered soluble in 

 in ether and alcohol with guvji camphor, for films for micropho- 

 tography, I was struck with some of its properties that made me 

 think it could be used in microscopy. It is transparent, almost as 

 transparent as glass, unbreakable, the weight is very little, making 

 it especially valuable when sending by post, and therefore occupy- 

 ing very little I'oom, which can thus be dispensed with. It isstrong 

 as wood, and stronger, has no fibre, and can be cut readily with 

 scissors. I really wonder that it ha-s not been used before for 

 slides and covers. It can be obtained with a ground surface as 

 well as plain, and the cost, which is a great item, is next to noth- 

 ing. Very thin celluloid films are commonly used for instanta- 

 neous coverers, and this can be employed for both, whilst the 

 thicker kind used for ordinary photography makes capital slides. 

 In fact I have some an inch square which I use in this way, 

 mounting it temporarily in a glass slide for use on the microscope. 

 Let all microscopists try it and they will not repent. — Dr. A. M. 

 Edwards in Science- Gossip . 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



Bacterioidal Forms in Tissues and Eggs of Insects. — 

 Prof. F. Blochmann describes (in Centralbl f. Bakteriol. u. 

 Parasitenk.., ix, pp. 2J4-40) bodies which resemble in many 

 respects bacteria. In the fat-body of insects, such as Phyllodro- 

 mia germanica and Pcripla?icta orentialis., these rodlets may 

 be easily seen if a small piece of this tissue be squeezed between 



