1899] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 377 



library, instruments, and a cabinet of micro- and lantern 

 slides ; has recently extended its usefulness by organizing 

 lectures with demonstrations for the benefit of outside so- 

 cieties and institutions. Eighteen such lectures have been 

 given in the Manchester district during- the past twelve 

 months and the scheme has been eminently successful. 

 The report and transactions can be obtained from the Hon. 

 Secretary, Mr. E. C. Stump, 16 Herbert Street, Moss Side, 

 Manchester, post free for one shilling- and eig-htpence. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



New Catalogues.— Send to Mr. J. H. Steward, of 406 

 and 407, Strand, and to Messrs. A. Clarkson & Co., of Hol- 

 born Circus. The former contains several microscopes of 

 excellent desig-n, and a full list of accessories, but is cum- 

 bered, as is too often the case, with types of microscopes 

 of antiquated patterns. Messrs. Clarkson's catalog-ue is 

 almost entirely devoted to second-hand instruments, all 

 offered at moderate prices, and nearly all are of g-ood and 

 recent models. 



The Fixation, Staining- and Structure of Protoplasm, a 

 Critical Consideration of the Theory and Technique of 

 Modern Cell study. By Dr. Alfred Fischer (Leipsic), 

 royal octavo, 362 pages, 1 double plate and 21 figures in text. 

 Published by G. Fischer, Jena, 1899. The history of the 

 closing cycle of botanical activity will undoubtedly show 

 that one of its most noticable and unusual features has been 

 the enormous amount of energy devoted to the study of 

 the structure of protoplasm. Research in this phase of 

 biological science may be said to have had its origin chiefly 

 in an effort to determine the mechanism of the nucleus as 

 a vehicle of heredity, and it has been directed for the greater 

 part to the morphology of the chromatin in mitotic divi- 

 sion, and to the behavior of the 'attractive and directive 

 bodies,' with some effort to take into consideration the 

 structure of protoplasm and the general organization of 

 the cell. The results of these investigations have filled a 

 great amount of space in all classes of botanical Journals, 



