96 



THE AMEEICAN MONTHLY 



[May, 



narcotine and brucine exerted no ef- 

 fect upon the bacteria. In comment- 

 ing upon these results, Mr. Hamlet 

 stated that he had found that bacteria 

 could live in i per cent, creosote, 

 phenol, methyl alcohol, chloroform ; 

 and Grace-Calvert had shown that 

 they could live in strong carbolic 

 acid. 



These results are decidedly differ- 

 ent from what would have been an- 

 ticipated. They indicate that bac- 

 teria are not so easily destroyed as 

 we have been accustomed to as- 

 sume, although it has long been 

 patent to scientific observers that 

 much of our fumigation and disinfec- 

 tion is inefficient to destroy living 

 germs. The article referred to would 

 certainly be more valuable, from a 

 scientific point of view, if we under- 

 stood the morphologicol relations of 

 the bacteria that were present in the 

 fluids during the experiments. It 

 may be of interest, in this connec- 

 tion, to refer to the article published 

 in this Journal on page 214 of Vol- 

 ume I. 



Some New Slides. — We have re- 

 cently had the pleasure to examine 

 a box of slides prepared by Mr. 

 David Folsom, of Chicopee, Mass. 

 The objects were insect preparations, 

 principally mouth-parts, in which 

 Mr. Folsom seems to excell. Without 

 wishing to depreciate the value of 

 many of the slides which have been 

 in the market for years, by the most 

 experienced mounters, we have no 

 hesitation in stating that, in our 

 opinion, there are no preparations to 

 be obtained that are more carefully 

 made than those of Mr. Folsom, and 

 we take pleasure in giving this com- 

 mendation to the intrinsic value and 

 the real merit of his work in this 

 direction. 



Among the specimens we have 

 seen, perhaps the most interesting, is 

 a series of probosces of insects, some 

 of which are not common — the pro- 

 boscis of the queen honey-bee for 

 example. 



We are not aware that Mr. Folsom, 

 has made any special efforts to intro- 

 duce his slides to the public, although 

 it is his intention, we believe, to pre- 

 pare them for sale. 



We trust that our readers will show 

 their appreciation of the very excel- 

 lent work of Mr. Folsom, by obtain- 

 ing some of his slides for their 

 cabinets. 



Death of Mr. Nobert. — Mr. 

 John Mayall, Jr., is the author of the 

 following notice which appeared in 

 the London Thnes of March 17th: 

 " At the last meeting of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society the announce- 

 ment was made of the death of Mr. 

 F. A. Nobert, of Earth, Pomerania, 

 the well-known optical physicist, 

 whose rulings of fine lines on glass 

 have, for many years past, been re- 

 garded as marvels of dexterity by the 

 scientific world. Mr. Nobert's fame 

 is especially connected with the pro- 

 duction of test-plates for the micro- 

 scope, particularly the plate known 

 as the 19-band plate, on which suc- 

 cessive bands of lines are ruled of 

 increasing fineness of division, from 

 the rate of 1,000 to the Paris line to 

 10,000 (equal approximately to 

 112,000 to the English inch). It was 

 formerly Mr. Nobert's opinion that 

 the last four bands of his 19-band 

 plate would never be seen resolved 

 in the microscope. This opinion he 

 was constrained to withdraw after 

 careful inspection of photographs of 

 the. whole series of bands by Dr. J. J. 

 Woodward, of the Army Medical 

 Museum, Washington, U. S. A., from 

 which an accurate count of the lines 

 actually ruled was made by Dr. 

 Woodward, and admitted by Mr. 

 Nobert. Mr. Nobert then pro- 

 ceeded to make a new plate of 20 

 bands of lines varying from 1,000 to 

 20,000 to the Paris line. The lines 

 on the tenth band, in this latter plate, 

 correspond, in fineness of division, to 

 the 19th band of the former plate. 

 The microscopists of the future have, 

 therefore, Nobert's legacy before 



