214 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[November, 



is the 1 6-inch high stand that is more 

 convenient. Holding these views, 

 my advice to purchasers, if they wish 

 to become investigators or true scien- 

 tific observers, not mere tyros and 

 parlor showmen, is to procure the 

 largest and best microscopes their 

 means will permit, only don't be gov- 

 erned by glitter, lacquer and show ; 

 insist on workmanship as near per- 

 fection as human skill will permit. 

 Avoid the low, cheap German style 

 if you do not wish to be saddled with 

 an instrument that you will throw 

 aside, give away, or keep as a " ten- 

 der " as soon as you become a micro- 

 scopist and v^/^ish to push your inves- 

 tigations to their ultimate end. 



The whole utility, aim and object 

 of the microscope, its costly construc- 

 tion, its profound investigation of op- 

 tical laws required for making — not 

 ma72ufacturing — its lenses, its varied 

 and ingenious appliances, is to see 

 with. Now, I make this proposition 

 to any and all believers in short, low 

 stands : He, she, or they may pro- 

 vide objects properly mounted from 

 any and all departments of natural 

 history ; I will show each and every 

 one of them with a low German 

 stand (Hartnack pattern), with a 

 Jackson pattern, i6-inches high, and 

 with an intermediate size, using the 

 same eye-pieces and the same object- 

 ives from a 4-inch to -^-inch, and I 

 will show every object better with the 

 largest stand than with the smallest. 

 To see better is the whole utility of 

 the instrument. But this is not all. 

 With the large stand, an ordinary 

 height of table and chair, the observ- 

 er can sit in an unconstrained position 

 without straining the muscles of the 

 neck and back with his lungs fully 

 inflated ; on the contrary, with the 

 low German stands, his head and 

 shoulders are bent forward, the chest 

 compressed, the muscles on a contin- 

 ual strain and the observer unfitted 

 for good work. One may work for 

 four hours continuously on one slide, 

 with less fatigue with the 16-inch 

 stand than for one hour with the 



short one. Again, the large stand 

 has ample room for appliances inad- 

 missible or inefficient on the small 

 one, and admits of all the important 

 variations of illumination that cannot 

 be obtained except with such stands. 

 Charles Stodder. 

 Boston, October 12th, 1881. 



EDITORIAL. 



— In the words of one of our ex- 

 changes, " We want everybody who 

 owes us money to pay as soon as pos- 

 sible." These words will apply to a 

 great many persons, who have now 

 received eleven out of twelve num- 

 bers of the volume v/hich closes next 

 month. Let each one of these re- 

 member that, although he owes only 

 the very insignificant sum of one dol- 

 lar, the aggregate of such small 

 amounts now due to us from sub- 

 scribers is quite large. " We want 

 everybody who owes us money to pay 

 as soon as possible." 



o 



— We have to remind the editor of 

 the Cinci?inati Medical News that he 

 seems to be relapsing into his old 

 habit of reprinting our articles with- 

 out giving us due credit. We hope 

 the affection has not become chronic. 



New and Little Known Dia- 

 toms. — A valuable contribution, from 

 P. T. Cleve, has been published, in 

 English, by the Royal Swedish Acad- 

 emy, " On some New and Little 

 Known Diatoms," with descriptions 

 of the specimens. It is a quarto of 

 28 pages and six plates. The diatoms 

 are from several localities ; from the 

 Gallapagos Islands, Honolulu, Port 

 Jackson, the Mediterranean Sea and 

 elsewhere. Some of the forms are 

 very curious and beautifully marked. 

 o 



Eye-pieces. — Mr. G. S. Woolman 

 has, very justly we think, objected to 

 the expressions "deep " and " shal- 

 low" eye-pieces, as being unscientific 

 and misleading. We intend to dis- 



