HOW ZOOLOGISTS DO THEIR WORK ^7 



is necessarily greatly lightened. To no writer is 

 this advantage of so great importance as to the 

 Englishman, who is usually less familiar with 

 the tongues of other nations than his colleagues 

 abroad. It will easily be understood that in the 

 world of zoology, there is no " predominance of 

 the English-speaking races." Far from it. Ger- 

 man is the language which supplies the fullest 

 literature of every scientific subject ; and in 

 England even our text-books are, for the most 

 part, translated from the German. German, in 

 short, is to the seeker after Knowledge, what 

 English is to the seeker after Money. 



Let us now pause a moment to consider how 

 large a number of different industries profit by 

 the labour of the zoologist. First there is the 

 shipping trade; for, of course, all specimens from 

 foreign lands are brought by sea. The chemist 

 supplies preservative substances, and reagents 

 used in the preparation of objects for the micro- 

 scope. The construction of microscopes is a 

 profession in itself, and one which employs many 

 industries; for the making of a microscope in- 

 cludes not only the work of the optician, but 

 also that of the artificer in brass, and of many 

 other handicraftsmen. The glass-worker supplies 

 "slides," that is to say, the thin pieces of glass 

 upon which objects for the microscope are placed, 

 and " cover-slips," the little sheets of thinner 

 glass which are laid over them; and, besides 

 these, the bottles in which specimens are placed. 

 Then comes the microtome, already spoken of, 

 by means of which sections for the microscope 

 are cut ; how many skilled workmen have been 

 engaged in the construction of its parts! Shef- 

 field, perhaps, has supplied the razor which it 



