88 PICTURING MIRACLES 



of the glass ring with glycerine and on the cover slip 

 place a small amount of spirogyra, and insert it on 

 the glycerine smeared glass ring which will hold it 

 in place. That gives you the subject mounted in a 

 moist air chamber without being in the actual water, 

 which is in the lower side of the ring. 



I also found that under the low power lens and 

 on the mechanical stage you can move the subject 

 back and forth the width of the field, lower each 

 time, hunting for a filament in the right stage and 

 in an open clear space. If one is not found in the 

 first specimen I remembered the old instruction to 

 "try, try again" and did perhaps a dozen times, until 

 I was sure that in the lot there was no good ma- 

 terial. When I found what looked to be a likely spec- 

 imen, with the revolving stage I worked it around 

 until it occupied that part of the field of the camera 

 I wished; everything looking favorable now, I found 

 it advisable to remove the slide and put a couple of 

 drops of paraffin on each side so there was no dan- 

 ger of the cover glass slipping during the hours I 

 watched and photographed it. 



From this point on was simply a matter of looking 

 into the microscope at least every ten minutes, watch- 

 ing for any minute change in the male gamete. Just 

 as soon as it starts to gather itself together to cross its 

 cell toward the enlarged side of the cell wall, I put 



