1900] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 207 



Pus. — The following simple method for examining the 

 gonococci of purulent ophthalmia is suggested by Dr. W. 

 B. Canfield. A little of the pus is pressed between two 

 cover-glasses, which are then drawn apart. The glasses 

 are allowed to dry, and are quickly passed through a Bun- 

 sen flame to coagulata the albumen and to fix the pus. A 

 few drops of the ordinary methylene blue or violet are al- 

 lowed to cover the specimen for a few minutes and wash- 

 ed off, after which the specimen may be examined in wa- 

 ter or glycerine, or it may be dried and mounted in bal- 

 sam, which makes it more distinct. 



Bud Sections. — Sections of buds may be quickly pre- 

 pared for class demonstration by the following method. 

 Fix the specimen in the section cutter, wet it with alco- 

 hol, and slice off the sections, meanwhile keeping the knife 

 Hooded with alcohol. Place the specimens in alcohol tinged 

 with iodine green, and leave them there for several hours 

 until the solution becomes colorless. Next place them in 

 a solution of alcohol and eosin, and leave them till they 

 assume a pink color. Pass them through an alcohol bath, 

 immerse in clove oil a few minutes, and mount in balsam. 



Nature Study. — The curriculum of elementary schools 

 has recently undergone a much needed and welcome re- 

 form. The new code contains, inter alia, the ofiicial sanc- 

 tion of the Board of Education for the recognition of na- 

 ture study as a means of educating the children of the peo- 

 ple. This is a step in the right direction, for when chil- 

 dren are early taught the nature study of every-day life, 

 and become familiar with the common things in nature 

 around them, their ideas as to cause and efFebt in natural 

 phenomena will cease to be associated with superstition 

 and mystery, and the range of available information open 

 to them will be indefinitely extended. No education that 

 does not include a knowledge of the every-day piienomena 

 of nature can be regarded as complete; and as there is a 

 very wide range of the most essential and practical knowl- 



