328 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Oct. 



EDITORIAL. 



Benjamin F. Quinby, of Chicag"o, died suddenly at Gos- 

 hen, Ind., July IS, 1897, ag"ed 02 years. He was born in 

 Concord, N. H. and moved to Chicag^o in 1853, havin^i^ pre- 

 viously been in a wholesale g"rocery in Philadelphia, b^or 

 twenty years past he has been in em])l()y of b'uller, l'\iller 

 & Co.^ 



He was active in scientific matters and was one of the 

 oldest members and at one time president of the Illinois 

 State Microscopical society. He was also a member of the 

 Academy of Science of Philadelphia, and that of Chicag-o, 

 and of the Royal Microscopical society of London. He was 

 well known as an entomologist and his microscopical prep- 

 arations on insects were known in many other places than 

 Chicag-o. 



Life in Diamonds. — Professor von Schoen, of the fac- 

 ulty of Naples University, and Professor Edward Von 

 Hoist of the Chicago University, pi'opose to obliterate the 

 line of demarkation between the organic world and dia- 

 monds. They have made photomicrographs, which views, 

 says the Mineral Collector, sliow the crystal in its birth, 

 the head showing forth from the mother crystal, and the 

 course is followed as it pushes out and away. The crys- 

 tal meets another one from a different motlier. The two 

 strike at each other, they tight, strive and clasp with each 

 other. It is a case of the survival of the fittest. One 

 must die. No two crystals from the sanii' mother ever 

 fight, however, no matter where they meet. 



MICROSCOPICAL APPARATUS. 



Photo-Micrography. The following is jierhaps the 

 most simple method of doing what isrecjuired. Take a 

 smo()thly-i)laned board about Mi. bv <>in. l)y K'"-* and 

 straight down the center there(.f cut a slotabout 2ft. long 

 by >4in. wide, and lastlv, aftix on the under side, at each 

 extreme end, a fillet about I'jin. wide by '^in. thick to 

 strengthen the board and raise it slightly from the sur- 



