388 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Dec 



and arterial motion and the chang-es going- on in the white 

 cells, are of great interest. They indicate something of 

 the nature of life and disease. The stream of circulating 

 human blood is so swift that the eye cannot keep pace with 

 it, and the changes in the white blood cells are correspond- 

 ingly rapid. Some of the pictures show a white cell on 

 the fast moving stream, like a white cap on the sea, con- 

 stantly changing its shape. It throws out or takes in its 

 arms like an octopus, seizing the microbes in its path. In 

 disease this movement of the arms takes place with much 

 less energ-y than in health. These pictures cannot fail to 

 be of great value in the study of diseases. The micromo- 

 toscope will greatly aid in the investigation of phenomena 

 of action of ameboid life in water. — Elect. Age. 



MICROSCOPICAL MANIPULATION. 



Mounting Chara.^ — A. Flatters finds that the fruit of 

 chara makes a good slide when mounted in glycerin jelly. 

 After cleaning he places it in 92 per cent alcohol for sev- 

 eral hours, then transfers into a mixture of equal parts of 

 spirit and glycerin for several hours longer, after which 

 he pours off nearly all of the mixture and adds pure gly- 

 CL-rin at intervals till the glycerin becomes concentrated. 

 Finally the object is mounted in gl3'cerin jelly in a cavity 

 sli]) just deep enough to take it without pressure. A sec- 

 ond method is to mount in balsam, as follows: — After 

 cleaning, graduate through 25 per cent, 50 per cent, to 92 

 percent alcohol and allow to stand in the last strength for 

 several hours. Take a tube and put in it oil of cloves. On 

 the top of the oil pour a little absolute alcohol. Immerse 

 thf specimen gently in the alcohol and allow it to sink to 

 the bottom of the tube. When clear mount in balsam and 

 benzole. If transferred direct from the spirit into oil of 

 cloves, objects will shrivel and be spoiled, hence the nec- 

 essity of the graduating method. To see the antheridia 

 properly, sections should be made. — Science Gossip., iv., 88. 



Vegetable Sections. — The best results are obtained by 

 tirst bleaching the tissues, and the best agent for this pur- 



