292 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Oct. 



The merits claimed for the method and appliance is 

 the simplicity with which its different parts may be ster- 

 ilized ; ease of collection and transportation of numerous 

 samples, and facilities afforded for avoiding after-con- 

 taminations. 



Since the above was written, it has been found desir- 

 able that the apparatus should be even more compact of 

 form than described under the metal construction. A 

 number of these sampling pieces are now under construc- 

 tion in the Mechanical Department of the North Dakota 

 Agricultural College, to be of brass finish and compact 

 in form. 



Agricultural Experiment Station for North Dakota, August 20, 1895. 



The Processes of Life Revealed by the Microscope : A Plea 

 for Physiological Histology. 



By SIMON HENRY GAGE, 



ITHACA, N. Y. 



Presidential Address delivered before the American Microscopical Society, 

 Wednesday Evening, Aug. 21, 189.5. 



It is characteristic of the races of men that almost 

 at the dawn of reflection the first question that 

 presses for solution is this one of life; life as manifested 

 in men and in the animals and plants around them. What 

 and whence is it and whither does it tend? Then the 

 sky with its stars, the earth with its sunshine and storm, 

 light and darkness, stand out like great mountain peaks 

 demanding explanation. So in the life of every human 

 being, repeating the history of its race, as the evolution- 

 ists are so fond of saying, the fundamental questions 

 are first to obtrude themselves upon the growing in- 

 telligence. There is no waiting, no delay for trifling 

 with the simpler problems; the most fundamental and 

 most comprehensive come immediately to the fore and 

 alone seem worthy of consideration. But as age ad- 



