Sept. i6, 1875] 



NATURE 



433 



those interested in the subject. The object of the paper 

 was to show that for high furnaces it was unnecessary to 

 calcine the limestone before using it. 



Mr. W. Hackney read a paper on the designing of 

 ingot moulds for steel rail ingots. Mr. Hackney has 

 designed a mould in which the outside is rounded, the 

 thickness of the metal being so adjusted at different parts 

 of the circumference that the expansion under heat should 

 be equal all round. This form has given satisfactory 

 results, one proof of its correctness being that when it 

 becomes heated to redness by an ingot of steel cast in it, 

 the temperature of the outside is apparently equal all 

 round. 



Mr, Charles Wood described some improvements made 

 by him in the hearths of blast furnaces. Another paper 

 by Mr. Lowthian Bell described Mr. W. Price's retort 

 furnace. In Mr. Price's furnace the temperature of the 

 air, as well as that of the gaseous and fixed constituents 

 of the coal, is raised by the waste heat before it enters 

 the chimney. Mr. Price cannot compete with the Siemens 

 furnace as regards intensity of temperature, but he avoids 

 the loss which occurs in the gas-producers of the regene- 

 rative furnaces. 



A paper by Mr. C. J. Horner, on the North Staffordshire 

 Coalfields, had to be considerably curtailed, and two other 

 papers had to be taken as read, in order that the excursion 

 programme might be carried out. Indeed, one of the 

 chief objects of the autumn meeting of the Institute is to 

 visit places of interest from an industrial point of view, 

 and hence the number of papers read is generally limited. 

 This year the visits and excursions were very numerous 

 indeed to industrial establishments in and around Man- 

 chester, and all of them seem to have been completely 

 successful. Our space does not permit us to give a 

 detailed account of these excursions, although many 

 of the processes witnessed by the visitors were of con- 

 siderable scientific interest. The meeting was brought 

 to a successful termination on Friday by a visit, which 

 formed, indeed, a hard day's work, to the North Stafford- 

 shire iron and coal district. From first to last the 

 members of the Institute have good reason to be satisfied 

 with the Manchester meeting. 



In conclusion, we must express a hope that ere long 

 our other great industries will follow the example of 

 the iron and steel trade in forming their own special 

 technological Institutes and holding meetings and pub- 

 lishing records of similar character and value to those •f 

 the Iron and Steel Institute. 



RUTHERFORD'S ''PRACTICAL HISTOLOGY" 

 Outlines of Practical Histology. By William Ruther- 

 ford, M.D. (London : J. and A. Churchill, 1875.) 

 OF the different methods whereby the standard of 

 scientific education is capable of being elevated, 

 few will not place foremost the extension of theoretical 

 studies into first principles and collateral branches which 

 have a bearing, ever so little as it may appear to be, on 

 the main subject. How much, for instance, does physio- 

 logy suffer from a deficiency in mathematical and physical 

 knowledge on the part of many of its most enthusiastic 

 devotees. A wider general acquaintance with chemistry 

 would, also, not be out of place. Practical aptitude and 



experience no doubt stand next in importance. A mas- 

 tery of the methods by which what is already known has 

 been arrived at cannot but be one of the best trainings 

 for original investigation. How many a valuable sugges- 

 tion has been allowed to drop undeveloped, simply 

 because of a want of manipulatory skill on the part of the 

 deviser, whose love for the conception of his own brain is 

 the only sufficient stimulus towards the realisation of its 

 importance, and the working out of its details. All 

 attempts to raise the standard and develop facilities for 

 practical education deserve special attention. The work 

 before us is one of the best of these. 



The Notes on Practical Histology were published origi- 

 nally in the Quarterly Microscopical Journal for January 

 1 872. Several additions have been made, and various fresh 

 methods have been introduced. As it stands, the work 

 contains all the information on the subject necessary for 

 the student of medicine ; and we are certain that anyone 

 who has mastered its details will be in a fit position to 

 undertake high special investigation under favourable 

 auspices. It is evident in every page that Prof. Rutherford 

 is thoroughly master of every method he explains, as 

 much from the minuteness of the detail into which he 

 enters, as from the manner in which matter the least 

 irrelevant is omitted. This is nowhere better seen than 

 in the sections devoted to the "preparation of tissues 

 previous to their examination," which, within a {Q\i pages, 

 states exactly what is to be done in the way of prepara- 

 tion and preservation with the body of an animal, such as 

 a guinea-pig, in order that all its tissues and organs, ex- 

 tending to such minutiae as the structure of the cochlea, 

 shall be in a condition most favourable for detailed inves- 

 tigation. 



The book is divided into two parts. The first of these 

 treats of the microscope itself, together with the method 

 of using it ; which account is followed by a series of his- 

 tological demonstrations, explaining the manner in which 

 each tissue and organ of the body must be manipulated 

 in order to show its minute anatomical features. The 

 following is an example under the head of Nerve Tissue. 

 "The fibrillar structure of the processes of nerve-cells 

 may be shown as follows. Cut the fresh spinal cord of a 

 calf into pieces about a quarter of an inch in length. 

 Place these for a month in a one per cent, potass, bichrom. 

 solution. Remove a thin slice of the grey matter of the 

 anterior horn with scissors, tease with needles, stain with 

 carmine, and mount in glycerine." Among other special 

 processes described, we find a novel one devised by Dr. 

 William Stirling for exhibiting the structure of skin, 

 which consists in partly digesting it, when stretched, in 

 an artificial peptic fluid, and then staining. By so doing 

 " the white fibrous-tissue swells up and becomes extremely 

 transparent, thus permitting of a clear view of the other 

 tissues." Dr. Urban Pritchard's method of exhibiting 

 the structure of the organ of Corti is also fully explained. 



The second part of the book consists of general consi- 

 derations regarding histological methods. In it the rela- 

 tions of the tissues to surrounding media, the methods of 

 hardening tissues (including the employment of the excel- 

 lent freezing microtome introduced by the author) and of 

 softening them, are fully explained ; as well as are the 

 composition of the best staining fluids, and the most 

 efficient means of preserving microscopic preparations. 



