1882.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



75 



paraffine-oil, turpentine, etc., to soft- 

 en the parafifine, renders it granular 

 and brittle, and is decidedly injurious 

 in its cutting qualities. 



EDITORIAL. 



Subscriptions. — Remittances for subscrip- 

 tion should be made by post-office money-order, by 

 drafts payable in New York, or in registered letters. 

 Money sent in any other way will be at the sender's 

 risk. A receipt will be immediately given for money 

 received by open mail. 



Synopsis of Rhizopods. — This 

 book has been greatly improved by 

 the addition of four lithograph plates, 

 illustrating each genus of fresh-water 

 rhizopods by at least one representa- 

 tive species. The price has, there- 

 fore, been raised to $i.oo, instead of 

 75 cents as heretofore. Every species 

 described by Prof. Leidy in his larger 

 work is also concisely described in 

 this book, and with the aid of the 

 plates it is believed that species can 

 be readily determined. Rhizopods 

 are so abundant, that they have only 

 to be looked for to be found, and 

 they afford an inexhaustible source 

 of pleasure to one who studies them 

 with care. 



Microscopical Laboratories. — 

 We are pleased to be able to publish 

 this month a contribution from Dr. 

 J. W. S. Arnold upon this subject. 

 That it is from an experienced teach- 

 er, no one can doubt who will read 

 the article carefully. We have nothing 

 to add to what he has written, but we 

 can say that the ideas expressed in 

 that contribution are precisely those 

 which we can most heartily commend 

 to the attention of every teacher. 

 Probably a wholly erroneous notion 

 of the cost of fitting up a suitable mi- 

 croscopical laboratory has deterred 

 many of our smaller medical colleges 

 from teaching histology with the aid 

 of microscopes ; and it is a disgrace 

 to the profession that so many hun- 

 dreds of " full-fledged " physicians 

 are graduated every year without 

 having looked through a microscope. 



Microscope-stands for laboratory 

 use can be bought by colleges for 

 about twenty or twenty-five dollars 

 each, and the two necessary objec- 

 tives, good enough ones too, need 

 not cost over that amount, so that 

 from forty to fifty dollars is enough 

 to buy such microscopes as are 

 required. 



o 



Photo-micrography. — The article 

 we publish this month upon this sub- 

 ject, calls the attention of microscop- 

 ists to the dry-plate process which is 

 sure to give a great impetus to the pho- 

 tographic delineation of microscopic 

 objects. The process is cleanly, and 

 eminently well-suited to the wants of 

 microscopists who cannot use the 

 pencil well. Next month we intend 

 to give another article on the subject, 

 in which full instructions for using 

 the dry-plate process will be found. 

 It now remains for some enterprising 

 manufacturer of photographic goods 

 to introduce an apparatus for micro- 

 scopical use, at a reasonable cost. 

 o 



The Microscope in Medicine. — 

 Perhaps it is not well to speak the 

 truth too plainly, but sometimes it has 

 a salutary effect. We have just al- 

 luded to the lamentable ignorance 

 concerning the microscope among 

 the graduates of medical colleges. 

 If any argument were needed to 

 convince the general reader of the 

 want of interest in practical micro- 

 copy among physicians, we would only 

 state that as a matter of business, we 

 have found that it does not pay to 

 send sample copies of this Journal 

 to the physicians in regular standing 

 in State or County medical societies. 

 On the other hand, it does pay to send 

 them to the addresses given in gene- 

 ral directories. We do not know how 

 many physicians there are in the 

 country, but if we had on our subscrip- 

 tion-list even five per cent, of the to- 

 tal number, we venture to say our 

 present list would be doubled. True, 

 this is not a medical publication, but 

 if the medical profession, as a whole, 



