1882.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOUENAL. 



97 



Improvements in Microscopes. — 

 Mr. W. H. Bulloch has been con- 

 stantly improving his stands and ad- 

 ding some ingenious devices during 

 the past year. He has made several 

 " Biological " stands with rack and 

 pinion to the sub-stage. He has made 

 a supplementary stage for use in ar- 

 ranging diatoms, which is doubtless 

 very useful for that purpose. It fits 

 into the substage-ring and a stem 

 projects up through the hole in the 

 main stage. Upon the stem there is 

 an arrangement like a double nose- 

 piece, which carries two glass slips. 

 One of the slips is intended to carry 

 the material from which the diatoms 

 are to be selected; the other the pre- 

 pared slide upon which they are to be 

 mounted. The two slips can be 

 moved about independently upon 

 their supports. The hair or bristle, 

 is mounted on the mechanical stage. 

 The slide carrying the material is first 

 focussed, the diatom picked up, the 

 supplementary stage is turned until 

 the clean slide is in focus, when the 

 diatom is placed in position. 



For a long time Mr. Bulloch has 

 discarded the indefinite system of 

 marking oculars by letters, and has 

 designated his by their focal length, 

 or magnifying power. 



o 



The Microscope Trade. — That 

 there are certain principles which 

 must never be lost sight of in the suc- 

 cessful conduct of business, no argu- 

 ment is needed to prove. When a 

 number of persons are rivals in busi- 

 ness, it is not always true that the 

 one who does the largest trade is the 

 most successful ; but those who, pur- 

 suing a conservative and even course, 

 ma;king every sale more than pay the 

 expenses incurred in effecting it, are, 

 in the long run, the ones who find 

 business profitable. Not only is such 

 a course best for the merchant, but it 

 is sure to prove most satisfactory to 

 the customers. 



It is a lamentable fact that all who 

 are engaged in the microscope trade 

 in this country, have not appreciated 



the application of these facts, and of 

 a few others which are quite as self- 

 evident. 



The microscope trade'here should 

 be more profitable than it is to-day. 

 It has been injured by a neglect of 

 proper business principles, not to say 

 by unfair dealing. We regret ] ^the 

 fact, because good business leads to 

 rapid improvement in manufactured 

 articles. Legitimate competition ben- 

 efits both merchant and purchaser, 

 but to undersell a competitor for the 

 sake of securing custom, is not fair 

 business, and the effect upon the cus- 

 tomer is not good for the seller. 



It is customary for dealers in mi- 

 croscopes to sell to colleges'at a dis- 

 count from list-prices. This is proper 

 enough, but when professors in col- 

 leges assume the role of dealers, and 

 sell to students and others on the 

 same terms, the effect is most unfor- 

 tunate. Manufacturers are respon- 

 sible for the custom, and no doubt it 

 originated in over-production. The 

 market has been overstocked with 

 microscopes. We have been informed 

 of some dealers who make it a prac- 

 tice to sell microscopes to indivi- 

 duals, at ten and twenty per cent, 

 off the catalogue prices. Perhaps 

 this is none of our business. We 

 think it is, however. It is to our 

 interest to expose abuses in the mi- 

 croscope trade, just as much as it is 

 to prevent, as far as possible, the sale 

 of inferior and useless microscopes. 

 '* A word to the wise is| sufficient " 

 — sometimes. 



Life in a Jar of Water. — Look- 

 ing over some jars of water a few 

 days ago, that had been standing for 

 months in a window, one of them, a 

 quart specie-jar having J a single 

 growing spray of Nitella, with some 

 vegetable debris at the bottom, was 

 found to contain hundreds of hydras, 

 attached to the sides and to the plant. 

 These were the progeny of about half a 

 dozen specimens that were placed in 

 the jar a couple of months previously. 

 By occasionally feeding the animals 



