1884.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



83 



ened metal, about i^ inches in diam- 

 eter, an extension of which in the form 



Fig. i8.— Dr. Ward's Eye-shade. 



of a band half an inch wide crosses in 

 front of the nose of the observer, but 

 quite out of the way, and encircles the 

 top of the draw tube or compound 

 body just Vjelow the ocular. As now 

 used, this shade is made of hard rub- 

 ber, which is of light weight and suit- 

 ably dark color, is less adapted than 

 metal to scratch the brass-work with 

 which it comes in contact, and is so 

 elastic as to be applicable to a consid- 

 erable variety of tubes. The same 

 shade, for instance, can be used on 

 tubes of from i to i^ in., or from i^ 

 to if, the best fit being of a size mid- 

 way between the two extremes. Be- 

 sides this range of easy adaptation to 

 various instruments, this eye-shade 

 differs from the best hitherto in use in 

 its attachment to the body instead of 

 the ocular, by which it is brought to 

 an advantageous distance from the 

 face, and is retained in position as 

 long as the instrument is in use, in- 

 stead of being removed with the ocu- 

 lar and requiring a fresh application 

 every time that that is changed. It is 

 reversible by simply turning it over, 

 and can thus be instantly transferred 

 from the left to the right eye, accord- 

 ing to the observer's custom of using 

 either eye habitually or both in suc- 

 cession. It is equally applicable to 

 stands whose construction does not 

 admit of its being slipped over the 

 tube from the top, the spring ring at 

 the right of the figure being in such 

 cases made partly open so as to spring 

 on from the side. It is now made, of 

 any required size, by the Bausch and 

 Lomb Optical Co., of Rochester, N. 

 Y., and is cheap as well as useful. 



Troy, N. Y. 



Blue Staining. 



In the June number of the Jour- 

 nal for 1883, I gave some account of 

 remarkable effects produced by a 

 blue stain made of rosanilin, anilin 

 oil, and sulphuric acid. vSince the 

 publication of that article I have used 

 the stain constantly. For a double 

 stain with carmine I do not think it 

 has an equal. 



The object of this brief article, 

 however, is to call attention to the 

 fact that it gives surprisingly fine re- 

 sults with micrococci, bacteria, ba- 

 cilli, etc. Whether the mount is in 

 balsam or glycerin, the result is ex- 

 cellent, though the glycerin mounts 

 are, in some respects, preferable. I 

 have some of the Bacillus tubercu- 

 losis stained with the blue and 

 mounted in glycerin, which stand 

 out full and round, the best and most 

 natural showing of them I have yet 

 seen. 



By rapidly staining with the blue 

 and drving the slide, then mounting 

 in balsam, I have succeeded in get- 

 ting the bacilli white on a blue 

 ground. Some of the best results 

 have been secured with B. termo, vib- 

 rio and spirillutn forms, especially 

 when mounted in fluid. In some 

 cases the spores have swarmed from 

 the zooglea mosses, and arranged 

 themselves on the cover-glass like 

 myriads of blue dots. 



Following a suggestion in the re- 

 port of methods of work at the zoo- 

 logical station, Naples, I immersed a 

 number of slides in a pond or bog- 

 hole, and let the fungi, algae, des- 

 mids, infusoria, etc., attach them- 

 selves to them, and then I let a few 

 drops of the blue stain flow over 

 them and mounted in fluid. The re- 

 sult has been all that the most enthu- 

 siastic student could ask. 



It may be of interest to the readers 

 of the Journal to know of my 

 method of suspending the slides in 

 the water. I first got a small wooden 

 hoop, then suspended from it a num- 

 ber of the American clip clothes-pins. 



