32 



THE AMEKIOAN MONTHLY 



[February, 



graphs of the bacteria of disease, and 

 a Siebert's camera ; but we must not 

 further particularize. 



EDITORIAL. 



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Vol. V (1884), Nos. 2-12, $1.00. 



Beading of Amphipleura. — 

 Doubtless many of our readers, es- 

 pecially those who read foreign jour- 

 nals, have of late heard more or less 

 about the beaded structure of ^. pel- 

 lucida. Dr. Van Heurck has been 

 trying to photograph the beads, w^hich 

 he claims to see, but with only indif- 

 ferent success. Not much has been 

 said in these columns about the mat- 

 ter, for the reason that we have not 

 been quite prepared to accept all that 

 has been said about the visible bead- 

 ing on the frustules. 



It was our good fortune to have 

 the pleasure of meeting Prof. Hamil- 

 ton Smith during our recent visit to 

 New York. We happened to meet 

 in Mr. Woolman's store, where there 

 was an opportunity for a few words 

 about microscopy in general and his 

 own recent work in particular. Prof. 

 Smith freely expressed his doubts as 

 to the reality of'any beaded structure 

 of the A. -pelhicida which he had 

 seen. Being well acquainted with 

 the Spencers, whose objectives he 

 regards as equal to any in the world, 

 and having the assistance of their 

 skill in manipulation, being also, 

 as we all know, himself a skilful 

 operator, it would seem scarcely 

 credible that a true beaded structure 



could escape their united efforts to 

 discover it. 



We hope to give a summary of Dr. 

 Van Heurck's observations before 

 long. When his photographs are 

 published microscopists will be able 

 to foi-m an opinion of what he has 

 observed. At present their attitude 

 must be one of doubt concerning the 

 reality of the appearance. Prof. 

 Hamilton Smith asserts that he can 

 at any time show a beaded appear- 

 ance, which is purely an illusion, and 

 is visible even with a ;|^-inch objective. 

 The diatoms coated with silver, pre- 

 pared by Dr. A. Y. Moore, which 

 Dr. Van Heurck has used, have 

 failed to show any peculiarity of 

 marking in the hands of other com- 

 petent observers. We look with 

 great interest to the forthcoming pho- 

 tographs. 



o 



Postal Club Boxes. — Box D^ 

 reached us December i6th, with the 

 following preparations : — 



1. Internal organs of beetle. Dr. 

 W. W. Munson. Preparation made 

 by S. N. Cowles. 



2. Frond of fern showing sporan- 

 gia, etc. E. L. Cheeseman. 



3. Transverse section of stomach of 

 frog. G. W. Worcester. Stained 

 with eosin. Evenly cut but rather 

 thick section. 



4. Child's kidney, stained section, 

 C. K. Wells. Not a very even sec- 

 tion, but some parts show well. 



5. Vertical section of tea-leaf. 

 Fred. T. Aschman. A very interest- 

 ing section ; but its points of special 

 interest should have been mentioned 

 in the letter accompanying the box. 



6. Transverse section of cat's 

 tongue, injected. A. T. Veeder. 

 This is the most attractive specimen of 

 all to look at under the microscope, 

 although not very neatly mounted. 



Not one of the preparations in this 

 box are described, and they do not 

 possess the interest to the club they 

 might otherwise have. We trust 

 that as new slides are put in the boxes 

 this year there will be a general im- 



