1885.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



57 



when it may be transferred to a test- 

 tube culture. 



' (/;) The test-tube culture is made 

 in test-tubes tilled as above described, 

 about one-third of their length, and 

 stopped by cotton- wool. 



' The vaccination is made by taking 

 seed on a platinum wire sterilized by 

 heat and thrusting it into the gelatin 

 about an inch. In their growth many 

 germs build characteristic forms. 



' Although no books give the inform- 

 ation, it is to be noted that in making 

 the vaccination the test-tube should 

 be held inclined and with the motith 

 downwards when open, so that no 

 outside germs may fall in from the 

 air. 



' For certain culture gelatin has the 

 disadvantage of melting at a com- 

 paratively low degree, and when a 

 higher one is necesary aga-aga or 

 blood serum is used. 



' Aga-aga is prepared like gelatin. 



'Blood serum is prepared by filling 

 sterilized test-tubes one-third deep 

 with clear serum from the blood of 

 an ox or sheep, and cooking in the 

 steam sterilizer at 135° F. (58° C.) 

 for two or three hours. During this 

 time the test-tube should be inclined 

 at an angle of 45° to allow the serum 

 to solidify in this position, which gives 

 a much larger surface in the test-tube 

 for vaccination. (N. B. Aga-aga may 

 also be thus prepared.) The heating 

 should be repeated for five days, when 

 it is ready for vaccination with plati- 

 num wire.' 



— Microscopists should ahvays find de- 

 light in flower gardens. There is always 

 a rich field for study where there is a va- 

 riety of plants, some of them always 

 blooming and ripening their fruit through 

 the summer and autumn. Vick's ' Floral 

 Guide' for 1885 is a useful book of 150 

 pages, and 1000 illustrations of flowers, 

 plants and vegetables. It is a valuable 

 catalogue, from which one may make 

 choice selections of seeds, of most excel- 

 lent quality. Persons who are mounting 

 seeds for the microscope would do well to 

 send for a copy. It is sold for ten cents, 

 by Mr. James Vick, Rochester, New York. 



EDITORIAL. 



Publisher's Notices.— All communications, re- 

 mittances, exchanges, etc., should be addressed to the 

 Kditor, P. O. Box 630, Washington, D. C. 



Remittances should lie made by postal notes, money 

 orders, or by money sent in registered letters. Drafts 

 should be made payable in Washington, New York, 

 Boston, or Philadelphia. 



Subscription-price before April ist, Jii per year, in 

 ith ■ 

 After April ist the subscr 

 be $1.50. 



advance. All subscriptions begin with the Januarj' 

 number. After April ist the subscription-price will 



The regular receipt of the Journal, which is issued 

 on the 15th of each month, will be an acknowledgment 

 of payment. 



The first volume, 1880, is entirely out of print The 

 succeeding volumes will be sent by the publisher for 

 the prices given below, which are net. 



Vol. II (1881) complete, Ji 50. 



Vol III (1882) complete, 1^2.00. 



Vol. IV (1883) complete, ^1.50. 



Vol. V (1884) complete, JI1.50. 



Vol. V (1884), Nos. 2-12, Ji.oo. 



Proceedings American Society 

 OK Microscopists. — The Proceed- 

 inscs of the seventh annual meetin«r, 

 held at Rochester last year, were 

 published several weeks since, but 

 we have been unable to give them 

 earlier notice in this place. The 

 volume is an excellent one of 300 

 pages and five plates, with numerous 

 illustrations in the text. A poi'trait 

 of the late R. B. Tolles makes an 

 appropriate frontispiece. 



The articles published are not all 

 of the highest degree of scientific 

 value, but there is enough reading 

 that is good and useful to make the 

 volume worthy of a place in every 

 library of microscopical works. We 

 do not wish to be critical, but it is 

 only proper to say that there are one 

 or two articles published in the vol- 

 ume before us which have nothing 

 more to recommend them than that 

 they were read before the Society. 

 We doubt very much if the publica- 

 tion of such papers does, in any way, 

 encourage, or act as an incentive to, 

 careful scientific work. It seems a 

 pity that the Committee on Publica- 

 tion should not exercise discretion, 

 and publish in full only articles of 

 scientific value, letting the others go 

 in by title or short abstracts. 



The work of the committee has 

 been done as quickly as could be 

 reasonably expected, and as a whole 

 it has been done very well indeed. 



