1881.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



179 



cated, and then, instead of the file or 

 diamond, have within easy reach on the 

 work-table an open box of pieces of gum- 

 med paper cut into squares of about ^ 

 inch. 



Whenever a slide is placed on the turn- 

 table, stick one of these pieces upon the 

 end of the slide in the clutch which has 

 the mark. It will thenceforward serve 

 the purpose of the proposed file mark, 

 and, what is of very great practical value, 

 that of a temporary label easily removed 

 to give place to the permanent label at 

 the finish of the slide. In the use of this 

 simple device, entering the record of the 

 object on this temporary label as soon as 

 mounted, there can be no danger of losing 

 memoranda, no matter how many slides 

 he may have " under way." 



J. T, Brownell. 



[A plan for marking slides temporarily 

 while mounting, which we have used with 

 perfect satisfaction for a long time, is to 

 use an ordinary ink mark. It is quite 

 practicable to write upon a slide with a 

 pen, and the ink will remain until it is 

 removed with a damp cloth. - Ed.] 



NOTES. 



— The value of the Microscope as an 

 aid to Mineralogy and Metallurgy is well 

 shown by an article recently published in 

 the Bulletin of the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, by M. E. Wadsworth, on the 

 Iron Ore of Iron-Mine Hill, Cumberland, 

 R. I. The Microscopical structure, taken 

 in connection with the minerals associated 

 with the ore, which is a titaniferous ma- 

 gnetite indicates that the rock is an erup- 

 tive formation, and the iron-worker cafi 

 now decide intelligently as to the best 

 method of working the ore. 



— Mr. Henry M. Douglass has begun 

 the publication of a translation of the 

 Botanishche Zeitung, edited by A. de 

 Bar>-, as a monthly at $2.50 per year, un- 

 der the name of Botanical News. We 

 would be pleased to see this enterprise 

 well supported by botanists throughout 

 the country, but we feel disposed to ask 

 why it is that the botanists, of whom there 

 are so many in the United States, do not 

 give more liberal support to the two bota- 

 nical journals, the Bulletin af the Torrey 

 Botanical Club, and the Botanical Ga- 

 zette, which are already well-founded ? 

 We are assured that the subscription-lists 

 of these papers are ridiculously small, 

 considering the number of botanists who 

 should take them, and the natural infe- 



rence is that our botanists are either all 

 extremely impecunious, or else that they 

 do not take much interest in the literature 

 of botany. The Botanical News is 

 published at Richland, N. Y. 



—Prof. R. P. Whitfield has published 

 a short article in The American Journal 

 of Science, in which he expresses the opi- 

 nion that the fossil remains found in the 

 Chumung rocks of this State, and else- 

 where, which are known as Dictyophyton, 

 heretofore regarded as algae, are pro- 

 bably the remains of sponges allied to 

 Euplectella, but rather less complex in 

 structure than the latter. Dr. J. W. Daw- 

 son, in a note appended to the article, 

 fully sustains this view, from the results of 

 his examination of a specimen furnished 

 by Prof. Whitfield. 



— Mr. J. Lee Smith, of this city, has 

 prepared some very attractive slides in 

 this manner : The glass slips are first 

 coated with photographer's " Granite var- 

 nish" by flowing, just as a plate is coated 

 with collodion in photography. This coat- 

 ing of varnish g^ves the slide the appear- 

 ance of finely ground glass. It is then 

 placed on the turn-table and, by means of 

 a knife-blade, the varnish is entirely re- 

 moved from a circular spot in the centre, 

 just large enough for the cell in which the 

 mount is to be preserved. The prepara- 

 tions we saw were mounted in glycerin, 

 and the clear and transparent cells were 

 made of Brown's rubber cement, which 

 Mr. Smith regards as a most excellent 

 cement, especially for glycerin mounts. 

 Imagine a slip of ground glass with a 

 transparent spot in the centre upon which 

 objects can be mounted, and one can thus 

 form an idea of the appearance of these 

 slides. 



— A writer in the Northern Microsco- 

 pist for August has given a short account 

 of various turn-tables, and describes one 

 which is capable of making either circular 

 or oval cells, and which can also be used 

 for cutting thin glass covers. Among the 

 turn-tables mentioned one of the best in 

 the market, the " Congress " of Mr. Bul- 

 loch, has been entirely overlooked, and 

 several of the later American forms have 

 been entirely ignored. 



— M. Nachet seems to have devised a 

 practicable method of attaching and re- 

 moving objectives without the use of 

 screws. The nose-piece of the microscope 

 is so arranged that by simply pulling down 

 upon it the objective can be slipped in 

 laterally, and it is then held in place by a 

 spring in the nose-piece. 



