34 MICROSCOPY FOR BEGINNERS. 



evenly over the cell, and in disentangling and arranging 

 the parts of any comparatively large object, as well as 

 for lifting the thin cover from the cell so that it can be 

 easily seized by the fingers, or for tilting it up in the 

 box, where the thin squares should always be kept. 

 Fresh-water Algae (Chapter III.), for instance, found so 

 abundantly in almost all still water, where they often 

 form delicate green clouds, or thread-like streamers 

 adhering to other plants, dead leaves, or waterlogged 

 sticks, are almost sure to be transferred to the slip in a 

 heaped up and tangled mass, which only two needles 

 with gently persuasive movements can straighten out 

 for microscopic study. If an attempt is made to exam- 

 ine such a confused heap, the thin cover cannot be 

 forced to lie flat without crushing the delicate speci- 

 mens, and if the cover is tilted the objective cannot be 

 properly focussed. To make these useful tools, with 

 pliers thrust fine needles head first into parlor-matches, 

 after the phosphorous ends have been cut off. These 

 round sticks make handles convenient in length and 

 pleasant to use. It is well to have half a dozen or more 

 of these needle-bearing matches lying where they can 

 be picked up whenever wanted. If the student desires 

 to dissect insects, nothing can be so useful for cutting 

 and tearing minute parts and for separating delicate tis- 

 sues or organs as fine needles. !N~o knives have been 

 made to equal them for this purpose. 



The glass tube is the "dipping-tube." It is really 

 one of the most important little pieces of apparatus that 



