1898.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 63 



seem to injure the tissue, at least it does not when the 

 object in view is to obtain a pretty section. For techni- 

 cal histological purposes it is prudent to examine the 

 specimen in its natural state. Some of the planes used 

 by carpenters when in skilful hands will produce elegant 

 thin sections. The suggestion of boiling may, however, 

 prove useful, and be capable of extentnve application. 



SciEJS^TiFic Names: — Scientific names constitute an 

 universal language. One may read scientific works in 

 other languages than his own and not have to translate 

 the names of plants or animals. If there have arisen 

 several names for the same object the rule is to select the 

 earliest published. In the Smithsonian report of 1895, 

 page 469, it is said : " There is nothing whatever of an 

 ethical character inherent in a name, which should render 

 it morally obligatory upon any one to accept one name 

 rather than another. The rigid application of the prin- 

 ciple involves the assumption that all persons who de- 

 scribe plants are equally competent to the task." Speak- 

 ing of the change of Magnolia grandifolia into Magnolia 

 foetida, the author says: "It is difficult to see what is 

 gained by making it, except to render systematic botany 

 ridiculous." 



Rhizoselinia eriensis. — This diatom is classed under 

 Appendiculatffi and is described: Frustule, elongate, 

 subcylindrical, marked with transverse or spiral lines, 

 ends oblique or conical with one or more terminal bristles; 

 marine. To an unscientific person it resembles a butcher's 

 cleaver, sometimes with two handles, one on the upper 

 and one at the lower extremity, and the markings re- 

 semble the teeth of two saws, with the teeth of one fitted 

 into the teeth of the other. Though labeled marine it is 

 found abundantly in the fresh waters of the great lakes. 

 It is, never the less, a marine diatom. Its presence in 

 the great glacial lakes is strong proof that the ocean once 



