1898.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 147 



rice. [13] Ferrocyanide of potassium, 1 ; water, 100. 

 Gives a redish tint with flour or other substances con- 

 taminated with copper salts. [14] Fuchsin, 1 ; alcohol, 

 100 ; stains various tissues, notably those of pepper. [15] 

 Chlor-iodide of zinc, 1 ; water, 50. Reacts like potassium 

 iodide. [16] Solution of ammonia, 1 ; water, 20. Acts like 

 No. 5, and g-ives blue tint with copper. — Journ. de Pharm. 

 [6], vi., 228. 



In Botany. — Prof. Pierce in an article on the scope of 

 botany says : The microscopic study of plants leads us to 

 the most fundamental questions of biolog-y. By micros- 

 copic study a botanist discovered that all org-anisms are 

 composed of cells and that these cells are minute masses 

 of a viscid substance called protoplasm. So much alike 

 are the microscopic processes in the animal and vegetable 

 king"doms that much light is thrown upon the great ques- 

 tions of the influence of parents on offspring, of heredity, 

 of descent, of development, by the microscopic study of 

 the phenomena of fertilization and development among 

 plants. The microscopic study of the purely vegetative 

 as distinguished from the reproductive parts of plants 

 reveals certain mechanical principles of structure which 

 engineers are now just beginning to follow in their build- 

 ings, especially those constructed of materials which in 

 large masses resemble in physical qualities those micros- 

 copic elements of w^hich plant structures are composed. 

 The study of structure whether macroscopic or micros- 

 copic leads us to investigate the functions of the parts. 

 This study of functions is physiology. The first know- 

 ledge of bacteria came through the botanists. The 

 methods employed in studying and combatting them were 

 first suggested by botanists. Precision in the manufac- 

 ture and the uniform quality of the product of bread, 

 cheese, vinegar and beer have come only in recent decades 

 when microscopic organisms upon which these processes 

 depend have become known and have become regularly 

 raised like wheat or cattle. Similar methods will be 

 obtained shortly in the production of wine and in the 

 curing of tobacco. 



