216 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [September, 



by systematically numbering the trays, that is, have No. i at the ex- 

 treme left end, and No. I3 at the extreme right end of the cabinet as 

 it faces you when opened, etc., you can easily find any number, whether 

 laid in with regard to rotation or not ; Nos. 5 and 6 would be nearly 

 the centre, and so on. I have discovered one serious objection, how- 

 ever, to this form. A great many visitors have a curiosity to see the 

 slides not under the microscope, and they handle them ruthlessly. 

 Further, it is not adapted to moving, at all. 



No. 3805^, those small green boxes, holding 25 or 26 each, with 

 folding covers, are what I have settled down to, after trying all styles. 

 I claim more good points for these than any other cabinet. They re- 

 quire a black walnut box made out of quarter-inch stuff, with open 

 front, to hold six of the green boxes, with a division for each three 

 boxes, just the right width, with_ about an inch to spare at the top. It 

 costs but a trifle. In this way you have 150 slides in a verv conven- 

 ient shape to handle at any time. Little or no dust gets in to the ob- 

 jects. There is plenty of room for cataloguing, which should be done 

 alphabetically. If you desire to make a change you have only to paste 

 a piece of paper over the old catalogue. Your objects lie flat : they 

 make a neat appearance. You can pack them as they are, and when 

 you come to unpack, you have only to remove the cotton, and with 

 proper labels the imtnen^e amount of 'W07'k I'equired to keep up your 

 catalogue work is entirely saved for more useful labor. The inside 

 box should be numbered on the end ; the outside on the front. Use 

 your own taste as to the color of the labels and the number of them, 

 only have them uniform. Four labels do very well. 



For illustration, on one of my boxes I find. Polar, , Minerals, 



No. 7 Powers, one inch and half inch. 



My labels inside are divided into several columns, one column for 

 the mounter, one for the object, another for the country, another in 

 some case, as in diatoms, for the number of striae, the number in a 

 group, etc., and, at the extreme right of all, I have placed the value of 

 each slide. Now, supposing I wish to look at a section of serpentine, 

 I do not require any catalogue to tell me it is " Polar Mmeral." The 

 boxes arranged alphabetically, no matter how many one has, it is readily 

 found. Upon opening the box the objects being arranged alphabeti- 

 cally I have only to look under the letter "S" to find "Serpentine." 

 Where, as in diatoms, one might have several boxes, they may be 

 divided into " Diatoms — A to C," etc. With this arrangement one need 

 never have over 25 objects on the table at one time. The edges of the 

 slides — all that shows — are not very attractive to a visitor, and therefore 

 your slides are safer, etc., and after experimenting in a variety of 

 ways I have arrived at the conclusion that these little 35-cent cabinets 

 are preferable to all others. Some of rny friends have abandoned the 

 more expensive ones after seeing my arrangement. 



It seems hardly necessary to again call attention to the importance 

 of slides lying flat. These boxes must stand on end like books in a 

 book-case. I saw a whole collection of fine slides in the office of an 

 experienced microscopist in the city of Detroit, in these very same 

 boxes, but lying upon their edges, as they happened to fit the doctor's 

 secretary in that shape. It may be no harm, therefore, to repeat the 

 warning. ^ 



