ANIMAL LIFE AND THE MICROSCOPE 



the details of animal structure it is necessary to 

 have acquired sufficient skill to cut sections. They 

 cannot, however, be cut so easily as is the case with 

 plant sections. The various parts of animals are 

 either so hard, e.g., bones and teeth, that they must 

 be treated almost as pieces of rock and rubbed down 

 till they are transparent, or they are so soft that 

 they require soaking in various chemicals to make 

 them harder and even then it is usually necessary 

 to imbed them, i.e., surround them with some easily 

 melted substance which sets moderately hard, such 

 as paraffin wax. Cutting sections of animal parts 

 is beyond the average amateur. 



The feathers of birds make beautiful objects for 

 the microscope. For those microscopists who desire 

 beauty of colour rather than details of structure 

 it is hard to beat the glorious shades of certain 

 feathers beneath the microscope. To obtain the 

 best effect a fairly low magnification should be used 

 and all manner of lighting thrown upon the object, 

 for we have all seen the feather which appears drab 

 at one angle is of the greatest brilliance at another. 

 Various feathers and from various parts of birds 

 should be examined, if we desire to understand their 

 structure. Each feather consists of a vast number of 

 cells but it is improbable that we shall be able to 

 prove this statement by the examination of any 

 large feather. We must take a down feather, notice 

 carefully the arrangement of its various parts, for 

 it will be interesting to compare this soft, weak 

 feather with a comparatively strong flight feather 



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