CHOICE AND USE OF APPARATUS 



stem should be kept moist and to do so we will 

 place them in a watch glass containing water. It 

 is often easier, also, to cut our sections if the razor 

 be moistened with water, at anyrate the moisture 

 prevents the sections from adhering to the razor. 

 The sections should be removed from razor to watch 

 glass and from watch glass to slide, by means of 

 a brush, never by means of the fingers. The razor 

 of course, should be well dried with a soft rag before 

 it is put away ; rust, besides being unsightly, ruins 

 the cutting edge. If we are really anxious to cut 

 our own sections, and every good microscopist does 

 so, we shall return to the operation again and again, 

 even cutting objects which we have no desire to 

 examine, for the sake of the practice. We shall 

 soon reach a stage where our razor will be dulled 

 and require stropping and the efficient stropping of 

 a razor is, to many people, a more difficult operation 

 than the cutting of sections. 



We may point out here, that all sections are not 

 quite so easy to cut as the one we have taken as 

 our example. Some objects are so soft that they 

 need hardening with chemicals before they can be 

 cut, some are so hard that to attempt to cut them 

 would ruin the edge of the razor, though it is 

 wonderful what hard substances may be cut when 

 we have had a little experience; some are so deli- 

 cate that they must needs be buried in melted wax, 

 then object and wax are cut together and later the 

 wax is separated from the section. 



Leaves and very small stems may be sectioned 

 297 



