94 



THE AMERICAK MONTHLY 



[May, 



it undergoes no change, and shows, 

 at least as far as my own observation 

 is concerned, no deterioration after a 

 considerable time. It is undoubtedly 

 troublesome and expensive to prepare, 

 owing to the quantity of alcohol re- 

 quired, but when once obtained a lit- 

 tle of it goes so far that practically it 

 costs but little. 



'For use, a portion should be dis- 

 solved in distilled water to any re- 

 quired consistence, and passed twice 

 through filter-paper, which should 

 have been previously washed with 

 distilled water. It may then be placed 

 on the slips, drained, allowed to dry, 

 and the slips put away for use. In 

 this condition, and with ordinary pre- 

 cautions as to dust and damp, it may 

 be preserved indefinitely.' 



The objects that can be profitably 

 mounted in the cells described in 

 this article are innumerable. Fora- 

 minifera, polycystina, young oysters, 

 young echini, zoophytes, polyzoa, 

 leaves of plants with their wonderful 

 hairs, wing-cases of beetles, crystals 

 of many kinds ; in truth, the list vs^ould 

 soon grow too long to read. These 

 few examples will be suggestive of 

 many others, which are left for the 

 reader to find and prepare. 



A Home-made Revolving Table. 



BY F. T. HAZLEWOOD. 



In the December number is an ar- 

 ticle on a revolving table. I have 

 made one in this way : — 



I got a second-hand sewing-machine 

 table, which can be obtained from 

 dealers cheap. Then I took another 

 table-top which was raised about two 

 inches from the other by a moulding. 

 On the top of the first table I put a 

 piece of pine board one inch thick. 

 Into this I put three small castors up- 

 side down. I bored three holes in the 

 top of the other table, on radii, from a 

 common centre. Then I put top No. 

 2 over top No. i, so that the cas- 

 tors came above the surface about a 

 quarter of an inch. Through the 

 centre of both tables I bored another 



hole. Then I took a steel saw plate 

 into which the teeth had not been cut. 

 I had a hole bored in its centre and 

 two brass handles or pins put in op- 

 posite each other near the circum- 

 ference. This plate I fastened by a 

 pin with nuts on the table over the 

 three castors. The table is perfect. 

 I painted the steel plate. The drawer 

 of the first table on the side serves for 

 accessories. The whole thing cost 

 less than five dollars. The finished 

 table looks as though made for this 

 purpose and not for a sew^ing-machine. 



EDITORIAL. 



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Staining with Logwood. — Dr. 

 C. L. Mitchell has experimented to 

 obtain a perinanent and useful solu- 

 tion of haematoxylon for microscopi- 

 cal use, and his results are embodied 

 in an article published in the Proc. 

 Acad. N^at. Set. of Philadelphia. 

 Logw^ood is unquestionably an ex- 

 ceedingly useful coloring agent, but 

 the solutions as usually made become 

 cloudy and spoiled after a time. This 

 objection to them has been removed 

 by Dr. Mitchell, who prepares his so- 

 lution, which he has named ' Mitch- 

 ell's hematin staining fluid,' as fol- 

 lows : — 



Place two ounces of finely-ground 

 logwood in a funnel or percolator and 

 allow water to percolate through it 

 until the liquid that runs oft" is but 

 slightly colored. Then drain thor- 

 oughly and spread it out on a paper 

 or board to dry. 



Dissolve nine drachms of potash 

 alum in eight ounces of water, mac- 

 erate the logwood in this solution for 

 fortv-eight hours in the percolator, 



