1887.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 15 
large, 12 hours, and then transferring to paraffine at 60° C. The curling 
of the section, obviated by Dr. Reeves by a section flattener in the form of a 
piece of wire on the back of the knife, may be entirely prevented by varying 
the grade of paraffine, using hard in warmest atmosphere, and soft in coldest, 
also by varying the thinness of the section. We do not find any difficulty in 
section cutting from that source. 
We have not tried the mixture of collodion and oil of cloves recommended, 
but use one where the oil of cloves is in a much smaller proportion—1.4 instead 
of 1.20. The purpose of the oil of cloves is to keep the collodion in solution 
until the manipulator has had time to place all the sections on the slide, and 
the ratio of 1.4, or even less, affords ample time. 
We venture to say, after repeated experience, that the oil of turpentine 
cannot be removed with 95% alcohol, preparatory to staining, and that for 
this purpose an alcohol of higher proof is necessary. We prefer not to stain 
the section after cutting, but to stain the tissue in mass before imbedding.: 
This can be very successfully done with borax carmine, Kleinenberg’s hama- 
toxylin, and a number of other staining reagents. The method which Dr. 
Reeves has followed, as remarked in the article referred to above, is a tedious 
one, but with the modification we have suggested it has been followed by a 
number of histologists whom we know well with the best results, with the 
exception of the absolute alcohol hardening, when by most the corrosive 
sublimate, chromic acid, Miiller’s fluid, or some of the picric-acid methods are 
preferred for general purposes. But though it is a tedious method, it gives 
sections of the utmost thinness perfectly preserved, thoroughly and evenly 
and permanently stained, and well repays the careful worker for his pains. 
oO 
WE have received from the author, R. H. Ward, M. D., F.R.M.S., Troy, 
N. Y., 1886, pages of a ‘ catalogue of microscopical collection, with an 
appendix for long note, etc., and an alphabetical index.’ This catalogue, 
like others of its kind, gives a space for each number, blank spaces for the 
record. While itis a very convenient form for those who prefer the catalogue 
in bound form, it presents a defect which we consider to conflict with the best 
possible record of a microscopical preparation. That partof the record which 
refers to the specimen itself and its history receives the smallest portion of space 
of all the record. We conceive that for scientific purposes the treatment of 
the specimen from the time it is taken alive till it reaches its permanent resting 
place under a cover-glass is, by a long odds, the most important part of its 
history and most worthy of full record. We would see every catalogue of 
collections tell, in so far as it is to be most useful, just what fluids and just 
how long each fluid operated upon all animal and vegetable preparations. 
The record before us is far better than no record, and so far as it goes is 
good, and provides for the entry of many details too often neglected, but we 
would gladly see more importance attached here, and even in such records, 
to the history of the tissue itself. 
NOTES. 
— At a recent meeting of the Physiological Society of Berlin, in February last, Dr. 
Miillenhoff referred to a treatise by Kepler on the structure of the cells of bees. He 
treats the subject mathematically, as might be expected of the great astronomer. A 
fact was communicated at this meeting which is very interesting, and perhaps new to 
many. It is that when the bee has filled the cell, either with pure honey or a mixture 
of pollen-dough and honey, and has completed the lid, a drop of formic acid obtained 
from the poison bag connected with the sting is added to the honey by perforating the 
lid with the sting. Numerous experiments show that this formic acid preserves honey 
and every other sugar solution from fermentation. If this be well established it will 
