1898.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 147 



rice. [13] Ferrocyanide of potassium, 1 ; water, 100. 

 Gives a redish tint with flour of other substances con- 

 taminated with copper salts. [14] Fuchsin, 1 ; alcohol, 

 100 ; stains various tissues, notably those of pepper. [15] 

 Chlor-iodide of zinc, 1 ; water, 50. Reacts like potassium 

 iodide. [16] Solution of ammonia, 1 ; water, 20. Acts like 

 No. 5, and g-ives blue tint with copper. — Journ. de Pharm. 

 [6], vi., 228. 



In Botany. — Prof. Pierce in an article on the scope of 

 botany says : The microscopic study of plants leads us to 

 the most fundamental questions of biolog-y. By micros- 

 copic study a botanist discovered that all org-anisms are 

 composed of cells and that these cells are minute masses 

 of a viscid substance called protoplasm. So much alike 

 are the microscopic processes in the animal and veg^etable 

 king-doms that much lig'ht is thrown upon the g-reat ques- 

 tions of the influence of parents on offspring-, of heredity, 

 of descent, of development, by the microscopic stud}^ of 

 the phenomena of fertilization and development among- 

 plants. The microscopic study of the purely veg-etative 

 as disting-uished from the reproductive parts of plants 

 reveals certain mechanical principles of structure which 

 eng-ineers are now just beg-inning- to follow in their build- 

 ing-s, especially those constructed of materials which in 

 larg-e masses resemble in physical qualities those micros- 

 copic elements of which plant structures are composed. 

 The study of structure whether macroscopic or micros- 

 copic leads us to investig-ate the functions of the parts. 

 This study of functions is physiolog-y. The first know- 

 ledg-e of bacteria came throug-h the botanists. The 

 methods "employed in studying" and combatting- them were 

 first sug-g-ested by botanists. Precision in the manufac- 

 ture and the uniform quality of the product of bread, 

 cheese, vineg-arand beer have come only in recent decades 

 when microscopic org-anisms upon which these processes 

 depend have become known and have become reg-ularly 

 raised like wheat or cattle. Similar methods will be 

 obtained shortly in the production of wnne and in the 

 curing- of tobacco. 



