1898.] BIICROSCOPICAL JOURlSrAL 183 



mount to an immersion mount and thereby g-reatly im- 

 proves it. It is, also, almost impossible to make a dry 

 mount which will not deteriorate by deposit of moisture 

 beneath the cover. 



Meat Inspection. — The inspection of meat for interstate 

 commerce was instituted in 1891, and now there are 128 

 abatoirs in 33 cities where the Government inspects all 

 meat slaug-htered. The number of live animals inspected 

 in 1897 was as follows : Cattle, 8,250,025 ; sheep, 8,044,355; 

 calves, 448,983; hog-s, 25,566,744; total 42,310,107. Of 

 these the following- numbers were rejected : Cattle, 25,- 

 146 ; sheep, 11,260 ; calves, 2,653 ; hog-s, 53,145 ; total con- 

 demned, 92, 304. This last total does not show a larg-e 

 percentag-e of diseased animals in this country, but it is 

 unpleasant to think that, without inspection, many of them 

 would find their way onto the butcher's block ; some 

 would be condemned by State or municipal inspectors. 



In addition to the above fig-ures, there were post-mortem 

 inspections of 26,580,689 animals, and 49,295 parts of car- 

 casses were condemned. Besides, there were killed by 

 city inspectors 641 cattle, 1,527 sheep, 40 calves, and 

 2,081 hog-s that had been rejected in the stock vards by 

 officers of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Crystals in Paper. — It has been discovered that old 

 paper, such as is found in old books, sometimes contains 

 beautiful dendretic crystals. It is supposed that particles 

 of brass or copper have fallen on the paper pulp and have 

 been partly dissolved in the chemicals. The lapse of 

 years permits crystalization. Twenty years is supposed 

 to be required and a certain amount of dampness in the 

 paper. The star-like cluster has a width of about 1 mm. 

 and may be examined with a small lense or a low power 

 objective. Dr. Shanks has recently found three of these 

 forms upon linen paper whose ag-e was not known. Thick 

 and rather soft papers are most likely to contain them. 



Personal. — Wm. F. Kuder is instructor in microscopy 

 in the Cleveland School of Pharmacy. 



