188 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Oct. 



Elmira, N. Y, — The society formerly existing- in Elmira 

 is now the Updeg-raff Microscopical Section of the Elmira 

 Academy of Sciences. 



Opticians. — On October 10th the American Association 

 of Opticians was org^anized in New York City. It does 

 not appear that microscopy will be covered at all b}' the 

 new org"anization. 



Osprey Plumes. — The feathers are stripped from birds 

 in the breeding- season, involving- their death and the 

 starvation of their young-. Sir John Lubbock has secured 

 their abolition from the British army. 



Objective. — Leitz has made a 1-10 inch oil immersion 

 objective with a numerical aperture of 1.3 the price of 

 which is $18.50 only and it is pronounced superb by 

 hig-hest authority. It is the first of the kind made for a 

 long- tube. Semi-apochromatic lenses have been broug-ht 

 up to almost equal apochromatic. The difference in 

 aperture is in proportion of 13 to 14. Many of the more 

 difi&cult objects can be resolved by them. 



Reynolds and Branson's Microtome. — The instrument 

 is arranged to slide on a glass plate with a circular roug-h- 

 ened ring-, the substance to be cut being- imbeded and fixed 

 on that plate. Sections of any deg-ree of thickness ma}^ 

 then be cut by simply raising- or lowering- the screw. The 

 microtome is so arrang-ed that any razor may be clamped 

 to it, and it will be found extremely useful to students in 

 physiolog-y, botany etc. The price of the microtome, with 

 g-lass plate, is only 4s., and razors are supplied at Is. and 

 2s. each. Write to Reynolds and Branson, Leeds, England 

 for full description. 



Paraffin Imbedding Table. — It is made of a triang-le of 

 sheet copper, with a base of six inches and a perpendicular 

 heig-ht of fourteen inches. The edges of the triang-le 

 are turned under and inward,g-ivingftothe table a smoothly 

 rounded margin. In height, the main part of the table , 

 measures two inches, and it is four inches high under the 

 apex of the triangle, where is placed the heating flame, 

 which may be gas, or oil, or alcohol lamp. 



