70 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [March, 



red, purple, yellow, blue, &c. I hope to create an interest in sands, 

 for the reasons that they cost practically nothings and are among the 

 most beautiful things to be seen. There is no piece of jewelry in Tif- 

 fany's diamond store in New York, as beautiful as an ordinary slide of 

 grains of sand, and their diamond expert who receives a salai'y of 

 $300 per week is as enthusiastic upon this point as any other man, and 

 says so. 



With paraboloid, garnet sand is one of the most beautiful pictures 

 the mind can contemplate. 



With binocular and paraboloid we can almost look through a 

 grain of sand, and the structure is also an interesting object and study. 



NOTES. 



The collection of microscopical slides of the late Prof, de Bary, num- 

 bering nearly 4,500, has been purchased by the British Museum. 



Genuine honey can be readily distinguished from manufactured 

 honey, by the microscope, as the former has few or no sugar crystals. 



" Phosphorescence." — A French naturalist, M. Giard, has just 

 made known the results of some experiments he has been making with 

 Talitrtis and other crustacean. On microscopically examining a 

 brightly phosphorescent specimen he found walking slowly on the 

 beach instead of leaping, as its habit usually is, he traced the phos- 

 phorescent light to the presence of bacteria in its muscles, which were 

 greatly altered. On inoculating other and healthy individuals of this 

 and other species the same disease was produced amongst them, and 

 M. Giard says that his laboratory was quite lit up at night with these 

 diseased but luminous crustaceans. The inoculation was continued to 

 the sixth generation apparently without any attenuation of the microbic 

 action. The disease seems to follow a regular course, and the crusta- 

 ceans died in three or four days. The phosphorescence, however, 

 always lingered a few hours after death. Crabs were inoculated in 

 the same way. — Science- Gossips Nov., 1SS9, page 256. 



Prof. C. H. Rowley, — This well-known microscopist is in charge 

 of the department of microscopy of the National University, Chicago. 

 The theory of microscopical vision is taught, and every student aided 

 in obtaining a scientific knowledge of the instruments used. 



Nearly all branches of microscopy are included in the course, the 

 technique of slide mounting, manipulation of tests, how to work ob- 

 jectives in order to obtain their greatest performance — in short, every- 

 thing needed for the student to pursue the work ever after with profit 

 and delight. Work in this department can be done in histology, pa- 

 thology, botany, biology, mineralogy, cryptogamia, etc. It includes also 

 the preparation of slides illustrating work in these studies, including 

 insects, spiders, worms, entozoa, polyzoa, hydrozoa, rotatoria, infusoria, 

 diatoms, foraminifera, bacteria, etc. 



American Society of Microscopists. — The next meeting of this 

 society will be held at Louisville, Ky., from August 12 to 15, 1890. 



