L38 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



points out that ho lias mixed up the " villi" on butterfly scales — which 

 point to real structure — with the old vexed question of the beading of 

 the Lepisma and Podura scale, " discrediting the whole thing with those 

 who have knowledge of the subject, and giving utterly false impressions 

 to those who have not." 



Having carefully examined many scales of Lepisma with a fine 1/12 

 oil-immersion by Swift and Son, " T. F. S." is prepared positively to 

 state that there is not the slightest existence of beads in any of them, 

 although it is easy to see what caused the appearance of beads to 

 Dr. Pigott with the dry 1/1 G in. which he used. "Please remember," 

 T. F. S. writes, " that it is a dry glass against an oil-immersion, and I 

 need not tell any expert microscopist that if certain appearances which 

 present themselves with a narrow aperture of the objective vanish when 

 another of larger aperture is screwed on, that of itself is sufficient to 

 disprove the existence of the apparent structure. 



" Now for the real structure. The scale itself is composed of two 

 membranes, in one of which is imbedded the longitudinal ribs ; the 

 other is corrugated, and the corrugations cross the longitudinal ribs at 

 an oblique angle, giving under a low power the appearance of spines. 

 Between the two membranes, and over the whole scale, is a net-like 

 looking structure, perforated in all directions, and where this also 

 crosses the oblique corrugations there is the appearance of beads. This 

 appearance of beading, however, is confined to the sides, and not even 

 Dr. Pigott himself could conjure any appearance of beading out of the 

 centre, and in the drawing he has confined himself to the side only. 

 Some of the small scales have only small straight hairs between the 

 long ribs, and here it is easy to produce beautiful beads by using the 

 smallest hole in the diaphragm of the condenser ; but they all disappear 

 on producing more light. On the Podura scale I have not been able to 

 produce the slightest appearance of beading, although I have tried very 

 hard to do so. The " villi " in the butterfly and moth scales stand on 

 quite a different footing, and answer the purposo of keeping the two 

 membranes more or less apart ; but even here I can see no evidence of 

 isolated beading. I can see them (the villi) on any scale with a dry 

 1/6 in. and 1/8 in. ; but here the evidence is confirmed tenfold by 

 substituting an oil-immersion 1/12 in." 



"The Microscope and Kidney Disease." — Most readers of news- 

 papers are by this time sufficiently on their guard against the insidious 

 paragraphs to be found at the bottoms of columns, the titles of which 

 appear to promise a very interesting piece of news, but which ultimately 

 end in an advertisement of some nostrum sold by the advertiser; such, 

 for instance, as the " False Swain and Deluded Spinster," which in the 

 last few lines is discovered to be an advertisement of a hair restorer. 



A particularly flagrant example of this trap for the Hnwary was 

 presented by the ' Norfolk News ' of the 24th December last. The 

 paragraph was not at the bottom but at the top of the column, and it 

 was not printed in the usual smaller type, but in similar type to that 

 used elsewhere in the paper. Being headed in capitals " The Micro- 

 scope," and " The many Puzzling Secrets Eevealed by this Wonder- 

 ful Instrument," we naturally proceeded to read it with much interest, 

 and that our readers may be able to participate in the feelings with 

 which we followed the development of the atrocious nonsense thus 



