320 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



(4) add 50 per cent, glycerin to tho silver solution for very delicate 

 results ; to avoid surfaco precipitation cover tho objects when removed 

 from Miiller's fluid with a sheath of paper brouillard previously pre- 

 pared with distilled water. By following these methods Martinotti 

 obtained most satisfactory results. 



Freeborn, G. C. — Notices of New Methods. I. 



[1. Staining of elastic fibres (Lustgarten, Herxheimer, and Martinotti). 

 2. Substitutes for hajmatoxylin (Paneth and Francotte). 3. Mounting 

 (Weigert).] 



Amcr. Mon. Micr. Joum., IX. (1888) pp. 26-7. 

 Wilkinson, W. II.— Colour-Reaction : its use to the Microscopist and to the 

 Biologist. Midi. Naturalist, XI. (1888) pp. 1-4 (1 pi.). 



Zikmacki, J. — Zur Entfettung mikroskopischer Praparate von Eiter, Blut, Sputum 

 u. s. w. vor der Tinction in wasse rigen Farbelbsungen bei Untersuchung auf Mikro- 

 organismen. (On the removal of fat from microscopical preparations of pus, 

 blood, sputum, &c, before using aqueous staining solutions in examinations for 

 micro-organisms.) St. Petersburgcr Med. Wochcnschr., 1885, p. 130. 



(5) Mounting, including- Slides, Preservative Fluids, &c. 



Indexing Microscopical Slides.*— Dr. E. H. Ward describes his 

 system of indexing slides as developed in his " Slide-Catalogue." 



" The alphabetical index is, of course, a large and essential portion of 

 the system. Its pages are specially ruled for convenience in entering 

 titles and numbers, and they have a capacity for several references to 

 each slide, the volume for 2000 slides having room for about 10,000 

 references. Thus a leaf preparation may not unlikely be referred to under 

 both popular and scientific names of the plant, and also under several 



such titles as, * Leaf of ,' ' Spiral vessels in ,' ' Stomates 



of ,' ' Eaphides in ,' &c. But as many simple slides require 



only two or three entries, the more complex ones will have room for 

 eight or ten. The index is lettered alphabetically, the number of pages 

 assigned to each letter depending upon the frequency with which that 

 letter occurs at the beginning of English words. Subdivision is accom- 

 plished according to the vowel system of arrangement, whose advantages 

 are familiar to all readers, and which may, by means of a few obvious 

 expedients, be made applicable to slide-catalogues of various sizes. 

 Thus the pages devoted to any letter, as S, are divided into six portions, 

 and lettered Sa, Se, Si, So, Su, Sy ; the first portion being for words 

 beginning with S, and having a for their first vowel, and so on for the 

 rest. Further subdivision depends so largely upon individual wants as 

 to be best left optional with the user. But having given a page to the 

 Sa words, for instance, it is hardly possible that any thoughtful person 

 could throw all these together at random. Probably nearly every one 

 would enter things pertaining to animals at the top of the page, vegetables 

 in the middle, and minerals at the bottom, or vice versa. A specialist in 

 any department would give the lion's share of the page to his particular 

 province, subdivided to suit himself ; and tho vegetable kingdom, being 

 in the middle, could be carried up or down, where experience shows that 

 room could best be spared. After such entries as starch, pollen, hair, 

 &c., several lines would be left blank for similar items, so that ultimately 

 these items would appear in blocks that would be instantly recognized 

 ou glancing at the page. In larger collections, where Sa included many 



* The Microscope, vii. (1887) pp. 355-8. 



