520 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



made from sheet wax, as in its preparation it is passed between rollers 

 which are continually wet, and much moisture is absorbed. The best 

 way of making wax cells is to melt common beeswax over a spirit-lamp ; 

 add to it 5 per cent, of resin ; after the whole is melted, slightly lower 

 the temperature, but not so much as to solidify the mass in any degree. 

 Slides can then be placed on the turntable and cells ringed in a moment. 

 A cell can be made and varnished in ten minutes. The wax rings may 

 be covered with a mixture of glycerin and solution of gum-arabic, and 

 the cover-glass then be put on and pressed down. The solution becomes 

 hard very soon, and the cover-glass is firmly cemented. 



Shellac Cement.* — Mr. W. N. Seaman gives the following directions 

 for making a strong and lasting cement for attaching metal to glass. 



Take 50 grin, of unbleached shellac, add to it 50 ccm. of commercial 

 alcohol, and then cover the mixture with an equal quantity of kerosene 

 oil, shake the mixture frequently for the first two or three days, and 

 then set it away for a month, or until it separates into four layers as 

 follows beginning at the top : — (1) Kerosene. (2) A layer of woolly- 

 looking stuff. (3) Clear shellac. (4) Sediment. By means of a 

 pipette or any other convenient way, draw off the shellac, and to each 

 50 parts of it add one part of boiled linseed oil. 



W a b d, K. H. — Instantaneous Mounting in Farrants ' Gum and Glycerin Medium. 

 [Useful directions for mounting iu this medium, which is too much neglected 

 now-a-days. As the author says, " too much can scarcely be said in its 

 favour for facility of use."] 



13th Ann. Hep. Amcr. Post. Micr. Club, 1888, pp. 13-14. 



(6) Miscellaneous. 



James's Teasing-Needle.f — Fig. 95 shows the form of a teasing 

 needle which Dr. F. L. James has used for some time past in lieu of the 

 old straight and curved needles, over which it 

 * IG - 95 - possesses (it is claimed) many and manifest 



advantages. It may be held in the hand exactly 

 as a pen-holder, and when two are used the 

 curved portion may be laid flat on the material, 

 thus holding it in place-while it is teased out by 

 the aid of the other. The points may be made 

 of heavy straight needles, the temper of which is drawn by holding for 

 a moment in the lamp. A better material, however, is old umbrella 

 wires drawn and filed down. The fig. gives about the proper curvature. 



Medico-legal Identification of Blood-stains. :j: — M. Ferry describes 

 a method for the identification of blood-stains. While differing in an 

 important particular from that of Ranvier, the method is not entirely 

 new. It is as follows : — 



If the stain be upon woven fabric the fibres are to be teased out and 

 put into a test-tube and covered with a solution of sodium chloride 

 1 : 1000. After standing a while the fluid will become a brownish red. 

 Examined by the spectroscope, if the stains were made by blood the 

 haemoglobin lines will appear. The examination for blood-corpuscles 

 may now proceed. For this purpose, to each ccm. of the saline solution 

 add one minim of a saturated solution of chloral hydrate, and if blood 



* Amcr. Mon. Micr. Journ., ix. (1888) pp. 53-1. 



t St. Louis Med. and Surg. Journ., liv. (1888) pp. 167-8 (1 fig.). 



\ Ibid., pp. 165-G. 



