Maech 1, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



339 



On motion duly seconded, it was voted: 

 That this executive committee have power 

 to fill vacancies and to add to its member- 

 ship by unanimous vote. 



On motion, the meeting adjourned, sub- 

 ject to the call of the executive committee. 

 C. R. Mann, 

 Secreta7"y 



SCIENTIFW BOOKS 

 Animal Micrology : Practical Exercises in 

 Microscopical Methods. By Michael F. 

 GuTER, Ph.D., Professor of Zoology in the 

 University of Cincinnati. Chicago, The 

 University of Chicago Press. 1906. 

 This little book of 240 pages is devoted to 

 a concise, eminently practical and well-classi- 

 fied treatment of the methods and ' tricks ' of 

 convenience fundamental to modern micro- 

 scopic study. While it is intended primarily 

 for the beginner, its consultation will be 

 found profitable to all of us who have to suffer 

 the trials and time-consmning details of mi- 

 croscopical technique. The author's years of 

 experience in giving instruction in general 

 zoology and microscopic anatomy, combined 

 with his marked ingenuity in mechanical and 

 chemical manipulation, has resulted, not only 

 in a well-grounded knowledge of the funda- 

 mental principles upon which depend the suc- 

 cessful application of the various methods, 

 but also in the devising and proving of numer- 

 ous little simplifications and time-saving 

 * short-cuts ' of procedure which will be appre- 

 ciated by the advanced student and investi- 

 gator as well. On the other hand, the treat- 

 ment is expressly detailed enough for the 

 piloting of the beginner safely through the 

 various methods, and, methods for given pur- 

 poses being chosen for him, he is saved from 

 the bewildering maze of the superfluity of 

 present-day methods. The student is told 

 definitely what to do with his material, what 

 ruethod to apply for a given result, how to 

 proceed step by step, and is given either the 

 positive or the most probable reasons for the 

 various steps. 



Unlike other books of a similar nature. 

 Professor Guyer's book is not confined to a 



single branch of the subject, such as histolog- 

 ical or embryological methods exclusively, nor 

 does it attempt to include material to the ex- 

 tent of making it bulky and unwieldy. How- 

 ever, it embraces the methods necessary in 

 practically the whole field of the more usual 

 biological courses and is thus purposely adapted 

 for those combination courses given in high 

 schools and colleges, which begin, prelimi- 

 narily, with the simpler forms of life and pass 

 to the consideration of the tissues and organ- 

 ology of the higher forms, giving some atten- 

 tion to embryology, and neurology as such. 



The book is divided into seventeen chapters 

 and five appendices. Beginning with a useful 

 list of the apparatus and supplies usually re- 

 quired, the former well illustrated, the arrange- 

 ment thence consists of a general statement 

 concerning methods and the needs for them, 

 followed by the procedures for ' killing ' and 

 ' fixing,' a description of the simple methods 

 of sectioning, the methods of imbedding and 

 sectioning in paraffin and celloidin, the proc- 

 esses of staining and 'mounting,' the method 

 of frozen sections, the methods involving the 

 precipitation of metallic substances for spe- 

 cial differentiations, methods for the isolation 

 of elements by ' tricks of teasing ' and use 

 of dissociating fiuids, continuing with meth- 

 ods for the treatment of bone and other hard 

 substances and methods for the injection of 

 the blood- and lymph-vascular systems. Then 

 is interpolated a chapter entitled. Objects of 

 General Interest, in which are discussed sub- 

 jects such as ' cell making ' and the preparation 

 of fluid mounts, and in which are given some 

 ingenious devices for making * in toto ' prepa- 

 rations of the smaller organisms, such as water 

 mites, transparent larva, small Crustacea, 

 worms, small insects and parts of insects, and 

 for making ' opaque mounts ' of such as beetles, 

 wings of butterflies, etc. This chapter is fol- 

 lowed by methods for the preparation and 

 study of blood and a chapter dealing with the 

 general procedures for the staining and 

 mounting of bacteria. Chapter XVI. de- 

 scribes some of the methods necessary in the 

 study of embryology, including technique for 

 whole mounts and for the measuring and 

 serial sectioning of embryos, special applica- 



