480 



SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Stillson's Object Cabinet.* — Dr. J. 0. Stillson's cabinet consists 

 of a number of trays made of thick pasteboard. They are 9 in. wide 

 and 16 in. long. There are two rows of slides in each tray and 10 or 

 12 in each row according to the partitions, which can be removed 

 or left in. The depth of the tray is equal to the thickness of the 

 thickest slides, so that when they are in place, each lying flat, they 

 fill the apartment. There is a lid to each tray, also made of paste- 

 board but stiffened, and made heavier by the addition of a strip of 

 wood, such as is used in making cigar boxes. This strip extends all 

 around the margin of the lid, and there is another across the middle 

 the long way. 



Two long openings are cut through the lid, about 2 in. wide, so 

 that when the lid is closed it will press the slides down in their places 

 firmly, but at the same time not touch the cover-glasses. High, dry and 

 opaque mounts can be placed alongside of the thinnest balsam or 

 diatoms, and when it is desired to look for a slide the whole tray can 

 be surveyed with the eye at a glance, and the names of twenty or 

 twenty-four specimens can be read without opening the tray. When 

 the trays are all in the box, the lid holds them firmly in place suit- 

 able for shipping. He has borders for the labels printed on fancy 

 coloured paper, and writes in pencil on the wrong side of the label 

 such a history as he desires and pastes it on the slide. Then the 

 name labels are cut with a circular 'No. 8 punch, and pasted on the 

 border paper. There is plenty of room to write in front the English 

 and Latin names, date and number ; by turning the slide round one 

 can read from the back through the glass the history and mode of 

 preparation. 



PiUsbury's (or Bradley's) and Cole's Mailing Cases. — This 

 " mailing case," the design of J. H. Pillsbury, is intended to supply 

 a demand for some safe and cheap means of packing one or more 

 slides for sending through the post. The entire device comprises 

 three differently shaped pieces of wood (tops, bottoms, and centres) so 

 formed that two, three, or more may be put together as shown in 



Fig. 77. 



Fig. 78. 



fig. 77. For one slide the top and bottom pieces are used, for two 

 slides the centre pieces also, and so on to any convenient number. 



The cross section fig. 78 shows the relation of the parts of the 

 case to the slide. The pinching of the wooden lips on the margin 



* Proc. Amer. Soc. Micr., 6th Ann. Meeting, 1883. 



