ii4 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Anatomical Sections. — In making anatomical 

 sections, to be converted into lantern slides, should 

 sections be mounted in any particular medium, 

 stained in special manner, or left unstained ? — 

 B. Vernon, Clarges Street, London. 



New Slides.— From Mr. C. W. Maw, of Brad- 

 ford, Yorks, we have received the following slides, 

 all transparent mounting : ovary of Iris, transverse 

 section ; antenna of Carabus violaceus ; transverse 

 section of grape-vine stem ; and a mixed group of 

 Diatoms, from Hatfield Swamp, New Jersey, U.S.A. 

 We have also received two capital slides of 

 rock sections from Mr. John Mearns, 52, Jasmine 

 Terrace, Aberdeen. The first of these is an 

 example of gneiss rock from the Den of Murtle, 

 Aberdeenshire, and the second a section of granite 

 from Tyre Bagger Quarry, Aberdeenshire. 



The Use of the Microscope. — In his second 

 lecture on "The Modern Microscope," at the Royal 

 Institution, Dr. Dallinger, F.R.S., pointed out that 

 the vast strides made in recent years in the con- 

 struction of the microscope has greatly altered its 

 fitness for use in the hands of the amateur. The 

 necessity for considerable manipulative skill, he 

 says, is greater with the modern instrument, not 

 because its wonderful recent improvements have 

 introduced complexity — on the contrary, they have 

 simplified it — but, being the outcome and embodi- 

 ment of mathematical certainty, it is by using it 

 on scientific principles — easily learned — that the 

 finest results can be obtained. 



Circulation in Plants. — Hydrocharis morsus- 

 rana, or frog-bit, offers another excellent example of 

 cyclosis (ante pp. 8, 34). This is a floating plant 

 with rootlets dependent from the base of the leaves. 

 These rootlets are furnished with numerous and stiff 

 hairs, which are easily visible to the eye. Cut off 

 a portion of the root-point, and place it on a slide 

 with a little water, covering with thin glass in the 

 usual way. If some of the hairs be then focussed 

 with almost any power, a vigorous and interesting 

 rotation of the protoplasm (which is very abundant) 

 will be observed ; the hairs are long, and, as is 

 usual with root-hairs, unicellular. The. movement 

 here is termed "rotation," taking place like that in 

 the VaUisneria, around the inner margin of the 

 cell-wall. In the case of such hairs as those of 

 the nettle, Tradescantia and others, however, the 

 movements are much more complex, often passing 

 in threads and bands transversely or obliquely 

 through the cell-sap, and "streaming" in various 

 directions in a most wonderful manner, and it is to 

 these movements only that the word "circulation" 

 is applied. By the way, the term used by Mr. 

 Smith, viz., "circulation of the sap," has long 

 been discarded as incorrect and misleading. In 

 the case of the VaUisneria, the movements of the 

 protoplasm appear to continue as long as the cells 

 retain their vitality ; if care be taken to prevent 

 the evaporation of the water, the exhibition will 

 remain unimpaired, not only for days, but for weeks 

 together. — W. R. May, 35, Dalston Lane, London. 



Mollusca in Medicine. — To the ordinary 

 British mind the thought of eating snails is repul- 

 sive, though, perhaps, after all, it is only a matter 

 of educated taste. What oysters are to the luxuri- 

 ous so are whelks and periwinkles to the poor ; 

 though to the wealthy they would be as unpalatable 

 as Helix aspersa or Helix nemoralis. The Latin races, 

 especially in Southern Europe, universally look to 

 all the larger Helices for delicacies. Most people 

 who have visited the markets in Paris have seen 

 heaps of Helix pomatia and H. aspersa piled up on 

 stalls or floor. I do not now write, however, 

 from an alimentary point of view, because it is 

 doubtful whether any number of toothsome recipes 

 would overcome the insular prejudices of this 

 country against snails for food. Although rarely 

 eaten as an ordinary dish, there does not appear to 

 have been in past times any serious objection to 

 the use of the land molluscs for medicinal purposes. 

 The earliest books on simples and domestic medi- 

 cines contain prescriptions in which snails formed 

 an ingredient. In a quaint old book entitled " A 

 Rich Storehouse or Treasurie for the Diseased : 

 first set forth for the benefit of the poorer sorts of 

 people that are not of abilities to goe to the 

 physicians," Master Ralph Blower says, " Snales 

 which bee in shells, beat together with bay salt and 

 mallowes, and laid to the bottomes of your feet and 

 to the wristes of your handes before the fit cometh, 

 appeaseth the ague." In Dr. John Quincey's 

 " Pharmacopoeia Officinalis" is described " Decoctnm 

 Limacum, or Decoction of Snails." James Jenks, 

 in his " Complete Cook," prescribes an " admirable 

 and famous snail water," consisting of a peck 

 of garden snails washed in small beer, and then 

 put in a hot oven until they have done making 

 a noise, when they are to be taken out and well 

 wiped from the green froth that is upon them. 

 Bruise shells and all in a mortar, to which add a 

 quart of earthworms scoured with salt and slit 

 open, then beat all together. Then lay in the 

 bottom of " your distilled pot " two handfuls of 

 angelica and two handfulls of celadine upon them, 

 to which add two quarts of rosemary flowers, 

 bearsfoot, agrimony, red dock roots, bark of 

 barberries, betony, wood sorrel, of each two hand- 

 fuls ; rue, one handful ; then lay the snails and 

 worms on the top of the herbs and flowers, then 

 pour on three gallons of the strongest ale, and let 

 it stand all night. In the morning put in three 

 ounces of cloves, beaten ; six-pennyworth of beaten 

 saffron, and on the top of them six ounces of 

 shaved hartshorn ; then set on the limbeck and 

 close it with paste, and so receive the water by 

 pints, which will be nine in all. The first is the 

 strongest, whereof take in the morning two spoon- 

 fuls in four spoonfuls of small beer, and the like in 

 the afternoon. It cureth a consumption and 

 dropsie." Even in modern times, snails have been 

 pressed into the service of the dishonest dairyman; 

 after having been divested of their shells, bruised 

 in milk and boiled, they are used for the manu- 

 facture of cream. — Flora Winstone, Epping, Essex. 



