Miscellanies. 887 



imbedded in the solid rock, bones of the feet, and portions of the 

 great thigh bone of the Iguanodon, one of these gigantic croco- 

 dile-lizards of the dry land, so well known through the writings 

 of Dr. Mantell. These bones with others were obtained from the 

 weald clay at low tides on the sea shore, and fell into my posses- 

 sion with a number of other choice fossils. My collection had 

 now so accumulated that I returned to Brighton the same evening 

 by railway. In conclusion, I may state that the collections which 

 accrue during my occasional wanderings are becoming very valua- 

 ble; they are all destined some day to be placed in the museums 

 of Canada." 



Notes on Microscojnc Literature. 



No part of the field of science has within the last few years 

 awakened more interest, or been more fully studied, than those 

 departments of ]S"atural History which require the aid of the Mi- 

 croscope for their full elucidation. 



Soirees, Conversationes, and Lectures public and private, hav- 

 ing for their subject-matter the *' Microscope and its revelations," 

 have become every-day occurrences ; and long articles in the Re- 

 views, Magazines, and I^ewspapers oa the same topic, all go to 

 prove how popular the investigation has become. 



The instrument itself, both in its mechanical and optical parts, 

 has engaged the attention of able savans on both sides of the 

 Atlantic, and in the hands of such workmen as Powell and Ross 

 in London, Spencer and Grunow in America, and Nachet in 

 France, it would appear to be rapidly approaching its limit of 

 perfection. 



The beginners' requirements have had special attention. 

 Learned Societies have offered premiums for the best instruments 

 suitable to the wants of students and saleable at a low price. 

 Prize medals have been liberally awarded to preparers of micros- 

 copic objects, who now have the rank of a distinct profession ac- 

 coi^ed to them ; and some even confine themselves to one de- 

 partment of the art — that of preparing injections of animal tis- 

 sues. And a new feature, supplying a manifest want, has lately 

 been perfected in London, as will appear from the following ad- 

 vertisements which we clip from recent British publications : 



