BRIEFER ARTICLES 
MODIFICATION OF HAND MICROTOME 
(WITH FIVE FIGURES) 
Figs. 1-5 represent a simple modification of the familiar hand micro- 
tome, and one which has been found to be a decided improvement 
over the original instrument from which it was derived. In the ordinary 
type, when cutting sections of woody stems or more delicate material 
held in pith, it is always difficult to be certain of obtaining the necessary 
pressure for holding the material at the proper point. The steel rod 
which moves in or out upon the turning of the single pressure screw will 
usually hold the material firmly at its lower end but not so firmly at its 
upper end, with the result that the material has a tendency to wobble 
when the knife begins to cut the section. On the other hand, when this 
difficulty does not arise it is often almost impossible to screw up the 
material for the next section because of the pressure of the material 
against the walls of the tube or well. 
To obviate these rather commonly encountered difficulties in the 
ordinary type of hand microtome the modification of it shown in the 
figures was devised. Figs. 4 and 5 give two views of an inner “material 
holder.” It consists of two pieces of curved steel which are long enough 
to reach to the bottom of the tube or well (just below cc in fig. 2). This 
inner material holder is provided with a spreading spring at ed which 
surrounds a small steel bar cc. Each curved piece of steel has a hole at 
aa (fig. 4) through which project the ends of the two pressure screws 66 
(fig. 2). The manipulation of the apparatus is as follows where, for 
example, cross-sections of a woody stem are to be cut. The pressure 
screws 6b are turned out until their ends at aa are pulled out of the 
holes in the material holder. The microtome is inverted and the 
material holder falls out. The stem or a portion of it is placed between 
the leaves of the material holder and properly oriented and, if necessary, 
a rubber band is bound around the material holder just above aa. The 
material holder containing the stem is now pushed down into the well 
_ or tube of the microtome and oriented so that the holes are opposite 
the ends aa of the turned-back pressure screws. These screws are 
a Gazette, vol. 66] «(534 
