50 FIELD AND FOREST. 



When they were finished I procured some of the best silk elastic, 

 one-third inch broad, and had it stitched on both sides of the boards, 

 three bands on each sewn through and through at such intervals as to 

 take five slides on each row, holes having been previously bored in the 

 cardboard thus ::;::: the spaces being about an inch and 

 a quarter wide. 



In the meantime I took a sharp knife and a bit of sand-paper, and 

 trimmed all projecting corners off my slate frames, and then, without 

 removing the slates, sent them to a French polisher to stain and polish 

 them like mahogany. When I got them back I removed the slates and 

 substituted for them the pieces of cardboard, carefully replacing the 

 pegs exactly as I took them out. The next step was to take them to a 

 bookbinder, with orders to bind five frames in each volume, securing 

 them by tacking a piece of stout canvas to the edges of each frame in 

 the volume. The results have surpassed my expectations, for the grain 

 of the wood is so like mahogany that only careful observation could 

 detect the difference ; and the volumes filled with slides, fifteen on 

 each " page," if I may use the term, look remarkably well, and, what 

 is better, are most convenient. 



Now as to cost : — 



£ ■• d. 

 25 slates, 6)^ x 10 in., at 4-6 per dozen, - - -09 4^ 

 25 milled boards, cut to size and covered with white paper, 084 

 36 yards of elastic, - - - - - - -086 



French polishing slate frames, - - - - -060 



Binding five volumes, - 0150 



Total, ^272^ 



I have not included the sewing on of the elastic, as most microscopists 

 have lady friends who would do them. 



The accompanying sketch gives a better idea than any amount of 

 description. 



I need hardly add that the cost of many of the items could be 

 reduced. For instance, Berlin black might be applied to the frames 

 instead of French polishing ; and the cost of cutting and covering the 

 boards might be dispensed with by any one taking the trouble to do it 

 himself. — T. H. Moorhead in Science-Gossip, 



