24 AQUATIC MICROSCOPV FOR BEGINNERS. 



Slides can be made by the student, although to do 

 the work neatly and well demands some skill, and con- 

 siderable preliminary study of the object before it can be 

 prepared for the mounting processes; or the slides may 

 be purchased. It is much better and, in the end, more 

 satisfactory to the owner of the slides to prepare them 

 himself. Certain rare objects, if desired, must be 

 bought already mounted, but any small object natur- 

 ally dry can be so easily preserved by placing it in a 

 drop of Canada balsam from the druggist's, and cover- 

 ing it by a circle or a square of thin glass from the op- 

 tician's, that for the beginner to spend his money for 

 "the foot of a fly," "dust from a butterfly's wing,' 

 "the sting of a bee," or similar slides crowding the 

 dealers' lists and drawers, is nonsense, unless he lives 

 alone in the wilderness, and is ignorant of the appear- 

 ance of a slide; in such a case, to buy the mounted 

 foot of a fly may be useful to show what is to be aimed 

 at in the preparation of ordinary objects. A few 

 properly mounted slides, however, usually accompany 

 the stand as specimens, or the dealer will supply them 

 if asked. It is better to do than to buy, and so much 

 has been written on the subject of microscopic mount- 

 ing, and indeed all advanced workers with the micro- 

 scope are such "good fellows," and are always so 

 generous in giving away for the asking information 

 that has cost much time and labor to obtain, that the 

 young student need never despair, nor be at a loss as 

 to where to go for help, if he possess the name and the 

 address of some microscopist, and a postage-stamp or 

 two. Cheap little handbooks on the subject are 

 accessible, microscopists are numerous and willing,' so 

 why should the beginner ever be discouraged? and 

 why should he buy what he can make? 



