MAKING SECTIONS OF BONE AND TEETH. 325 



of which he fits them on a sharp-pointed pin attached to the 

 ordinary forceps. Objects so mounted possess many advan- 

 tages : they are preserved from dust and injury, and the names 

 of each being written on the cover, they may be packed away 

 in drawers and easily recognised when required. 



Our attention must now be directed to the preparation of 

 particular classes of objects. 



CHAPTER X. 



TO MAKE SECTIONS OF BONE AND TEETH. 



The apparatus required to make sections of bone and teeth 

 wUl be as foUows : — A fine saw, such as is used for cutting 

 metal ; two or three flat, safe-edged files, one of them very 

 finely cut ; a small hand-vice ; two hones of the water of Ayr 

 stone ; strips of glass, two inches-and-a-half long, and half-an- 

 inch broad ; some old Canada balsam ; a small bottle of sul- 

 phuric ether ; and a strop of buff leather, "br a cake of resinous 

 matter, charged with putty powder. 



The first thing to attend to in making a section of recent 

 bone, is to select a part perfectly free from grease ; as thin a 

 section as possible is to be cut from it by the fine saw, and be 

 made flat, and at the same time further reduced by means 

 of the file. If the section be not very brittle, it may be held 

 by the hand-vice, and being supported upon a flat piece of wood 

 or cork, may be brought by the file nearly to its proper degree 

 of thinness. If one hone only is at hand, the section may be 

 laid upon it with some water, and be rubbed backwards and 

 forwards by a finger pressed upon it, until both its surfaces 

 have acquired a certain amount of polish; it may be examined 

 from time to time by the microscope to see when it is thin 

 enough, and when this point is arrived at, we may proceed to 

 pohsh it ; if the section be intended to be mounted in Canada 



