426 Microscope Teachings. 



are probably the same as those caused by the mussels on the 

 edible oyster layings in the Colne. It is during the period of 

 their growth that the pearl oysters are so exposed to these 

 dangers, and very frequently banks have been found well 

 stocked with young oysters, and giving promise of a lucrative 

 fishery, at a preliminary examination, which, when the time 

 for the fishery arrives, are bare, all their inhabitants having 

 died and been washed away. But if preserved during the 

 period of growth in the artificial nursery, and only placed out 

 when they have reached maturity, the oysters can then form 

 their pearls in security until the season for the fishery arrives, 

 and well stocked pearl banks may be reckoned upon for 

 each year. 



Thus it is hoped that, by adopting these carefully con- 

 sidered plans, and improving upon them as experience and 

 watchful investigation dictate from year to year, a regular and 

 unfailing source of revenue will be secured to the State, and 

 the Tinnevelly pearl banks will, after laying dormant for thirty 

 years, regain the immemorial renown which was conceded to 

 them, alike in the days of Ptolemy, of Marco Polo, and of 

 Hamilton. They form the most , ancient fishery in the world, 

 and, now that science and careful supervision have been sup- 

 plied, they will no longer be the least remunerative. 



MICROSCOPE TEACHINGS* 



It is very easy to write a popular twaddle about science, but 

 rare is the talent by which science is really popularized. For 

 the first and useless performance, very slender knowledge is 

 required, but the last requires both accuracy and depth. It 

 also demands the enviable faculty of reducing a subject to its 

 simplest elements, and presenting them in a pictorial and sug- 

 gestive form. It is not enough to narrate facts, for unless they 

 are judiciously expounded they remain in the mind as so many 

 dead seeds destitute of germinating power. We often see this 

 in pupils who have been well crammed by Mr. Feeder, P. A., 

 or by his feminine counterpart, who is stuffed with Magnall's 

 (ions, impregnated with latitudes, carries dates on her 

 fingers' ends, and diffiises an odour of the* rule of three. The 

 more people are taught after this fashion, the greater nuisance 



* Miorosoop$ Teachings: Dcvripfinn of various Objects of especial Interest and 

 Beauty adapted for Microscopic Investigation, illustrated by l he author's original 

 Drawings, «itli Directions for the Management of a Microscope, and the Collection 



and Mounting of Objects. V>y t ho Uon. Mrs. VVurd, author of Telescope Teachings. 

 London : (Jroombridge and Sons. 



