SCIENCE. 



3*9 



market has been glutted with what appears to be 

 lacquered brass-work." 



This is well expressed, and needs but one word in addi- 

 tion, as to the remedy : On this point we advise the 

 microscopist to recur to the good, but old-fashioned plan, 

 of gradually building up his microscope and its accessor- 

 ies. Let his money accumulate until he can purchase a 

 first-class stand of a reliable maker, the adjustments of 

 which will be reliable, and arranged to receive all neces- 

 sary accessories as they are added. With such a base of 

 operation, he will have nothing to retract, and every step 

 will be one of progress. 



In justice to some makers in America, it must be ad- 

 mitted that they have produced, recently, some moder- 

 ately-priced instruments which are well finished ; but 

 there are also some students' microscopes, on the market, 

 carelessly made, badly constructed, and unfit for scientific 

 work. 



As to objectives the writer in the Eng. 'Mech., above 

 referred to, says : "Large firms abroad, who are not opti- 

 cians at all, and whose appliances are suited to the pro- 

 duction of bull's-eye lenses, &c, have been induced to 

 ' take up ' with the microscope, and thus thousands of 

 things called objectives have been floated that are a dis- 

 grace to microscopy, Here and there an advertiser of 

 microscopes obtains these things, patches on some 

 trumpery adapter that conceals the original make, and 

 disposes of the wares as ' our own first-class manufac- 

 ture ; ' the unwary student finds out how he has been im- 

 posed upon only when experience has taught him the 

 meaning of good optical appliances, among which those 

 he is unhappily possessed of take no rank whatever." 



We have no doubt the writer has good reason for mak- 

 ing this exposure of the tricks of opticians. The prac- 

 tice of importing objectives and, after remounting, 

 passing them off as " our own first-class manufac- 

 ture," is not confined to Europe. When in London, on 

 one occasion, we were shown a written order from a 

 well-known American objective maker, for a quantity of 

 objectives, to be used for this very purpose. 



It is certainly a disgraceful state of things that a mi- 

 croscopist, who purchases an objective of a reputable 

 maker, should receive a glass manufactured by an infer- 

 ior house, whose prices are probably 50 per cent less. 



Purchasers of microscopes and objectives in the United 

 States, who endeavor to steer a course between exorbi- 

 tant charges and inferior workmanship, have need of 

 much caution, and if inexperienced, should not rely on 

 their own judgment. 



The number of microscopists in this country appears 

 to be on the increase if we may draw conclusions from 

 the statement of a maker, who asserts that he has 

 orders in hand which will keep him employed for four 

 months. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



Mr. Simon H. Gage has just been appointed Assistant 

 Professor of Physiology, and Lecturer on Microscopical 

 Technology in Cornell University. While a student in 

 the Natural History course at that institution, Mr. Gage 

 acted as laboratory assistant, and since his graduation, 

 in 1877, has been Instructor in Microscopy and Practical 

 Physiology. He has published several papers, mostly 

 microscopical, some of which have been copied into 

 European Journals. In addition to the supervision of 

 other laboratory work, Mr. Gage gives practical lec- 

 tures upon Microscopical Technology, in all its branches, 

 and upon Microscopy in relation to Medical Jurispru- 

 dence. His deserved appointment will not only strengthen 

 the general Natural History instruction, but greatly aid 

 Professor Wilder's efforts to provide preliminary medical 

 education. 



The following list of the published papers of Mr. Gage 

 will give, some idea of his scientific activity, and indicate 

 his special line of research : 



1. Plaster of Paris as an Injecting Mass. — American Naturalist, Nov- 

 ember, 1878, pp. 717-724. 



2. Notes on the Cayuga Lake Star Gazer. — Cornell Review, Novem- 

 ber, 1878, pp. 91-94. 



3. The Ampulla of Vater and the Pancreatic Ducts in the Domestic 

 Cat, Felis Domestica. — The American Quarterly Microscopical Journal, 

 January, 1879. pp. 123-131, and April, 169-180. 



4. Laboratory Notes in Microscopy. — Am. Q. M. your. Vol. I., pp. 71, 

 160,166. Part of these were copied in the Journal 0/ the Royal Micro- 

 scopical Society, of London, 1879, p. 191. and also in the American Joicr- 

 nal of Microscopy and Popular Science, 1879, p. 176. 



5. The Inter-Articular Ligament of the Head of the Ribs in the Cat.— 

 Proc. of the Am. Association for the Advancement of Science, Saratoga 

 Meeting, 1879, pp. 421-424. 



6. A New Method of Demonstrating the Thoracic Duct in Animals. — 

 Proc. A. A. A. S., 1879, p. 425. 



7. An Apparatus for Photographing Natural History Objects in a Hor- 

 izontal Position. Read before the A. A. A. S., at Saratoga, and pub- 

 lished by title in the proceedings for 1879, P- 489- 



8. Preparation of Ranvier's Picro-Carmine. — American Monthly 

 Microscopical Journal, 1880, pp. 22-23. Copied in the Jour, of the 

 Royal M ic. Soc. of London, 1880. pp. 501-502. 



9. Permanent Microscopical Preparations of Amphibian Blood. Read 

 at the Boston Meeting of the A. A. A.S.,and published in the American 

 Naturalist, October, 1880, pp. 752-753. 



10. Permanent Microscopical Preparations of Plasmodium. Read at 

 the Boston Meeting of the A. A. A. S., and published in the Am. M. 

 Mic. Jour., October, 1880, pp. 173-174. 



11. A supplement to the article on calcareous crystals in Amphibia, by 

 Piofessor Bolton, of Trinity College. This supplement was prepared at 

 his request, and published with his paper in the Proc. of the A. A. A. S., 

 1879, p. 418. 



Finally Dr. Wilder and Mr. Gage have been preparing a laboratory 

 manual lor the last two years, which will be published next fall. 



For an opinion as to the value of the laboratory notes, etc., mentioned 

 above, see the Proceedings of the New York Microscopical Society, as 

 published in the Am. Jour, of Mic. and Pop. Science. Feb., 1880, p. 51. 



CHEMICAL NOTES. 



Ulmic Materials Produced by the Action of Acids 

 upon Sugar. — The formulae ascribed by Mulder to the 

 ulmic products which had been dried at from 140" to 

 165 before being submitted to combustion are not 

 a dmissible, since, at temperatures above ioo°, these 

 bodies lose a notable quantity of volatile matter, and in 

 particular of formic acid. The ulmic substances obtained 

 by the action of dilute sulphuric acid upon sugar, and 

 which may be called sacchulmine, appear in the lorm of 

 minute yellowish brown globules. On treatment with a 

 cold aqueous solution of caustic potassa, sacchulmme 

 gives off an acid principle derived from the action of sul- 

 phuric acid upon glucose. The ulmic matter (sacchulmine), 

 insoluble in cold alkaline liquids, is derived directly from 

 saccharose. In the ulmification of sugar there is evolved 

 a considerable quantity of volatile acids, especially formic 

 acid. — F. Sestini. — Gazzctta Chimica Italiana. 



The Diffusion and the Physiological Condition of 

 Copper in the Animal Organism. — Prof Giovanni Bizio 

 has attempted to prove that his father, Bartolomeo Bizio, 

 was the original discoverer of the normal occurrence of 

 copper in the animal economy. 



Chemical Constitution of Milk. — Caseine is not 

 a homogeneous albuminoid, but a mixture of albumen 

 and protalD-bodies which appear as transition stages in 

 peptonisation. In the milk globules has been found 

 an albumenoid which constitutes the serum. In the 

 curd are met with an albuminous body identical with the 

 stromaei alb-compound of the globules, a body which 

 Danilewsky and Radenhausen name orroproteine and two 

 series of peptones. Hence it is no longer proper, in milk- 

 analysis, to speak of caseine and albumen, but rather of 

 albuminates. — Dr. N. Gerber. — Correspondenz-Blatt. 



Occurance of Copper. — Dr. W. Hadelich has detected 

 and determined copper in the soil of a churchyard, and in 

 portions of exhumed bodies. 



Simple Method of Observing the Phenomena of Dif- 

 fraction. — The rays reflected by a heliostat are concen- 

 trated by two lenses. In the focus is placed a diaphragm 

 with a very small aperture, and the luminous glass is re- 

 ceived on a screen. In this glass are placed the bodies 

 whose shadows are to be studied. — V. D. Vorak. 



