96 Scientific Intelligence. 



Mr. Atkins, who has sustained the enterprise from the outset, 

 expresses himself as satisfied with the substantial results reached. 

 It is a great pleasure for the director, assistant-director, and 

 head-gardener of the Harvard Botanic Garden to aid the rapid 

 development of the station by every means in their power. 



G. L. G. 



2. Handbuch der Bluten-biologie, von Dr. Paul Knuth. 

 Leipzig (Wilhelm Englemann). Handbook of Flower- Pollina- 

 tion, by Dr. Paul Knuth ; translated by J. R. Ainsworth Davis, 

 M.A. Oxford (Clarendon Press). — This excellent translation 

 brings into two volumes the subject matter contained in the three 

 German volumes (bound in five parts). The original work is based 

 on the interesting treatise by Hermann Milller which, it will be 

 remembered, greatly stimulated research in the attractive field 

 of the pollination of flowers. The innumerable contributions to 

 this subject soon outgrew the limits which could naturally be 

 assigned to a second edition, and necessitated entire reconstruction. 

 Professor Knuth undertook this reconstruction, while carrying 

 the pressure of the double burden of deep affliction and impaired 

 health. It was hoped that a long journey, which he prosecuted 

 in the search for fresh material, might lighten this burden, but 

 this did not prove to be the case. His early death left an 

 immense mass of material partly published, but to a great extent 

 uncoordinated. Willing hands have from this material completed 

 a lasting monument to the author. Its comprehensiveness and 

 accuracy will enable this work long to maintain its place as a 

 memorial. The translation presents the whole treatise in a very 

 convenient form for the English-speaking student. g. l. g. 



3. A Convenient Clearing and Mounting Agent. — To a 

 perfectly clear solution of potassium silicate add one third to one 

 half volume of glycerine and after warming the whole, slightly 

 shake until the two liquids are thoroughly mixed. The result- 

 ant clear liquid has proved to be an efficient agent for 

 clearing such objects as pharmaceutical powders and the like. 

 If the powder, for instance, capsicum, is placed on a glass slide 

 and the glycerin-silicate placed carefully thereon, a cover-glass 

 can be at once put in position and held for a couple of minutes or 

 so, when it will be found to have "set" more or less firmly, constitut- 

 ing a fairly good mount for use within the next few days. If the 

 edge of the cover be carefully cemented by a mixture of potas- 

 sium silicate and barium sulphate, the mount becomes permanent. 

 Two precautions must be observed ; first, use enough of the 

 glycerin-silicate to flow, at the outset, to the edge of the cover- 

 glass, all around, and second, on no account allow any of the 

 agent to touch the front of the objective. 



A mixture of sodium silicate and glycerin (see Schurhoft, 

 quoted in Journal of Royal Microscopical Society, 1902, p. 622) 

 does not appear to clear the objects under inspection quite so 

 well as the one here suggested. g. l. g. 



