mr 9 



692 General Notes. [August, 



as possible the equality between the two. In addition to using 

 the two eyes with equal frequency, most microscopists experience 

 the greatest relief by shading the unused eye in such manner as 

 to admit light but prevent vision, and about as many contrivances 

 have been made for this purpose as there are persons who have 

 felt the want of them. Pennock's Eye Shade, fig. 1, made by 

 James W. Queen & Co., 

 leaves but little to be de- 

 sired for this purpose. It 

 is portable, convenient, 

 and efficient, can be 

 adapted to any instrument, 

 and, by simply turning it 

 over, be used equally well 

 with either eye. One of 

 the best plans for a home- 

 Fig. 1. -Pennock's Eye Shade. ma(k shade j g that re _ 



cently described by Dr. L. Brewer Hall, of Philadelphia, before 

 the Northern Medical Association of that city. A piece of brass 

 wire, No. 18, about 45 centimeters long, is bent at one end 

 into a loop 4 centimeters in diameter and covered with a piece 

 of black paper folded over and gummed down so as to form 

 a disk. This is supported in front of the unused eye by the 

 rest of the wire, the other end of which is formed into a ring 

 fitting around the drawtube or any available portion of the micro- 

 scope. The middle portion of the wire is bent down so as to be 

 out of the way of the nose. Any one can make this shade at a 



An Adjustable Spring Clip.— -The Nassau spiral spring clip, 

 the construction of which is sufficiently explained by 

 Fig. 2, can be instantly adjusted, by a screw move- 

 ment, to any degree of pressure that may be 

 required upon the cover glass during the process 

 of mounting an object. It is made by J. H. McAl- 

 lister, of 49 Nassau St., New York. 



Cereal Foods under the Microscope.— Some 

 months ago Dr. Ephraim Cutter, of New York- 

 published an elaborate microscopical analysis ot 

 1, ' s ' 2 ' over forty kinds of flour and meal, mostly dietetic 

 preparations used for children's and invalids' food. The nutritive 

 value was assumed to be in proportion to the presence of the so- 

 called " gluten cells," and those preparations were represented as 

 worthless and fraudulent which did not contain a due proportion 

 of these cells. If trustworthy, this report would have been one 

 of the most important contributions of the microscope to practical 

 affairs. We published no account of its conclusions, because ot 

 the certainty that the gluten cells did not contain all the gluten, 



