MICROSCOPY. 703 
is to the indomitable perseverance of a French savant, Boucher 
de Perthes, that we have seen this proposition become established 
in science ; if it is to the regretted Thompsen and other savants of 
Scandinavia that we owe the first attempts of a classification of 
thesé times forgotten by history ; it is a Belgian, Schmerling, who 
has definitely demonstrated, and placed beyond controversy, the 
proposition of our geologists of central France. In 1834 he 
, Showed that in the caverns of the province of Liége there existed 
some very ancient land slides which had recovered some palæonto- 
logical beds with human bones, these having been thus removed 
from all subsequent handling, so as to place the contemporaneity 
of the débris they contained beyond all doubt. 
MICROSCOPY. 
Crassirication Or Microscopic Onsects.— Dr. James Murie, 
of Middlesex Hospital, England, has contributed two elaborate 
papers on this subject to the Royal Microscopical Society. 
In the arrangement of objects in a microscopical cabinet he 
adopts the following excellent rules, which are equally applicable 
to any system of classification. 1. Do not needlessly multiply 
Similar specimens. 2, Do not, on feeble grounds, separate natu- 
rally allied objects. 3. Maintain, as far as possible, a uniform 
= style of nomenclature and size of slide. 4. Endeavor to place in 
_ the cabinet good: typical specimens well prepared. 5. Reject all ` 
lumber, which only weakens a collection. 
In arranging objects belonging to the organized kingdoms, it is 
customary to begin with a series of elementary tissues, either 
Preceding the main collection with this, or developing it from 
this: Thus advise the writers on histology, and thus are arranged 
- the great histological collections. Such a classification, which 
may be advisable in collections (as in books) used for teaching the 
elements of histology, and in small private collections where little 
more than types of the different kinds of cells are present, 1s 
unnecessary in large collections designed for consultation and refer- 
_ ence by those who are somewhat familjar with the primary elements, 
and undesirable from causing an unnecessary duplication of speci- 
Mens and from marring the general harmony and sequence of the 
grouping. The elementary tissues can generally be conveniently 
arranged along with the organs they help to build up ; or, at most, 
