1887] Microscopy. 207 
the collecting of myths, traditions, and vocabularies. To get 
these he was obliged to avail himself of the Chinook jargon, 
which he has mastered in a pretty short lapse of time. The 
songs and melodies which Professor C. Stumpf, of Halle, obtained 
from the Bilkula Indians travelling in Germany were published 
y him in an article inserted in the Zettschr. fir Musikwissen- 
schaft, 1886, pp. 405-426, and two articles by Dr. Boas (with an- 
other by Goeken) upon the same tribe are to be found in the 
“ Original - Mittheilungen der Ethnolog. Abtheilung der Kon. 
Museen zu Berlin,” 1886, pp. 177-186.—A. S. Gatschet. 
MICROSCOPY.? 
Note on the Practical Study of Moulds.—lIt is well known 
that the study of moulds may be greatly facilitated by following 
their development in gelatine films, or other solid substrata, 
spread on glass slides ; but the value of the method for classes in 
elementary biology has not been sufficiently recognized. The 
_ following aaen of the method is perhaps already in use; 
o call attention to it as simple and practical, and 
especially as eat a ready means of making very clear and 
beautiful permanent preparations. 
e spores are sown with a needle-point in films, consisting of 
a modification of Pasteur’s or Mayer’s fluid (with pepsin) thick- 
ened with Iceland moss. In this medium moulds grow freely in 
the moist chamber. They may be examined either fresh or after 
treatment with iodine, which scarcely colors the substratum. 
For the purpose of making permanent preparations the culture- 
slides are transferred directly from the moist chamber to a satu- 
rated solution of eosin in ninety-five per cent. of alcohol, a fluid 
by which the moulds are at once fixed and stained. After 
twenty-four hours (or, preferably, three or four days) the prepa- 
rations are washed in ninety-five per cent. alcohol until the color 
nearly disappears from the substratum, cleared with oil of cloves, 
d mounted in balsam. All stages may thus be prepared. The 
mycelia, conidia, etc., appear of an intense red color, while the 
substratum is scarcely stained. Alcoholic fuchsin may be used 
instead of eosin, though inferior to it; but other dyes (of which 
a Sone aS number have been tested) color the substratum 
the moulds, and are therefore useless. Eosin 
ee rton made more than a year s do not yet show the 
slightest alteration of color. The best results have thus far been 
obtained with Penicillium, Eurotium, and certain parasitic — 
Mucor gives less satisfactory preparations, since it is always m 
or less shrunken by the alcohol. Fair preparations of yeast al 
be made by mixing it with the liquefied medium and ome 
the mixture on glass slides, which, after solidification of the films. 
Edited by C. O. es ue apes Wisconsin, 
` VOL. XXI.—NO. 2. 
