1885.] Microscopy. 427 
the entire series of living forms, that it becomes possible to gain 
a conception of it, which can be called exact, truly scientific and 
fruitful. 
“ Cytological instruction should be complete and searching. In 
order to be complete, it should survey the cell from all sides, from 
the standpoint of morphology, anatomy, physiology and bio- 
chemistry ; for it is under these several aspects that it will serve 
as a basis for subsequent study. In saying that it should be 
searching, we should take care to demand that it be encyclope- 
dic; a course which loses itself in details would not be thorough. 
What we desire is, that the student shall be made to penetrate 
into the inner life of the cell, and actually to lay hold of both the 
essential and accidental chemical constitution of living matter, the 
fundamental organic constitution of different parts of the cell— 
membrane, protoplasm, nucleus; to reflect long upon the principal 
physiological phenomena—indispensable foods, elaboration, diges- 
tion, assimilation, &c.; upon the general movements of the cell— 
cleavage, fecundation, different movements of the protoplasmic 
reticulum; upon differentiation, cellular geotropism and heliotro- 
pism,” &c., &c. 
The first part of this first number of the work containing 167 
pages, is devoted to the instruments and methods of microscopi- 
cal research. The first of the three books into which it is sub- 
divided, treats of the microscope and its accessories, the microspec- 
troscope, polarizing apparatus, the micrometer, goniometer, pho- 
tographic apparatus, and camera lucida; and closes with a chapter 
on the laboratory, aquaria, and reagents. 
The second book considers the objects or materials of study, 
and the methods of preparation, including the microtome and its 
uses, : 
The third book devotes one chapter to “the education of the 
eye,” another to “the examination and treatment of prepara- 
tions,” and a third to “the method to be pursued in scientific re- 
searches and publications.” oo ae 
The second part opens with a valuable historical preliminary, 
and a discussion of general notions of the cell, including termi- 
nology and definitions. Then follows a book of sixty-five pages 
devoted to the zucleus—its chemical constitution, structure, and 
morphography. The remaining three books of this part, dealing 
with protoplasm, the eT and general discussions, will 
a r in the second number. 
"The historical summaries, and well-arranged bibliographical 
references, form a very valuable feature of the work; and the 
same may be said of the chapters devoted to methods of research, 
which contain much that is new. The cuts are a// original. They 
are well executed, and for the most part well chosen ; but this is 
a point in which originality might have been curtailed we 
selected illustrations borrowed from different sources. 
