♦ 



(54 SCIENCE. [Vol. VII., No. 154 



1872. to 3,736,771 in 1883. Trade has more than 

 kept pace with the advance of population and 

 revenue, as the following figures will show : In 

 1874 the imports were £1,859,095, and in 1883, 

 £3,772,887. In 1874 the exports were £3,480,407, 

 and in 1883, £7.039,525. The relative increase of 

 the imports is somewhat greater than the increase 

 in exports ; but, with the balance of trade so 

 strongly in favor of the province, its capacity as a 

 consumer of British manufactures is very im- 

 perfectly measured by the actual value of the im- 

 ports. Again : the comparatively small amount 

 of those imports demonstrates conclusively that 

 upper Burmah has acted as an effectual and insur- 

 mountable barrier between the port of Rangoon 

 and those illimitable commercial requirements of 

 western China and the Shan states which it has 

 been the hope of the government and merchants 

 alike to ascertain and to satisfy. Rice repre- 

 sents 80 per cent of the total* exports. The other 

 chief exports are teak, cotton, jade, petroleum, 

 spices, tobacco, hides, horns, ivory, India-rubber, 

 shellac, cutch, and drugs. Of these, teak forms 

 7 per cent of the total exports, and cotton 2$ per 

 cent. 



The statistics of the province show that one of 

 the chief wants is population, — a want which 

 our connection with India and China would make 

 it easy for Madras, Bengal, and China to supply, 

 thus adding materially to the producing capacity 

 and general prosperity of the province. 



SOME RECENT TEXT -BOOKS ON METHODS 

 IN MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY. 



The rapidity of the improvements recently 

 made in methods devised for carrying on all kinds 

 of zoological investigations has resulted in the 

 establishment of journals largely, or even exclu- 

 sively, devoted to the diffusion of information in 

 technic. The amount of valuable experience 

 already acquired over a field much broader than 

 that covered by the older text-books on histology 

 lias rendered it imperative that the sources of this 

 widely scattered information should be syste- 

 matically reviewed with the purpose of collecting 

 its important and really valuable elements, and 

 putting them into a shape convenient for use both 

 by beginners and by such investigators as are 

 wise enough not to waste time by remaining ( on- 

 tent with the scanty methods and appliances of 

 twenty, or even ten, years ago. 



The value of the text-book which summarizes 

 the present acquisitions in this field will depend 

 upon several things, but principally upon the 

 critical knowledge and experience which its au- 



thor brings to bear on the selection of material, 

 and the method of treating his subject. 



Since the publication of the first part of Fol's 



• Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen 

 anatomie,' 1 in 1884, there have appeared several 

 books having this general purpose in view. The 

 immediate aims of the three mentioned below 2 

 are not quite identical : each fills a place not fully 

 occupied by either of the others. The first is 

 primarily intended for the beginner, to whom 

 sources of difficulty and their remedies are ex- 

 plained ; the third, while intended first of all for 



• the instructed anatomist,' also aims to be of use 

 to the beginner ; the second takes a middle ground 

 between the other two, in that it does not aim to 

 be ' an exhaustive treatise of the subject in any of 

 its aspects,' but endeavors to meet 'the every-day 

 needs of a zoological laboratory.' 



In a small pamphlet of about forty pages, Ktiken- 

 thal has brought together concise practical direc- 

 tions covering the more important of the recent 

 technical methods employed by zoologists. The 

 statement in the preface that this little book con- 

 tains nothing essentially new is realized. At the 

 same time, it meets very satisfactorily the needs 

 of a beginner : for the selections made are, on the 

 whole, judicious ; and the descriptions, though 

 brief, are intelligible and to the point. About 

 one-third of the book is devoted to the processes 

 (illustrated) of embedding (chloroform-paraffine), 

 sectioning, and affixing sections ; but the space 

 devoted to embedding in gum, albumen, and cel- 

 loidin, is too brief to be of much service. Its 

 compact and unpretending form puts this little 

 pamphlet within easy reach of every beginner, 

 and those to whom German is no impediment 

 will find it serviceable. 



Whitman's work is an immediate outgrowth 

 from his editorial labors, in connection with the 

 department of microscopy in the American natu- 

 ralist ; but it is much more than a compilation of 

 matter already published there. Although the 

 hook is called 'Methods in microscopical anatomy,' 

 etc., its scope is somewhat broader than that of the 

 two other works, for 'material and methods' 

 sams up the author's view of the needs of the 

 zoological laboratory : and upon both points he 

 aims to be of service. 



Part i. deals with general methods, which are 



1 For a review of Fol's hook see Science, vol. v. p. 510. 



- Die mikroakopische technik im zoologischen praktikum. 

 Von Dr. Willy Kukkknthal. Jena, Fischer, 1885. 10°. 



Methods of research in microscopical anatomy and em- 

 bryology. By Charlkh Otis Whitman. Boston, Cassino, 

 1885. 8°. 



The microtomist's rade-mecum; a hand-book of the meth- 

 ods of microscopic anatomy. By Arthur Bolles Lre. 

 Philadelphia. Hlakiston, 1885. 18°. 



