THE 
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 
FEBEUAEY 1, 1869. 
I. — On the Classification and Arrangement of Microscopic Objects. 
By James Murie, M.D., F.L.S., &c., Prosector to the 
Zoological Society. 
(Bead before the Royal Microscopical Society, March 11, 1868.) 
1. Introductory. 
2. Various Arrangements of Objects. 
3. Microscopic Collection, College 
of Surgeons. 
4. Principles of Classification. 
5. Cabinets. 
Contents. 
6. Metbod of dividing a Collection. 
7. Numbering and Intercalating 
Slides. — Incorporation of minor 
Series of Specimens. 
8. Labelling Slides and Cabinet. 
9. Concluding Remarks. 
1. Introductory. — Pursuant to the request of my friends Dr. John 
Millar and Mr. Henry Lee, I have been induced to lay before 
this Society the present paper. The above-mentioned gentlemen as 
well as others, I presume, have found a difficulty in arranging 
satisfactorily their own miscellaneous microscopic objects — at least 
in what I may term scientific order. 
In the year 1864 I undertook and completed a re-arrangement 
and weeding of the entire microscopical collection (some 16,000 in 
number) of the Eoyal College of Surgeons. This labour taught 
me to grapple with some of the difficulties usually encountered in 
systematizing microscopic objects for useful purposes. 
At the outset I may incidentally remark that microscopic study 
is not limited to beauty of form in diminutive objects or perfection 
in optical apparatus ; microscopy is rather the nucleus which, as it 
shoots outwards, entwines among all the sciences dealing with 
organized form. Frequently it is the range of subject and material 
which confuses the collector, and prevents his clearly appreciating 
the definite aim of an extensive miscellaneous series. The value of 
a large collection is decreased in the ratio of its magnitude and 
diversity of character, where, for want of a proper system, an object 
cannot at once be laid hands on, or a fresh one readily find its 
place. 
The present communication, although containing no original 
research, may nevertheless prove of use, by calling attention to 
VOL. I. Q 
