2 
Smith, on a Mounting histrument. 
with the surface by a proper knife or chisel, and the table 
being screwed down one or more divisions (as shown in 
drawing No. 3), a section is cut, which, if found of sufficient 
thinness, a number of sections may be cut by continuing to 
turn the table down a similar number of divisions, until it 
will screw no further, when the table must be again screwed 
up and the wood loosened and raised, if more sections are 
required. The principal points of the instrument are : 
1st. Its portability ; the tube being about two and a half 
inches long by one inch in diameter. 
2d. That the specimen to be cut is fixed once for all, and 
the cutting-surface screwed down to it, a feature that will 
render it peculiarly applicable to the cutting of soft sub- 
stances. 
3d. The ease with which a number of sections may be cut 
without disturbing the specimen when once properly fixed, 
while the size of the tube, and the facility with which it can 
be adapted to specimens of various diameters, enable the 
operator to get sections of stems of plants, &c., whole. In 
cutting sections of hard woods, which require considerable 
purchase, it is proposed to place the instrument in a semi- 
circular opening in the edge of the working-table, so that the 
flat plate or cutting-surface may rest upon it, and the strain 
thrown on the table, as represented in drawing No. 3. 
When cutting soft substances it can be held in the hand. 
The Mounting Instrument, 
This instrument, as shown in the drawings, consists of a 
brass rod (a), with a handle at the one end, while the other 
terminates in a flat brass plate (c), one inch wide by two or 
three long, slightly turned up at the sides for the purpose of 
holding the slide ; another arm (b) is joined by a hinge to the 
first at r, and terminates in a small disc (n), which comes 
