92 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
be considered stable, but its ripening pro- 
cess will extend over weeks instead of days. 
Exposing the freshly prepared collodion to 
the sun shortens the ripening process, with- 
out detriment to its other qualities. 
For pouring bottles, use bottles with pro- 
jecting lips, and cover the cork and neck of 
the bottle with a cap, either of glass or 
varnished pasteboard. 
How to Study Sciefice. 
rpHE method of study is also important, 
and just here is where many otherwise 
good institutions fail. Every student of 
nature should meet nature at first hand, and 
learn to observe her phenomena for him- 
self. Lectures and text books are but minor 
accessories to study; in the sciences they 
play a wholly subordinate part; in the labor- 
atory, the field, and the museum, the chief 
work is to be done. No matter what branch 
of science is to be pursued, the student 
from the very first must meet it face to face. 
The biological sciences ought to be studied 
in the field, collecting; in the museum, 
classifying; in the laboratory, with the mi- 
croscope and the scalpel. Far too often is 
the study of natural history degraded into 
a mere memorizing of classifications; as if 
the transitory part of science were more 
valuable than the permanent. The student 
must see, handle, dissect, and investigate 
for himself. He is to study the phenomena 
of life, and not merely the external appear- 
ance of a lot of stujffed specimens. Chem- 
istry, and physics also, are to be studied 
chiefly in the laboratory. It is not enough 
for a student to see experiments, he must 
himself perform them. Thus only can he 
learn the true scope of these great sciences. 
By a proper drill in qualitative analysis, he 
learns to observe closely, and to reason from 
his facts to their interpretation. Quantita- 
tive analysis gives him accuracy of manipu- 
, lation, and an insight into the" absolute 
value of experiment. This insight also re- 
sults from delicate practice with instru- 
ments of precision in physics; a kind of ex- 
ercise of the very highest educational value. 
If the course of study in any science can be 
capped by an original research leading to 
the discovery of new facts, so much the bet- 
ter. In a German university the candidate 
for a doctoral degree in science is absolutely 
required to carry out such research, and to 
submit a dissertation upon it. This is not a 
severe requirement — every student who has 
been decently trained is able to come up to 
it, all the popular notions about the myster- 
iousnsss of scientific research to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. Why should we not 
aim to equal the German standard? — Popu- 
lar Science Monthly. 
How to Make an Aquarium of Micro- 
scopic Objects. 
TAKE with you a small tin pail down io 
the seaside, and fill it full of pure 
salt water. Walk along on the sunny side 
of some creek or inlet, until you come to a 
spot where eel-grass or sea-weed is growing 
luxuriantly. Place your pail of water down 
beside you, and in it wash carefully a quan- 
tity of the eel-grass or sea-weed. Repeat 
this operation several times at different 
places, being careful not to soil the water 
with mud. Now put into your pail a pebble 
with a choice bit of sea-weed attached to it, 
and you have all the material necessary for 
your aquarium. Take it home, and pour 
the water into a small glass phial, drop 
carefully into it the stone with the sea- 
seed growing upon it; then, after covering 
the mouth of the bottle with muslin to- 
exclude dust, place it in a sunny window, 
and in a few weeks you will be astonished 
at the result. The sea-weed will have shot 
out little delicate branches through the 
water, which will remain perfectly pure and 
transparent for months, while every drop 
of it will contain many living objects of 
diff'erent varieties that will increase and 
multiply to a wonderful extent, and will be 
ready at all times to be admired under the 
microscope. 
As the water in the phial evaporates^ ii 
