214 
TOPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
excellent § on the immersion plan for the sum of 4 1. or less, according to 
the presence or absence of an adjusting arrangement. 
The Mici'oscope in the Pyx Chamber. — The mysterious chamber known as 
the Pyx at Westminster, and in which the standards of measure are now 
kept, has nailed on its door a piece of skin said to be human. This has been 
examined by Mr. II. F. Hailes, who read a paper on it some time ago at the 
Quekett Club. Mr. Hailes thinks the specimen human skin, but does not 
appear to be quite certain. — Journal of the Quekett Club. (January.) 
The Microscope in the Welsh Fasting Girl Case. — In the course of the recent 
prosecution in connection with this case, it came out that Mr. John Phillips 
had examined with a microscope the contents of the stomach. He recog- 
nised starch globules in abundance, and several small pieces of bone — either 
of small fish or small birds. The starch was most probably taken from 
arrowroot. 
Polarising Objects from the Hydrocarbons. — At a recent meeting of the 
Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Mr. J. B. Dancer, 
F.R.A.S., read a short paper on some of the new hydrocarbon compounds 
from which he had obtained very beautiful polarising objects for the micro- 
scope. These were exhibited to the members, and a more detailed account 
promised when the experiments are complete. 
Movement of Chlorophyll Corpuscles. — At the meeting of the French Academy 
on January 17, M. Brongniart presented a note from M. Rose, relative to M. 
Prillieux’s recent researches on the influence of light on the movement of 
the chlorophyll corpuscles. The motion of the chlorophyll corpuscles is not, 
he says, produced separately in each individual corpuscle. On the contrary, 
the light affects a mass of matter which incloses a number of corpuscles and 
moves them bodily along with it. 
Illuminating opaque Objects under high Powers. — Mr. Tolies, the well-known 
American maker, has produced an improvement on Professor Smith’s well- 
known combination. It is thus described in the Monthly Microscopical 
Journal : — In this a prism is inserted in the^side of the objective, between 
the front and middle combinations, of such a shape that a beam of light, 
received at the side of the objective, is thrown by a totally reflecting surface 
through one side of the front lens, at such an angle that none of it is 
reflected, but all passes through and is condensed on the object, and from 
that reflected back to the eye. Only one of these instruments (now owned 
by a physician of Boston) was then made. Recently Mr. Tolies has made 
two more of them, and their performance is such as to promise that little, 
if any, improvement can be expected in this direction. Opaque objects 
are seen with --inch and quarter-inch objectives (from 200 to 600 dia- 
meters), brilliantly illuminated on a black background. The appearance of 
diatoms is similar to that obtained with the parabola, but the details of 
surface are shown with a distinctness never before seen. Of how much 
utility this is to prove, and what discoveries are to bo made in the works of 
nature with it, are among the problems that the microscopists are called on 
to solve. 
Dust tinder the Microscope. — Dr. Sigerson, of the Catholic University, 
Ireland, has been recently making some experiments in this direction. The 
results were lately laid before the lloyal Dublin Society. 
