ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
569 
saw motion, and tell me that closer racking is useless. In this way I 
avoid the great care that is necessary in using the old 3-in. or long 
slide with the mount in the middle. This is without the least possible 
danger of injury to either the mount or the objective, while that is not. 
This is my first plea for the short slide. Such safety can hardly be 
furnished by any other device, and certainly no other is so free from 
annoying care. (2) The short slide is more conveniently stored in a 
horizontal till, which is preferable to sliding in the sawed grooves, and 
just as easily handled by the free end when we are accustomed to it. 
(3) The short slide is less likely to be broken if it accidently falls on 
a hard floor, the liability to break increasing as the square of the length, 
or more rapidly. A slide an inch long would hardly break once in a 
thousand falls, while one a foot long would most surely break at the 
first. (4) The short slide is lighter and more conveniently packed for 
transportation, which is important especially in the mails. (5) The 
short slide costs less, an item of some importance to many of us. 
There are some objections to the short slide. The principal ones 
are as follows : — (1) It is not the standard slide. It is not the fashion, 
and to be out of fashion is a great load for many to bear. (2) The long 
slide may be better adapted to work on the turntable, which is a great 
convenience where a cell is to be made ; still the circular cell can be made 
on the end of the slide with a suitable turntable. A square cell can 
readily and more quickly be made by hand, and a square cover can be 
cemented around the border more quickly than the slide can be placed 
on the turntable, and the square cover is better for most purposes, except 
for glycerin mounting, now nearly out of credit, and perhaps for dry 
mounting. (3) The long slide has some claims of moment in manipu- 
lating on the stage, in case we have no slide-carrier ; but why be without 
a slide-carrier ? If I had none I would at once improvise one with a 
thin piece of cigar-box lid, pasteboard, tin, or a long piece of glass, five 
or six inches long, the former, of course, with a hole cut in the middle. 
I have tried Microscopes formerly without slide-carriers, but after using 
one for fifteen years with a slide-carrier, I would almost as soon think of 
being without a Microscope as to be without this first and greatest con- 
venience in manipulating the slide on the stage. If the opening in my 
slide-carrier were If in. wide, as it ought to be, I would probably use 
all slides If in. by 1 in., such as those sold by the Bausch & Bomb 
Optical Company, but, as it is, I have been obliged for some time past to 
work against another prejudice and use narrower slides, and I find a slide 
3/4 or 7/8 in. wide ample for most uses, and for all covers 3/8 to 3/4 in. 
square, and is sufficient for the label ; so what more do we want ? If it 
is more labelling room, the two sides of the free end of the short slide 
can be used, thus affording plenty of space for the purpose. 
The labels which I prefer for the purpose I cut out of gummed paper 
in slips 1/4 to 1/2 in. wide, and 2 to 2£ in. long as needed. Moisten 
and apply round the free end of the slide ; after drying, write the name 
and number on the upper surface, and the mounting medium, date, and 
stain on the lower. In this way I find room for everything on the short 
slide. 
I have heard it objected that the label under the slide places the 
latter out of level on the stage. This, at first sight, appears true, at 
