636 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
instruments, though fortunately far from the largest or most costly, is 
the one lately arranged from Dr. Van Heurck’s suggestions and named 
after him. Though of moderate size and cost, being of exactly the size 
that the writer would choose as a maximum, this possesses a great num- 
ber of serviceable features; and, notwithstanding the unfavourable 
opinions that some eminent authorities have expressed on theoretical 
grounds, its practical working seems excellent. The jury especially 
complimented 4 the extreme precision of all its movements : ’ and the 
writer found it unexpectedly easy with its fine-adjustment to focus a lens 
of N.A. 1-63 upon the shell of A. pellucida , adjusting it instantly to 
exactly the plane of clearest vision of the dots, and leaving it there, 
though every one knows that, with extreme powers, it is often easy to 
catch glimpses, in passing, of points which can hardly be permanently 
focused upon and shown to other observers. 
One of the strongest and most agreeable impressions made by the 
manufacturers’ exhibit, in the aggregate, is that of the uniformity in 
good workmanship, and of the variety of convenient and tasty designs, 
by all the prominent makers. 
All the manufacturers, with two exceptions, already stated, are of 
the Continental sort, and never before has the writer seen grouped in one 
room a representative collection of their Microscopes at all comparable 
to this. It is most interesting to note the purity in which, in so many 
hands, their type of stand has been preserved and the extent to which 
its possibilities have been developed. This style must be abundantly 
satisfactory, alike to the manufacturers and to their patrons, to be so 
freely reproduced and elaborated by so many ingenious workers, in so 
many diverse places, with so little deviation from the prevailing type. 
The interest of the display is doubled, to Americans, from the fact 
that from the first we have been constantly presented with the choice 
between adopting the English or the Continental style as the basis 
of our own. The friendly though often severe battle of the stands 
has continued throughout the memory of the present generation, 
and still continues to some extent notwithstanding the evident fact 
that the English type has entered by far the most largely into our 
experience thus far. Without forgetting that where the wisdom and 
experience of continents are concerned, the opinions of single indi- 
viduals are of little importance, the writer could not do justice to the 
title of this paper without giving his ‘ impressions ’ on this very 
interesting phase of the subject. While a user of the English style for 
more than thirty years, and naturally with strong prepossessions in its 
favour, and still satisfied with it, he must admit that the neat and unpre- 
tentious Continental stands of the smaller and more simple grades become 
more attractive with every increase of acquaintance. It would be 
difficult to find anything more tempting or practical for student’s 
laboratory work (exclusively) than the beautiful little stands exhibited 
by all the French and German makers, though some of the small 
American and English stands still seem to be equally available. On the 
other hand, the larger stands of the Continental type, with elaborate 
adjustments and numerous accessories, always produce the feeling that, 
notwithstanding their ingenious designs and great efficiency, they are 
unfortunately clumsy and somewhat overloaded, their traditional com- 
