690 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Small pieces of tissue, secretions, or deposits may be conveniently 
transported between two watch-glasses placed one on top of the other, 
and held together by a rubber band or by adhesive plaster. 
Certain fluid nutritive media may be conveniently preserved in her- 
metically sealed glass tubes, such as pepton and pepton-glucose blood- 
serum. These sealed tubes are obtainable from the usual agents. 
Microtechnique of Animal Morphology.* — Prof. S. Apathy has just 
brought out the first half of an exhaustive treatise on the microtechnique 
of animal morphology. The subject is dealt with, not only from a 
practical but a critical standpoint, and the keynote may be gathered 
from a quotation in the introduction : — “ We heartily agree with Lionel 
Beale, who said that no man ever did perform real work until he had 
himself mastered minute practical details.” The work is divided into 
a general and special part, and these into sections. The first section 
is devoted to preliminary considerations, such as the reasons and 
objects of preparatory treatment of the specimen to render it capable 
of being examined microscopically, the inherent difficulties that have 
to be overcome, and so on, and finally fixation, imbedding, staining, and 
mounting. 
The second section treats microtechnique from a historical aspect. 
The third section gives advice as to the choice of methods, how to 
observe the preparation, and so on. The fourth section, which is the 
first of the special part, is concerned with the treatment of animal 
organisms without the aid of chemical substances. Not the least useful 
and interesting is a chronological review of the literature and advances 
marie in the last 50-60 years in microtechnique. 
Prof. Apathy has produced a work on quite original lines, and one 
which is a very valuable contribution to the now difficult subject of 
microscopical technique. It is, however, not a text-book in the narrow 
sense of the word, though at the same time it is quite suitable for the 
use of the student, and is especially adapted for the wants of the 
zoologist, histologist, and embryologist. 
The second half is to be published in the course of the next twelve 
months. 
(1) Collecting- Objects including- Culture Processes. 
Proper Reaction of Nutrient Media for Bacterial Cultivation.! — 
In a synoptical commentary on the reaction of nutritive media, Mr. G. 
Fuller points out that the terms alkaline and acid have only a relative 
signification. He found that the reaction was most accurately deter- 
mined by titration, and that of the different aromatics in use, the safest 
results were obtained from phenolphthalein. Caustic soda was used for 
alkalinising, and the media were alkalinised while hot, in order to pre- 
vent the absorption of carbonic acid from the air. With regard toother 
indicators, litmus paper proved more satisfactory than litmus tincture, 
though the reaction with the papers was found to vary, both with their 
age and method of preparation. 
Comparative experiments on alkaline media showed that water 
* Braunschweig und London, 8vo, 1896, 320 pp. and 10 figs. 
f Journ. Amer. Public Health Assoc., x. 1895. Sec Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., l te Abt., xx. (1896) p. 333. 
