SCIENCE. 
319 
market has been glutted with what appears to be 
lacquered brass-work.” 
This is well expressed, and needs but one word in addi- 
tion, as to the remedy : On this point we advise the 
microscopistto recur to the good, but old-fashioned plan, 
of gradually building up his microscope and its accessor- 
ies. Let his money accumulate until he can purchase a 
first-class stand of a reliable maker, the adjustments of 
which will be reliable, and arranged to receive all neces- 
sary accessories as they are added. With such a base oi 
operation, he will have nothing to retract, and every step 
will be one of progress. 
In justice to some makers in America, it must be ad- 
mitted that they have prodqced, recently, some moder- 
ately-priced instruments which are well finished ; but 
there are also some students’ microscopes, on the market, 
carelessly made, badly constructed, and unfit for scientific 
work. 
As to objectives the writer in the Eng. Mech., above 
referred to, says : “Large firms abroad, who are not opti- 
cians at all, and whose appliances are suited to the pro- 
duction of bull’s-eye lenses, &c., have been induced to 
‘ take up ’ with the microscope, and thus thousands of 
things called objectives have been floated that are a dis- 
grace to microscopy. Here and there an advertiser of 
microscopes obtains these things, patches on some 
trumpery adapter that conceals the original make, and 
disposes of the wares as ‘ our own first-class manufac- 
ture ; ’ the unwary student finds out how he has been im- 
posed upon only when experience has taught him the 
meaning of good optical appliances, among which those 
he is unhappily possessed of take no rank whatever.” 
We have no doubt the writer has good reason for mak- 
ing this exposure of the tricks of opticians. The prac- 
tice of importing objectives and, after remounting, 
passing them off as “ our own first-class manufac- 
tured is not confined to Europe. When in London, on 
one occasion, we were shown a written order from a 
well-known American objective maker, for a quantity of 
objectives, to be used for this very purpose. 
It is certainly a disgraceful state of things that a mi- 
croscopist, who purchases an objective of a reputable 
maker, should receive a glass manufactured by an infer- 
ior house, whose prices are probably 50 per cent less. 
Purchasers of microscopes and objectives in the United 
States, who endeavor to steer a course between exorbi- 
tant charges and inferior workmanship, have need of 
much caution, and if inexperienced, should not rely on 
their own judgment. 
The number of microscopists in this country appears 
to be on the increase if we may draw conclusions from 
the statement of a maker, who asserts that he has 
orders in hand which will keep him employed for four 
months. 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
Mr. Simon H. Gage has just been appointed Assistant 
Professor of Physiology, and Lecturer on Microscopical 
Technology in Cornell University. While a student in 
the Natural History course at that institution, Mr. Gage 
acted as laboratory assistant, and since his graduation, 
in 1877, has been Instructor in Microscopy and Practical 
Physiology. He has published several papers, mostly 
microscopical, some of which have been copied into 
European Journals. In addition to the supervision of 
other laboratory work, Mr. Gage gives practical lec- 
tures upon Microscopical Technology, in all its branches, 
and upon Microscopy in relation to Medical Jurispru- 
dence. His deserved appointment will not only strengthen 
the general Natural History instruction, but greatly aid 
Professor Wilder’s efforts to provide preliminary medical 
education. 
The following list of the published papers of Mr. Gage 
will give some idea of his scientific activity, and indicate 
his special line of research : 
1. Plaster of Paris as an Injecting Mass. — American Naturalist, Nov- 
ember, 1878, pp. 717-724. 
2. Notes on the Cayuga Lake Star Gazer. — Cornell Review , Novem- 
ber, 1878, pp. 91-94. 
3. The Ampulla of Vater and the Pancreatic Ducts in the Domestic 
Cat, Felis Domestica. — The A merican Quarterly Microscopical Journal , 
January, 1879. pp. 123-131, and April, 169-180. 
4. Laboratory Notes in Microscopy. — Am. Q. M. Jour. Vol. I., pp. 71, 
160, 166. Part of these were copied in the Journal 0/ the Royal Micro- 
scopical Society , of London, 1879, P- I 9 I - an ^ also tne American Jour- 
nal of Microscopy and Popular Science , 1879, p. 176. 
5. The Inter-Articular Ligament of the Head of the Ribs in the Cat. — 
Proc. of the Am. Association for the Advancement of Science , Saratoga 
Meeting, 1879, pp. 421-424. 
6. A New Method of Demonstrating the Thoracic Duct in Animals. — 
Proc. A . A. A. S., 1879, P- 425. 
7. An Apparatus for Photographing Natural History Objects in a Hor- 
izontal Position. Read before the A. A. A. S., at Saratoga, and pub- 
lished by title in the proceedings for 1879, p. 489. 
8. Preparation of Ranvier’s Piero-Carmine. — American Monthly 
Microscopical Journal , 1880, pp. 22-23. Copied in the Jour, of the 
Royal Mic. Soc. of Londoii , 1880. pp. 501-502. 
9. Permanent Microscopical Preparations of Amphibian Blood. Read 
at the Boston Meeting of the A. A. A.S.,and published in the American 
Naturalist , October, 1880, pp. 752-753. 
10. Permanent Microscopical Preparations of Plasmodium. Read at 
the Boston Meeting of the A. A. A. S., and published in the Am. M. 
Mic. Jour., October, 1880, pp. 173-174. 
11. A supplement to the article on calcareous crystals in Amphibia, by 
Piofessor Bolton, of Trinity College. This supplement was prepared at 
his request, and published with his paper in the Proc. of the A. A. A. S. t 
1879, p. 418. 
Finally Dr. Wilder and Mr. Gage have been preparing a laboratory 
manual Jor the last two years, which will be published next fall. 
For an opinion as to the value of the laboratory notes, etc., mentioned 
above, see the Proceedings of the New York Microscopical Society, as 
published in the Am. Jour, of Mic. and Pop. Science. Feb., 1880, p. 51. 
CHEMICAL NOTES. 
Ulmic Materials Produced by the Action of Acids 
upon Sugar. — The formulae ascribed by Mulder to the 
ulmic products which had been dried at from 140° to 
165° before being submitted to combustion are not 
a dmissible, since, at temperatures above ioo°, these 
bodies lose a notable quantity of volatile matter, and in 
particular of formic acid. The ulmic substances obtained 
by the action of dilute sulphuric acid upon sugar, and 
which maybe called sacchulmine, appear in the lorm of 
minute yellowish brown globules. On treatment with a 
cold aqueous solution of caustic potassa, sacchulmine 
gives off an acid principle derived from the action of sul- 
phuric acid upon glucose. The ulmic matter (sacchulmine), 
insoluble in cold alkaline liquids, is derived directly from 
saccharose. In the ulmification of sugar there is evolved 
a considerable quantity of volatile acids, especially formic 
acid. — F. Sestini. — Gazzetta Chitnica Italiana. 
The Diffusion and the Physiological Condition of 
Copper in the Animal Organism. — Prof Giovanni Bizio 
has attempted to prove that his father, Bartolomeo Bizio, 
was the original discoverer of the normal occurrence of 
copper in the animal economy. 
Chemical Constitution of Milk. — Caseine is not 
a homogeneous albuminoid, but a mixture of albumen 
and protalo-bodies which appear as transition stages in 
peptonisation. In the milk globules has been found 
an albumenoid which constitutes the serum. In the 
curd are met with an albuminous body identical with the 
stromaei alb-compound of the globules, a body which 
Danilewsky and Radenhausen name orroproteine and two 
series of peptones. Hence it is no longer proper, in milk- 
analysis, to speak of caseine and albumen, but rather of 
albuminates. — Dr. N. Gerber. — Correspondenz-Blatt. 
Occurance of Copper. — Dr. W. Iladelich has detected 
and determined copper in the soil of a churchyard, and in 
portions of exhumed bodies. 
Simple Method of Observing the Phenomena of Dif- 
fraction. — The rays reflected by a heliostat are concen- 
trated by two lenses. In the focus is placed a diaphragm 
with a very small aperture, and the luminous glass is re- 
ceived on a screen. In this glass are placed the bodies 
whose shadows are to be studied. — V. D. Vorak. 
