556 Analyses of Books. [September, 
Concerning the relative value of the two transits of 1874 and 
1882, Mr. Proctor differs from certain of his brother-astronomers, 
including the Astronomer Royal, Sir G. Airey, in attaching 
greater value to the earlier of these two transits. In certain 
portions of his work, which have now a mere historical interest, 
he argues that the preparations made by England for observing 
the former transit are not so complete and satisfactory as the 
occasion demanded. He gives in one chapter certain corrections 
of the Astronomer Royal’s statements, and shows that in recom- 
mending certain localities for observation “someone had 
blundered.” The localities recommended as stations for the 
phenomenon of 1882 would have been exceedingly suitable for 
that of 1874. 
Microscopical Section Cutting. A Practical Guide to the Pre- 
paration and Mounting of Sections for the Microscope. By 
Sylvester Marsh, Licentiate of the Royal College of 
Physicians of Edinburgh, &c. Second Edition, pp. 156. 
Seventeen Illustrations. 
The first edition of this work, published in 1878,* has been for 
some time out of print, and has enjoyed the honour — thanks to 
the absence of international copyright arrangements — of a pi- 
ratical issue in America. The present edition has been much 
enlarged and many new processes added, keeping pace with the 
numerous discoveries during the past few years, and including 
the new freezing microtomes working with ether spray instead of 
ice. Where tissues only require to be cut occasionally, or ice is 
difficult to procure, these machines are invaluable. 
Very full details are given as to the various modes of staining 
tissues, processes which have done so much to advance histo- 
logical investigation. Many new formulae appear in this edition, 
and minute instructions are given for carrying out the operations 
on tissues requiring special treatment. 
Every worker with the microscope knows that very few objects 
are in a condition for examination just as they are, except in the 
case of very thin and very transparent bodies ; the only means 
of learning anything about their internal structure must depend 
upon the power of cutting sections of a suitable thickness. In 
most cases this needs a certain amount of preparation, varying 
with nearly every substance, to render cutting practicable : many 
tissues, also, after sections are made, are apparently homo- 
geneous, and need the application of various colouring reagents 
to differentiate their otherwise invisible structure. It is true that 
* Journal of Science, vol. i. (3rd series), 1879, p. 135. 
