494 
BY A LADY FRIEND. 
of scissors, a lancet, a needle of a lancet shape, which was so 
fine that it could not be cnt without the aid of a magnifying 
glass. It is interesting to know that Schwammerdain was the 
discoverer of the injection process. Although he never used 
forceps Schwammerdain dissected the animals after he had 
killed them in water. 
The first forceps were made by Massenbrock after the death 
of Schwammerdain. It would be utterly impossible here to fol¬ 
low the development of each single microscope. It is enough to 
say that they resembled essentially in form those used at the pres¬ 
ent day, but they differed in manifold ways. The oldest instru¬ 
ment of this kind is in the museum at Utrecht. It is described 
by Harting as follows : k ‘ It is a hollow cylinder of brass, in which 
a small arm can be introduced; underneath is a screw for regulat¬ 
ing the length, either longer or shorter. Above are two rims, of 
a swallow-tail shape, for three plates of brass with springs of one- 
third to six milimeter in diameter. If the part worked by the 
screw projected, the surface of the small plate served as a con¬ 
ductor for the measurer.” Adams made in 1770 a construction of 
this kind from an improved mikrotom. 
The preservation of microscopical objects is a custom as old 
as the microscope itself. Plates made of mica and small glass 
tablets were used, between which the larger insects or animals in 
a dry state were placed, without any preparation whatever. Soon 
the delicate portions of animal life were attempted. B. Hermann 
Boerhaave says in his biography of Schwammerdain, that the 
latter (Schwammerdain) cleansed the animals, then inflated them 
with air, and dried them. In this manner they retained their form, 
and could be exhibited. Sometimes he pricked the little animals 
with a thin needle, squeezed out all moisture, inflated them, placed 
them in a small glass tube and dried them in the shade, smeared 
them with lard oil, in which he had mixed a little rosin. In this 
manner he could keep the specimens many years in their natural 
form. The first microscopical collection was made by Leewen- 
hock. It is not known how the animals or insects were prepared. 
With great certainty we can affirm that they were in a dry state. 
P. Hertig, whose works we have so often mentioned, gives us a 
