Abstract
OF the 75 pages of which this book consists, only the last 25 properly relate to the subject which is indicated by the title; all the rest are occupied by descriptions, of a very detailed and apparently accurate kind, of apparatus and various accessories to microscopic work, such as all but the most inexperienced are necessarily perfectly familiar with. A classification and account of the various kinds of turntables fills 8 pages at the beginning; diamonds and scalpels are afterwards treated of, with the method of sharpening the latter. A simple plan of mounting needles for dissection, which consists in inserting their blunt ends into the pith cavity of pieces of fresh twigs cut of the proper lengths, and then allowed to dry, and consequently shrink tightly upon them, will, no doubt, be found useful. The handles, however, for crochet-needles which are sold at berlin-wool shops achieve the same end by a simple mechanical contrivance. The triangular needles, by the way, mentioned by the authors, are known inEngland as glovers' needles, and are kept by some instrumentmakers. Microtomes are discussed very minutely: they are, no doubt, very useful; but excellent sections are habitually made by those who use no contrivance of any kind. Imbedding in stearine is recommended in the case of Rivet's most ingenious section cutter; but when this is done it will be found that, with a little practice, the instrument can be quite dispensed with. It will hardly be worth while, therefore, for any one who wishes seriously to work at vegetable histology to expend 28 fr. upon it. A good hint is to coat the object to be cut with a thick solution of gum-arabic, which is to be allowed to quite dry before putting it into the melted stearine. By this expedient, when the section is thrown into water as soon as cut, the stearine is said to detach itself, and gives no further trouble. The manufacture of a slide and covering glass (pronounced slíade and coveur) requires an explanation of 16 pages. It is, perhaps, a doubtful compliment to find only the mechanical side of English microscopy getting any recognition. It may possibly be all we deserve; still, no serious worker-in England would waste his time in carrying out the directions given here for cutting, trimming, and polishing the edges of glass slips, which can be so easily purchased ready-made. Directions for making preservative solutions form the last chapter, and these are probably of some value. A medium prepared by adding 4 to 5 parts (by weight) of glacial acetic acid to 100 parts of distilled water, with which 2 parts of chloroform have been agitated for some time, is stated to preserve the endochrome of minute algae without contraction, and to have the enormous merit, when vegetable tissues are worked with, of absorbing bubbles of air. Another liquid, composed of 75 parts of water saturated with camphor, an equal quantity of distilled water, and I part of glacial acetic acid, is recommended in the warmest terms for the preservation of fresh water algae. A great deal still remains to be done in the methods of vegetable histology. No one in England has probably as yet tried perosmic acid for plant tissues; and staining, which has proved so important an aid to animal histologists, never enters into the minds of the authors, even to the extent of mentioning the familiar carmine; much less the solution employed by Hanstein for colouring the cell-wall, consisting of equal parts of rosaniline (magenta) and aniline-violet (mauve) dissolved in alcohol.* Schulz's process for demonstrating the “intercellular substance” characteristically concludes what the authors have to say. On the whole, any person wishing to practise the preparation of vegetable microscopic objects merely as a matter of business on a. large scale, will find it useful to possess this book.
Des Préparations Microscopiques Tirées dv Regne Végétal, et des différents procédés à employer pour en assurer la conservation.
Par Johannes Grönland, Maxime Cornu, et Gabriel Rivet. (Paris: F. Savy. London: Williams and Norgate.)
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D., W. Des Préparations Microscopiques Tirées dv Regne Végétal, et des différents procédés à employer pour en assurer la conservation . Nature 7, 83 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/007083b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007083b0