aids to observation within reach, have made some better use of the occurrence than I did; but who in these prosy times ever thinks of an earthquake till it is all over ?"

The fact that some persons were strongly affected by the concussion, while others in adjacent houses did not notice it, need not surprise us when we take into consideration individual peculiarities of sensitiveness, occupation at the time, etc., etc., and also bear in mind the very different conducting power of hard and soft soils, and of various kinds of masonry. The beds or furniture in some houses would be in a more favourable line of disturbance than in others. In Mr. Hibberd's case the brickwork of the great drain may have conducted the shock to the foundations and walls of his house. A correspondent in the Times states that a strong shock occurred in Antigua at a period corresponding with 6th October, 2.28 a.m. English mean time. Further facts would be necessary to show whether this was a mere coincidence, or an indication of the range of the shock which these islands felt.

MOUNTING DRY OBJECTS.

BY T. W. WONFOR,

Hon. Sec. Brighton and Sussex Natural History Society.

We have received the following valuable letter from Mr. Wonfor. His method appears to be well worth trial, but great care must be taken in making the brass and glass surfaces quite clean. One of the cells he was kind enough to send loosened in transit. Probably attention to the surfaces and the use of marine glue would secure success :

"Knowing the interest you take in all matters relating to the microscope, I have taken the liberty of addressing you upon a paragraph in this month's INTELLECTUAL OBSERVER. The plan proposed by Mr. Ralf for dry mounting I tried some eighteen months since, and found it open to three objections. First, Heat does not perfectly unite the gutta-percha and glass; consequently a mere touch will remove the cell. Secondly, If there be the least moisture about the object, glass, or guttapercha, it rises and dims the covering glass. Thirdly, Guttapercha seems an admirable nidus for the production of microscopic fungi, as numerous slides spoilt by their growth testify.

"Gutta-percha cells, fastened with cement, are also liable to come off with a touch, and if employed must be painted inside with Brunswick black, etc.; by this means the growth of fungi is avoided. A cheap and more permanent form of cell can be made out of brass curtain-rings, which may be had from one

quarter of an inch diameter upwards. They can either be flattened with a hammer, or rubbed flat on both sides on a stone, and fastened with liquid glue,' 'Bell's cement,' 'marine glue,' or any other cement used for fastening brass to glass. The rings cost from 8d. to 10d. a gross.

"If they are painted with Brunswick black afterwards, the brass is concealed, and they present the appearance of deep cement cells. The readiest plan I find is to prepare two or more dozen at a time; and as most opaque objects require a dark background, my punches, purchased for cutting guttapercha, came in useful for cutting black patches.

"I send you a plain cell, one with cement and patch ready to receive an object, and another complete. For deeper cells I get a brass-turner to cut brass-tubing to the required depth. The same objection as regards fungi applies to the interior of ivory cells."

A NEW REVERSIBLE COMPRESSORIUM.

Ir is not long since we had occasion to notice a very excellent compressorium, devised and manufactured by Mr. Ross. It was worked by a single screw, afforded great facility for replacing the upper thin glass, and permitted the lower and thicker one to be removed, so that any object might be conveniently prepared upon it, under water if necessary. This compressorium, it seemed to us, might advantageously replace the live box, being quite as easily used, and very superior to it whenever delicacy of manipulation is required. But, notwithstanding the merits of this, and of certain other forms of the compressorium as constructed by other makers, there was still room for a new one, to meet requirements that are by no means uncommon in microscopic pursuits.

M. Quatrefage, by placing two brass pins upon the old lever compressorium, enabled the instrument to be reversed, so as to give a view of both sides of an object; but there was no provision to secure parallelism of pressure, and it had other important defects. Dr. Carpenter, in the last edition of his work on the Microscope, observed that, in his opinion, nothing could be more suitable to ordinary purposes than an equatic box having a screw collar fitted to it in such a manner that by turning this its cover may be pressed down or raised up as gradually as may be desired, without any rotation of the cover itself or any disturbance of the parallelism of the glasses. This is the character of the new reversible compressorium contrived by Mr. Slack and Mr. Richard Beck, and now manufactured by

the firm of Smith, Beck, and Beck, but it is more complete than that suggested by Dr. Carpenter. It consists essentially of a very flat screw live box, having a special contrivance to prevent the rotation of the compressing plate, and furnished with springs which elevate the upper plate the instant the tightening of the screw is relaxed. It is so thin that it offers no obstacle to the employment of the achromatic condenser or the parabolic illuminator, and requires no change in the adjustment of the illuminating apparatus when it is reversed.

Another important peculiarity in this compressorium is the way in which the upper and lower glasses are inserted, and the adaptation of the instrument to receive them either moderately thick or extremely thin. The glasses are kept in their places by a slight pressure of four flat-headed screws, two for each. These screws can be instantly turned by a small pair of pliers, or by the finger and thumb, and allow a glass to be replaced or exchanged without a minute's delay. This we regard as a point of great practical value, as much time is lost when the glasses are cemented in. In addition to replacing broken glasses it is frequently desirable to change them, as the very thin glass necessary for high powers will not bear the strain. that is inevitable, when many objects that are intended to be examined with lower powers have to be compressed. With the new compressorium thicker plates, top and bottom, can be substituted for thin, or vice versa, at a moment's notice, and Messrs. Smith and Beck can, if required, supply two or more of the compressing apparatus to fit the same bed, and thus two or more thicknesses of glass may be always ready for use.

The new compressorium was shown at the October meeting of the Microscopical Society of London, and met with approbation from those who examined it; but we purposely delayed noticing it to see if we could discover any practical defect. We have now employed it on many occasions with frequent change of glasses and with high and low powers, and it appears to us to fulfil more completely than any other compressorium we are acquainted, the varied requirements with which such an instrument is usually employed. In the details of its arrangement there are many little pieces of clever contrivance that would not be intelligible without diagrams, but we have explained the main features of the instrument, which is simple, convenient, and strong.

While upon the subject of compressoriums we may remark that, when the parallelism of the two glasses is required to be extremely perfect, as in the case of minute and very flat objects, either side of which cannot be viewed with deep objectives, care is required in the selection of the glasses, as the ordinary thin glass made for covering microscopic objects is

often very uneven.

If no reversal is necessary this does not so much matter, as the bottom glass can then be carefully chosen, and thick enough to allow the upper one to be flattened upon it. When, however, two thin glasses are indispensable, as for the purpose of viewing both sides of an object with a 7'2, 2'ō, or 25, it is necessary to pick out thin glasses that will fit each other with sufficient accuracy. The glasses ordinarily supplied will seldom fail with moderate-sized infusoria, but anything flatter than they are needs especial care.

A VISIT TO LAPLAND.*

FEW regions of the earth exert a more powerful influence on the imagination than those countries which lie sufficiently near the North Pole to exhibit the remarkable summer phenomenon of an unsetting sun, and which are at the same time so far removed from the regions of perpetual frost as to put forth a vegetation beautiful in its flowers, and magnificent in widestretched forests of the sombre fir. It is, indeed, impossible to read of voyages within the picturesque portions of the arctic circle without experiencing to a greater or less extent the feeling so beautifully depicted by Longfellow in the fine story of "The Discoverer of the North Cape," which he borrowed from "King Alfred's Orosius." In that charming legend we learn how Öthere, the old sea captain, "had his heart stirred up by the old seafaring men, with their sagas of the seas," until at length he could "neither eat nor sleep for thinking of these seas," and then he sailed northward from his home in Heligoland, and

"The days grew longer and longer,

Till they became as one,

And southward through the haze
He saw the sullen blaze

Of the red midnight sun."

Strange seemed the narrative to "Alfred, king of the Saxons," and an "incredulous smile" played over his countenance as Othere continued the story of what he saw and did after passing the North Cape:

"Four days I steered to the eastward,

Four days without a night;

Round in a fiery ring

Went the great sun, oh king!

With red and lurid light.'

The astronomical puzzle does not bewilder us as it did the

* A Spring and Summer in Lapland, with Notes on the Fauna of Luleä Lapmark, by an "Old Bushman," author of "Bush Wanderings in Australia." London: Groombridge and Sons.

VOL. IV.NO. V.

C C

simple-minded king, but we cannot help the desire to witness a spectacle so startling and sublime, and to make ourselves acquainted with the life of a locality so widely different from our

own.

The "Old Bushman" is a pleasant guide to these scenes of wild fascination; a certain ruggedness about him is in harmony with their uncultivated grandeur; their loneliness and remoteness from the tame conditions of civilization rouse his imagination, and he studies their fauna as a naturalist, as well as pursues them for his sport.

He tells us that the tourist who visits Lapland merely to see the country can do so without difficulty. "He will not require to leave England before the end of May; he can perform the whole journey from Hull to Happaranda (the most northerly town in the Bothnian Gulf) via Gothenburg and Stockholm by steam." There is no certainty that steamers can run the whole way till June, but when Happaranda is reached, "the journey will be performed in boats or on foot, and he will find far less difficulty in reaching the wildest spot in Lapland than he would anticipate." The naturalist, or egg collector cannot, however, manage so easily; he must be at his head-quarters in April, and must therefore steam up in the autumn before the frost sets in, and "brave the rigours and monotony of a Lap winter;" or he may adopt the "Old Bushman's" plan, "and sledge up during the winter, taking care that he is not too late, for the snow melts all at once when the thaw sets in, and just at this time travelling is dangerous, troublesome, and laborious." Our "Old Bushman" left Gardsjö on March 24th, and reached Quickiock on April 16th, having good sledging all the way except for six English miles. Sledging he describes as a very comfortable mode of progression, as good as a first-class railway carriage; but, like other travellers, he indulges in a hearty growl at the peasant carts, which are little shallow boxes stuck upon wheels, and destitute of springs. The driver hurries along over holes and ruts, and the traveller seated on a little plank is obliged "to hold on like grim Death, otherwise he is sure to be shot off his perch, every bone in his skin aching with pain." If not exactly luxurious, the locomotive arrangements in this country have the merit of being cheap, and the people are very honest, and anxious to earn a penny by rendering what aid may be required. The journey to Quickiock occupied about three weeks, during which a thousand miles were traversed, and comfortable quarters found each night. The cost for three persons and a dog was six shillings a day, and one and tenpence posting, making in the whole about £25. The scenery through which he passed is summed up in two words, "snow and pines," and very few birds of any description were seen