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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

LABORATORY, 60, GOWER STREET, BEDFORD SQUARE, W.C.

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MR. HENRY MATTHEWS, F.C.S., is prepared to give Instruction in all Branches of PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY,

particularly in its application to MEDICINE, AGRICULTURE, and COMMERCE.

The Laboratory is open daily, except Saturday, from Ten to Five o'clock; on Saturday, from Ten to One o'clock. Mr. Matthews is also prepared to undertake ANALYSES of every description. For Particulars and Prospectuses apply to Mr. Henry Matthews, at the Laboratory, 60, Gower Street, Bedford Square, W.C.

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HALF-HOURS WITH THE MICROSCOPE.

By EDWIN LANKESTER, M.D.

Illustrated by 250 Drawings from Nature by TUFFEN WEST. New Edition, much enlarged, with full Description of the various Parts of the Instrument.

Fcap. 8vo., cloth, with Illustrations on Stone and Wood, price 2s. 6d.
HALF-HOURS WITH THE TELESCOPE.

Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a means of Amusement and Instruction. Adapted to inexpensive Instruments.

By R. A. PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S.

Demy 4to., cloth, price 58.

HALF-HOURS WITH THE STARS.

A PLAIN AND EASY GUIDE TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONSTELLATIONS. Showing in Twelve Maps the Position of the principal Star-Groups night after night throughout the Year. With Introduction, and a separate Explanation of each Map. True for every Year.

By R. A. PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S., Author of "Half-Hours with the Telescope."

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LONDON: ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY, W.

DR. LANKESTER ON FOOD, AND ON THE USES OF ANIMALS, in Relation to the Industry of Man.

A Course of Lectures delivered at the South Kensington Museum. By E. LANKESTER, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. Crown 8vo., cloth, pp. 750

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"Full of sound science, curious anecdotes, and quaint illustration. Dr. Lankester has a singular power of illustrative keenness; and in the discursive lessons which he delivers on so many subjects, there is an overflowing wealth of minute collateral information which is always brought to the level of the last achievements of science."-Lancet.

LONDON: ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY, W.

THOMAS ROSS,

OPTICIAN

To H.M. the Queen; H.R.H. the Prince of Wales; H.R.H. the Princess of Wales; H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh; the Royal Navy; the Royal Yacht Squadron; the Prussian, Italian, and Egyptian Governments, &c. &c.,

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In this very convenient and useful Lamp, the distance between the Carbon points is regulated by a self-acting Electro Magnet. From six to twelve cells will give a light applicable for throwing a disc on the screen, or showing the leading effects in Spectrum Analysis. It is well adapted for Exhibiting Photographs on a large scale. Circular, for stamped envelope. Price of Lamp £2. 2s. Grove's Platinum Battery per Cell, 10s.; Bunsen's 5s.

JOHN BROWNING,

Optical and Physical Instrument Maker to Her Majesty's Government, the Royal Observatory, and the Observatories of Kew, Cambridge, Utrecht, &c., 111, Minories; Factory, 6, Vine Street, London, E.C.

NEW MICROSCOPE APPARATUS.

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LIGHT CORRECTOR.

This piece of apparatus is made as shown in the diagram, and consists of a brass plate to lay the object on, and beneath it a wheel which can be turned freely so as to bring the different glasses underneath the specimen. No. 1 is an open space; No. 2 a dark blue glass; No. 3 a light blue, and No. 4 a ground glass. By these a beautiful softness and purity of light can be obtained giving great comfort to the eyes and clearness of definition, entirely obviating the unpleasant yellowness of artificial illumination.

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Sent Free by Post. Post Orders to Great
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CHARLES COLLINS,

157, Great Portland Street, London, W. Catalogues on application.

HOW'S MICROSCOPE LAMP, 10s. 6d.

Description on receipt of One Stamp.

MAGIC LANTERNS, DISSOLVING VIEW APPARATUS, &C. Photographic and other Views for above, Catalogue on receipt of Four Stamps.

List of New Slides for the coming Season. (In the Press.)

JAMES HOW, 2, Foster-lane, London.

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PRICE LISTS ON APPLICATION.

COLLECTING AND PRESERVING.

No.. I-GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS.

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HERE is, perhaps,

nothing more bewildering to a young student, whose reading has ended in urging him to be a collector, than how he is to go about it. As a rule, as he cannot find exactly what he wants in manuals, and people whom he asks for information are apt to credit him with knowing more than he really does. For the purpose of aiding young beginners as far as possible, it has been determined to commence a series of articles, from month to month, on "Collecting and Preserving" the various kinds of naturalhistory objects. It is intended that each shall be written by an able and competent naturalist in each department, so that our young readers may have the benefit of the best advice we can give them; and where illustra tions of necessary implements, &c., are required, we purpose to furnish them. The great end of naturalhistory reading should be the development of a love for the objects dwelt upon, and a desire to know more about them. This can only be brought about by such practical acquaintance as collecting and preserving them induces. At the same time we should be sorry to see our young readers degenerate into mere collectors! It is a great mistake to suppose that because you have a full cabinet of butterflies, moths, or beetles, that, therefore, you are a good entomologist; or that you may lay claim to a distinguished position as a geologist, on account of drawers-full of fossils and minerals. But this is a No. 86.

mistake into which young naturalists frequently fall. We have seen people with decided tastes for these studies, never get beyond the mere collecting. In that case they stand on a par with collectors of postage-stamps. Nor is there much gained, even if you become acquainted with English, or even Latin, names of natural-history objects. Many people can catalogue them glibly, and never make a slip, and yet they are practically ignorant of the real knowledge which clusters round each object, and its relation to others. Both Latin and English names are useful and even necessary; but when you have simply learnt them, and nothing more, how much wiser are you than before? No, let the learning of names be the alphabet of sciencethe means by which you can acquire a further knowledge of its mysteries. It would be just as reasonable to set up for a literary man on the strength of accurately knowing the alphabet, as to imagine you are a scientific man the moment you have learned by heart a few scores of Latin names of plants, fossils, or insects! Let each object represent so much knowledge, to which the very mention of its name will immediately conjure up a crowd of associations, relationships, and intimate acquaintances, and you will then see what a store of real knowledge may be represented in a carefullyarranged cabinet.

The heading of the present article will have in. dicated the subject chosen for brief treatment. We shall never forget the influence left by reading such charming and suggestive books as Mantell's "Medals of Creation," many years ago. Our mind had been prepared for the enthusiasm which this little book produced by the perusal of Page's "Introductory Text-book," Phillips's "Guide to Geology," and several others of a similar character. But we know of none which impels a young student to go into the field and hammer out fossils for himself, like Dr. Mantell's works. It is impossible not to catch the enthusiasm of his nature. The first place we sallied

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out to, on our maiden geological trip, was a heap of coal-shale, near a pit's mouth, in the neighbourhood of Manchester. Our only weapon was a common house hammer, for we then knew nothing of the technical forms which geological fancy so often assumes. We had passed that same heap of coalshale hundreds of times, without suspecting it to be anything more than everybody else considered it; viz. a heap of rubbish. Why that particular spot was selected, we cannot now say. We had seen illustrations of carboniferous plants, shells, &c., in books, but we seemed to imagine their discovery could only be effected by scientific men, and that it required a good deal of knowledge before one should attempt to find them. Suffice it to say we made the pilgrimage to the coal-shale heap in pretty much the same mind as we should expect to get the head prize in some fine-art drawing. The humble hammer was put into use, for a brief time without much effect, as we could hardly have commenced on a more barren kind of shale than we had chanced to hit upon. We imagined we could perceive traces of leaves and slender stems, but were afraid to trust our eyes. At any rate, there was nothing definite enough to raise our enthusiasm. But by-and-by, as the hammer kept cleaving open the thin leaf-like layers of shale, there appeared a large portion of that most beautiful of all fossil plants, the Lepidodendron. Those who are familiar with this object, with its lozenge-shaped markings running spirally up the stem, will readily understand the outburst of pleasure which escaped our lips! That was the first real fossil-a pleasure quite equivalent to that of landing the first salmon. How carefully was it wrapped in paper, and carried home in the pocket! There never was, and never will be, another fossil in the world as beautiful as that insignificant fragment of Lepidodendron!

We have seen a good many converts made to geology in a similar manner, since first we laid open to the light this silent memorial of ages which have passed away. Let a man have ever so slight acquaintance with geology, and give him the chance of hammering out a fossil for himself, and the odds are you thereby make him a geologist for life. There is. something almost romantic in the idea that you are looking for the first time, and have yourself disentombed the remains of creatures which probably lived scores of millions of years ago! We would strongly advise our readers, therefore, not to fall into the error of supposing that fossil-hunting belongs to highly-trained geologists. On the contrary, it is by fossil-hunting alone that you can ever hope to be a geologist yourself. Another mistake often made, is that of supposing these rich and interesting geological localities are at a distance. It seems so hard to suppose, after reading about typical sections, &c., that under your very feet, in the fields where you have so often

played, there occur geological phenomena of no less interest. But it is actually surprising what evidences of our earth's great antiquity, in the shape of fossils, &c., may be studied and obtained in the most out-of-the-way and insignificant places.

You say you have no rocks in your neighbourhood -nothing but barren sands, or beds of brick-earth or clay. Wel!, go to some section of the latter, exposed, perhaps, in some tarn or stagnant pond in a turnip-field. You examine the sides, and what do you see? Nothing, but here and there a boulder-stone sticking ont. Well, be content with that. You said you had no rocks in your neighbourhood; how, then, has that boulder, which is a rounded fragment of a rock broken off from somewhere,how has it come there? Here is a poser at once. Examine it, and you will perhaps see that its hard surface is polished or scratched, and then you remember the theory of icebergs, and feel astonished to think that you hold in your hand an undeniable proof of the truth of that theory. Those very scratchings could have been produced in no other way; that foreign fragment of rocks now only to be found on some distant mountain-side, could have been conveyed in no other manner. Not content with the exterior examination, you break the boulder-stone open, when you may chance to find it is a portion of Silurian, Carboniferous, or Oolitic limestone, and that it contains fossils belonging to those formations. Here is a find-an object with a double interest turning up where you never expected to discover the slightest geological incident. You examine other boulders, and find in them general evidences of ice-action in their present re-deposition, and most instructive lessons as to the nature of rocks of various formations, from the granite and trap scries to the fossiliferous deposits. In fact, there is no place like one of these old boulder-pits for making oneself acquainted with petrology, or the nature of stones.

And now, as to the tools necessary to the young gcologist. First of all, he cannot take too few! It is a great mistake to imagine that a full set of scientific instruments makes a scientific man. The following hammers, intended for different purposes, ought to be procured. Fig. 12 is an exceedingly useful weapon, and one we commonly use, to the exclusion of all others. It is handy for breaking off fragments of rock for examination; and, if fossils be included in them, for trimming the specimens for cabinet purposes. As a rule, however, field geologists are always divided over the merits of their hammers, some preferring one shape and some another. Fig. 13 is generally used for breaking up hard rocks, for which the bevel-shaped head is peculiarly adapted. It is usually much heavier than the rest, and is seldom used except for specific purposes. If our readers are inclined to study sections of boulder clay, and wish to extract the rounded and

HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

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| sary to be prepared for the worst. Patent leather boots and kid gloves are rarely worn by practical geologists. And we have heard it remarked at the British Association meetings, that they could always tell which members belonged to the Geological Section by their thick-soled boots. A similar remark applies to clothes. The student need not dress for the quarry as he would for the dining-room. Good, strong, serviceable material ought to be their basis.

Secondly, as to the student's comforts and necessaries. These are generally the last thing an ardent naturalist thinks about. For ourselves, however, we give him ample leave to provide himself with pipe and tobacco, should his tastes lie in that direction. We never enjoyed a pipe half so much as when solitarily disinterring organic remains which had slumbered in the heart of the rock for myriads of ages. As to the beer, we can vouch that it never tastes anything like so good as during a geological excursion. There is a saying-but, of course, it cannot be anything else but apocryphal-that no map of the Geological Survey can be trusted more than two miles from a public-house! The author of this story doubtless intended to insinuate that the geologists might possibly scamp the ground in their haste to be refreshed!

We have found the leathern bags sold for schoolbook purposes to be as handy to deposit specimens in, during a journey, as anything else. They have the merit of being cheap, are strong, and easily carried. If not large enough, then get a strong, coarse linen havresack, like that worn by volunteers on a field day. Paper, cotton wadding (not wool), wooden pill-boxes, and a few boxes, which may be obtained from any practical naturalist, with glass tops, are sufficient "stock-in-trade" for the young geologist. The wadding does not adhere to the specimens as wool does, and the glass-topped boxes are useful, as it is not then necessary to open a box and disinter a delicate fossil from its matrix in order to look at it. Add a good strong pocket lens, such as may be bought for half a crown, and your equipment will be complete. If you intend to study any particular district, get the sheets published by the Geological Survey. These will give you, on a large scale, the minute geology of the neighbourhood, the succession of rocks, faults, outcrops, &c. In fact, you may save yourself a world of trouble by thus preparing yourself a week or so before you make your geological excursion. The pith of these remarks applies with equal force if you purpose, first of all, to examine the neighbourhood in which you live. Don't do so until you have read all that has been written about it, and examined all the available maps and sections. This advice, however, applies more particularly to geological examination of strata. If you are bent chiefly on paleontological investigation, that is, on the study of fossils, perhaps it will

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