hese questions with the desire
of coming to a common understanding through a mutual sacrifice of certain
preferences and habitudes.--_E. Dieudonne, in La Lumiere Electrique_.

* * * * *

IMPROVED MICROSCOPICAL SETTLING TUBE.

By F. VANDERPOEL, of Newark, New Jersey.

In the February number of this _Journal_ the writer described a new
settling tube for urinary deposits which possessed several advantages
over the old method with conical test-glass and pipette. For several
reasons, however, the article was not illustrated, and it is for the
purpose of elucidation by means of illustration, as well as to bring
before the readers of the _Journal_ two new and improved forms of the
tube, that space in these columns is again sought. The first two of the
figures, 1 and 2, represent the tube as originally devised; 1 denoting
the tube with movable cap secured to it by means of a rubber band, and 2
the tube with a ground glass cap and stop cock. The first departure from
these forms is shown at 3, and consists of a conical tube, as before, but
provided with a perforated stopper, the side opening in which
communicates with a side tube. The perforation in the stopper, which is
easily made by a glass blower, thus allows the overflow, when the stopper
is inserted into the full tube, to pass into the side tube. The stopper
is then turned so as to cut off the urine in the latter from that in the
large tube, and the latter is thus made tight. After allowing it to
remain at rest long enough to permit subsidence of all that will settle,
the stopper is gently turned and a drop taken off the lower end upon a
slide, to be examined at leisure with the microscope. The cap, ground and
fitted upon the lower end, is put there as a precautionary measure, as
will be seen farther on.

[Illustration: VANDERPOEL'S SETTLING TUBES.]

The tube shown at 4 is, we think, an improvement upon all of the
foregoing, for upon it there is no side tube to break off, and everything
is comprised in a small space. As will be seen by referring to the
figure, there is a slight enlargement in the ground portion of the
stopper end of the tube, this protuberance coming down about one-half the
length of the stopper, which is solid and ground to fit perfectly. The
lower half, however, is provided with a small longitudinal slit or
groove, the lower end of which communicates with the interior of the
tube, while the upper end just reach