C. S. L. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR DECEMBER.
It will be observed that many of the words and expressions used by Dr. Wythe in his “Lessons” are pronounced and explained in the “Glossary and Index.” Where such explanations and pronunciations occur, of course no notes have been prepared.
P. 12.—“Albumen,” al-buˈmen. The word is derived from _albus_, the Latin word for white. Albumen forms a part of all animal fluids and solids. The white of an egg is almost pure albumen. In the vegetable world it is the food laid up for the nourishment of the embryo around which it lies.
P. 13.—“Slide.” A small slip of glass about three inches long by one wide. It is intended to place objects on which are to be examined under the microscope. The “cover” here referred to, is a square of very thin glass, which is placed over the object to hold it in place.
“Capillary attraction,” căpˈil-la-ry. When a capillary (hair-like) tube is dipped into a liquid, there is an attraction between the solid and the particles or molecules of the liquid which causes the latter to rise in the tube if it wets it, or to sink if it does not.
“Heated stage.” The simplest means for heating the stage or slide upon which an object is placed, is by a small alcoholic lamp placed at the corner of the stage.
P. 15.—“32 deg. F.” 32 degrees on the Fahrenheit thermometer. This scale, invented in 1714, by Fahrenheit, is commonly used in England and America, although the centigrade scale (where the distance between the boiling point and zero is divided into one hundred parts) takes its place largely on the continent, and in most scientific works.
P. 18.—“Amœba,” a-mœˈba. Readers who live in warm climates will have no trouble in finding the _amœba_ attached to the stems of plants or floating in pools of stagnant water. To find a specimen in December in temperate latitudes will be more difficult, but by collecting grass and stems of water plants, with water from a pool, and keeping them in a warm room for a time, specimens may be obtained.
P. 22.—“Cinchona,” cin-chōˈna. The tree from which the well known drug, Peruvian bark, is obtained.
“Quinine.” Kwiˈnīn is Webster’s preferred pronunciation, kwe-nīnˈ, Worcester’s. Quinine is an alkaloid obtained from the cinchona bark.