Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII. BOTANICAL SECTIONS. In some of the preceding pages a few simple directions have been given for the preparation and mounting of vegetable specimens. If a considerable study of structural botany is to be made, more elaborate methods leading to more perfect results are desirable. Even if one is not especially a student of botany, the making of plant sections is attractive; from no other material can showy and interesting specimens be so easily prepared as from plant life. For purposes of sectioning, vegetable specimens may be divided into two classes. 1. Hard specimens, or those that cannot be cut without softening. 2. Soft specimens, including annuals, young shoots, buds, seeds, cones, and similar products of plant life, many of which must be hardened or otherwise prepared by special processes. Hard Specimens. -- Most solid wood specimens may be sufficiently softened for cutting by soaking in water for some hours, changing the water occasionally, or by boiling in water for a few minutes. Three pieces of each specimen should be prepared to give sections in three different directions, -- transverse, radial, and tangential. A transverse section is made across the stem in a direction transverse to the length. A radial section is made lengthwise the stem, along a radius of the circles of annual growth, or from the bark towards the centre of the tree. A tangential section is made lengthwise the stem, tangent to the circles of annual growth. If no microtome is available, the pieces should be two or three inches long, that they may be firmly held in the hand, and about one-fourth inch in cross-section. Use a razor ground flat on one side, and follow the directions for cutting free-hand given in Chapter V. For the microtome, specimens..
