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[[top margin]] 1 copy 7-3-87 L.T.  [[RAG?]] Mss Report, as substitute for [[]]Curators Report?]] R [/top margin]]

[[stamp in red]]Examined by Mr. RA[[?]] March [[?]] [[/stamp in red]]

   Preparing Microscopical Mounts of Vegetable Textile Fibres.
           R. Hitchcock

   The method of mounting vegetable fibres here described, has been adopted in the National Museum with perfect success.  The permanent preparations leave nothing to be desired, for they clearly [[strikethrough]] show [/strikethrough]] reveal the minute striation of the fibres and their appearance does not change with time.  Possibly the coarser fibres, after a few months, become rather more transparent than at first, but this change is [[insertion]] so slight that it is [[/insertion]] of no consequence.  Moreover, the process is simple, rapid,and sure, even in the hands of a novice.  In evidence of this statement it may be said, that Mr. H. English, a young man who has never made a microscopical mount before, in the summer of 1884 made 117 preparations of fibres in fluid mounts, [[insertion]] from printed instructions [[/insertion]] precisely as described below [[strikethrough]] after [[/strikethrough]] having seen the operations performed [[insertion]] two or three times [[/insertion]] by an experienced mounter.  Yet not one of [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] his preparations has shown an imperfection [[strikethrough]] to date [[/strikethrough]] up to the present time.

    The method is as follows:  The fibres are cleaned, disintegrated, and prepared precisely as for microscopical investigation, the object being to make the mounted specimens