Howitt to Fison 11/2/1878

Transcription - Page 4

bear fruit.

I only write this note that
you may understand
my long silences - I hope
that when I next write
I shall have more
cheerful topics and
further contributions to our study.

By the Bye if you want to study
rocks with your microscope do this:
1 Chip off a thin piece of some rock or
mineral say the size of a sixpence.
2 Cement this to a piece of glass with canada
Balsam hardened over a lamp (on the glass)
3 Grind one side flat on a grindstone
- if necessary with sand - of course using water
4 When flat smooth with Emery or
Wellington knife polish - on a flat piece
of cast iron or a glass plate and finally
polish on a hone
5 Then heat the glass, remove the stone and
cement it again polished side down on the
glass. Then repeat the grinding +c until
the sample is so thin that when [whet - crossed out] wet
print can be seen through it + the glass