is most suitable. The object being placed so that the pipe and syringe can be best joined, the rod and strings are set in order, and a weight placed on the hook. The stopcock must then be opened gradually, when the operator will be able to judge whether the weight is a proper one or not: if the piston is driven with any speed, there is danger of injuring the subject, and less weight may be used; if, however, the piston does not move, more must be added. 21. Such is the method recommended by the “Micrographic Dictionary,” and perhaps it is as good as any mechanical plan could be; but where the operator is willing to undergo the labour of performing all this with the hand, he has a much better chance of succeeding, because the pressure can be regulated so accurately, and changed so quickly when requisite, that no mere machine can compete with it, however well contrived. 22. When the beginner attempts to inject a subject, one of his difficulties is finding the vessel from which to commence. Another consists in distinguishing the arteries from the veins; but this is partly removed by making a longitudinal incision in the vessel, and with a blunt thick needle probing a little distance into the tube. The artery will be found thicker in the coating than the vein, and the difference is easily perceived by this mode of testing: the vein is also of a bluer colour than the artery. I say above, a “longitudinal incision” must be made: the reason for this is, the artery when cut across contracts considerably, and is lost in the adjoining substance; but where the opening is made _longitudinally_ all danger of this contraction is obviated. 23. The different systems of vessels are often injected with various colours, so that their relative positions, &c., may be shown most clearly. In some specimens, the veins are injected with white, and the arteries with red; in the kidney, the urinary tubes are often filled with white, and the arteries with red. Then, again, the liver affords tubes for three or four colours. But no written instructions on this point can benefit the young student, and he must be content for a while to employ himself with single colours until he has gained the mechanical skill and the primary knowledge which are necessary before he can make any advance.