1871. 



NCE 



again, 



inexorable Time " brings us 

 towards the close of another year, and another 

 annual volume. It is well that we should 

 sometimes be reminded of the rapidity with 

 which the chariot wheels of this august per- 

 sonage traverse the empyrean. Somehow, 

 every year seems to slip by us more rapidly 

 than its predecessor. Can it be true that more than a few 

 weeks have passed since we congratulated ourselves, and 

 our readers, on the completion of our Sixth Volume ? and 

 now we are called upon to perform the same duty for 

 the Seventh. 



Seven years, and with them seven volumes of Science- 

 Gossip, record our intercourse with some thousands of 

 " Students and lovers of Nature." If we sit down to " take stock " of 

 any one year, we shall, perhaps, feel disappointment that so little has 

 been done by any of us, or that so little advance has been made in our 

 own special subject ; but if we extend our inquiry over such a period as 

 seven years, we are compelled to confess that " the world moves still." 

 If we take as an example the seven years just passing away, we shall 

 realize this truth. How many Associations of Naturalists for field work 

 date their commencement within the past seven years ? What has been 

 the influence of spirit upon kindred spirit in such large metropolitan 

 associations as the Quekett Microscopical Club ? Indeed, if we only 

 inquire what has been done in microscopic work during seven years we 

 shall, perhaps, end in astonishment. In special subjects of Natural 

 History how many useful volumes have appeared to meet the wants of 

 an increased number of students. Let us instance local floras, such as 

 those of Middlesex, Norfolk, Worcester, &c, local avi-faunas, such as 

 those of Norfolk, Middlesex, Berks, and Bucks ; or special floras, such 

 as lichens, fungi, and the diatoms (in progress). The title-pages of 

 very many books will prove that something has been done since 1865, 



