66 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



er how they did a thing, why they did 

 it, and what the result was. One of 

 these journals has a department of 

 "Shop Kinks'* in which the greenest ap- 

 prentice, as well as the finished work- 

 man, is invited and encouraged to sub- 

 mit his ideas in even the crudest man- 

 ner, and the editors put them into proper 

 shape to make them interesting to their 

 readers. 



"I think there ought to be a similar 

 department or column in Practical ^Mi- 

 croscopy where the novice or amateur 

 can feel free to tell how he has done a 

 thing and ask for advice on points he 

 has in doubt. Such a column will appeal 

 to the popular section of your subscrib- 

 ers. 



"While I think it would be useful for 

 subscribers to tell each other abont the 

 text-books they are using, I think that 

 the snggesions 1 have made above, if 

 carried out, would make Practical Mi- 

 croscopy of greater interest and more 

 useful to the beginner and amateur than 

 many of the books now on the market 

 would be for the reason that if the read- 

 ers can be made to feel that they are 

 perfectly free to gain their experiences 

 in the columns of the journal and get 

 in touch with each other, they will find 

 out many ways of doing things and 

 points in technique that they will fail to 

 find in many of the books on the subject 



for a great many authors seem to as- 

 sume that their readers are alreadv post- 

 ed on these rudiments and leave the 

 lie- inner all at sea on vital points which 

 a few simple words would make per- 

 fectly clear to them. I own some of the 

 best standard works on the microscope 

 and its applications, but I cherish my 

 volumes of 'The Observer' and of the 

 Bausch and Lomb Company's 'Applied 

 Microscopy,' and have the matter filed 

 so it can be readily referred to. 1 read 

 them over and over and find many 

 things not mentioned in the standard 

 books. 



"Of course much of the matter would 

 be an old story to professionals but they 

 would find other contributions from 

 writers of their own class, and, too, 

 they should remember that one must be 

 an amateur before he can become a pro- 

 fessional, and thus what seems trivial to 

 them now would have been very inter- 

 esting to them at the outset of their 

 careers. I am only one of thousands 

 who must be waiting for that insight 

 into this line of work and who when 

 they get the proper start will enter into 

 it with enthusiasm." 



The suggestion of the exchange among 

 microscopical workers of card index 

 cards on microscopical subjects is origi- 

 nal, up-to-date and excellent. 



" ' T P '■ " " 'l 1J IL '■ " " " " " ■■ " ■■ ■' ■■ ■' " ■' n-rr 



Literary 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



A NATURALIST'S CAREER. 



Like so many of those who have suc- 

 ceeded, Miss Ellen Rogers, author of 

 "The Shell Book," (published on April 

 15th, by Doubleday, Page & Company) 

 claims some of her best qualities by right 

 of inheritance. Her father, Daniel Fer- 

 rard Rogers, the son of Nathaniel Pea- 

 body Rogers of Concord, N. H., the able 

 jurist and anti-slavery reformer and edi- 

 tor of "The Herald of Freedom," was a 

 man of broad education and experience, 

 who through his intellectual and moral 



power soon gained leadership among the 

 pioneers of his community, as a farmer, 

 an educator, and a public-spirited citi- 

 zen. Her mother, Ruth Llewellyn, was 

 also a teacher before her marriage, and 

 her splendid character and high ideals 

 proved a source of inspiration not only to 

 her eight children, but to all who came 

 in contact with her. 



The loyalty of these worthy pioneers, 

 to the state of their adoption (Iowa) is 

 shown by the fact that one daughter and 

 three of the five sons, (all of whom are 



