230 M. C. COOKE ON EARLY MEMORIES OF THE Q.M.C, 



History, of which Mr. Harclwicke was the publisher, I was in 

 close business relations with Mr. Hardwicke, to whom I feel sure 

 that I was, in the first instance, introduced and recommended by 

 Dr. Lankester. At length I suggested to Mr. Hardwicke and to 

 Mr. Ketteringham that there was a good opening for a cheap 

 monthly magazine, which should be devoted to Natural History 

 and Microscopy, offering facilities for exchanges and copious notes 

 and queries. This idea was eagerly entertained, and " Hardwicke's 

 Science Gossip " was the title suggested by Mr. Hardwicke, and 

 to this he adhered pertinaciously. At length the scheme took 

 form, and I was selected to model and afterwards act as Editor 

 of the new Journal. The first number appeared January 1st, 

 1865, and became at once a success. At that time there was no 

 competitor, and for a long time it was the only cheap Journal of 

 Natural History. 



Naturally, there was a very large number of patrons and con- 

 tributors from the ranks of what we called at the time Amateur 

 Microscopists, and there was always a long list of exchanges of 

 microscopical objects, so that " Science Gossip " became the 

 popular magazine of the microscopist. Probably if there had 

 never been a " Hardwicke's Science Gossip " there would never 

 have been a Q.M.C. 



At this time Mr. Thomas Ketteringham had two hobbies which 

 he pursued simultaneously ; the one was his microscope, for which 

 he was an enthusiast, and the other was his violin. To these he 

 devoted the whole of his energies, when he had finished his 

 daily labours in Piccadilly. I was not long in discovering that 

 Ketteringham had a "chum" who was also microscopical and 

 musical, and with whom he was accustomed to spend an occasional 

 evening, primarily with the microscope. I was soon introduced 

 to this congenial companion, whose name was W. M. Bywater, 

 and who was the manager of a select business house in Hanover 

 Square. Of course we became intimates, and it was a recognised 

 institution that we three should meet about once a week, after 

 eight o'clock, at Hanover Square, and go through a regular 

 programme, which never varied. For an hour, or an hour and 

 a half, in the counting-room at Hanover Square, we examined 

 our objects of interest under the microscope, each bringing with 

 him anything of special interest, which we discussed, and we 

 discussed nothing else for the time being. 



