Dredging in the Gulf of Mexico. 59 



it has created the sciences of biology and embryology, it has 

 added much to our knowledge of morphology, and become of 

 incalculable benefit to the physiologist and practicing physi- 

 cian ; and yet, of what real value would all its revelations be to 

 us, without the systematic grouping of facts and knowledge, 

 , which comes with the development of these sciences ; some of 

 which, indeed, the microscope has helped to create ? 



A man may be a microscopist, but to be that he must be 

 something more, to stand as a man of science. The man who 

 testifies before a court of law as a microscopist, must have a 

 fund of knowledge drawn from many sources, or perhaps we 

 must write he should have, for the mere ability to handle his 

 instrument does not constitute him an authority on the identity 

 of a stain or the purity of an article of food. 



At the risk of offending a few of the votaries of the micro- 

 scope, we have spoken plainly our views, believing that they 

 coincide with those of the great majority of working scien- 

 tific men, and that they will serve in some measure to remove 

 the prejudice which is so firmly rooted in the minds of honest 

 workers, against those who call themselves special microsco- 

 pists. 



This journal is cosmopolitan in the widest sense. 



It is established to occupy a high place among scientific 

 periodicals, and it will either do this or cease to be. 



For support it relies upon students in all branches of science. 



DREDGING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO. 



The second letter of Prof. Alex. Agassiz to the Superin- 

 tendent of the Coast Survey is published in the Bulletin of 

 the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Harvard College. 



The dredgings carried on since the first letter were confined 

 to a line running " in a general way, parallel to the loo-fathom 

 curve of the western edge of the great Florida bank." It was 

 extended as far north as the latitude of Tampa Bay, and from 

 this point another line was run to the mouth of the Mississippi. 

 Owing to rough weather it was not possible to do much more 

 than determine the faunal characteristics of these lines. It 

 was shown, however, that the deep water fauna on the western 

 side of Florida, corresponds with that on the eastern bank of 



