MEMORANDA. 151 
it. I have tried it so placed, but, whether from habit or not, 
I find the line on the stage the most convenient. If, how- 
ever, the object-carrier was imperfectly fitted I think it would 
be better to place the line upon it.—THomas Powe. 
(Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science). 
‘The Metamorphoses of Man and the Lower Animals.’— Allow 
me to thank you for the very favorable notice of my transla- 
tion of Professor Quatrefages’ last work which appeared in 
your January number, and at the same time to offer a few 
remarks in reply to the (as I conceive unwarrantable) stric- 
tures of the reviewer on the opinions expressed in my 
preface. It is said of Sidney Smith that when he desired to 
write an impartial critique he confined his study of the 
volume under consideration to the title-page and cover. My 
reviewer does not resemble the great humourist, for, if I am 
not mistaken, there is a strange resemblance between many 
of his paragraphs and those of the work under review. Tor 
this, however, perhaps I have to be thankful, inasmuch as in 
those instances where he has deviated from the more easy 
path he has been more censorious and, to my mind, less im- 
partial. Thus, while he awards the highest tribute of praise 
to the distinguished author, a proceeding which was certainly 
but just, he seems to have been, shall I say, desirous to fall 
foul of the translator in as many cases as possible. To be 
brief, I may observe that the reviewer has urged three distinct 
charges against me, and that some of these charges, though 
supported by a certain amount of evidence ingeniously ab- 
stracted from the entire mass, cannot stand for a moment in 
the face of the “ whole truth.”” I am accused, first, of either 
ignorance of the English equivalents of the French decimal 
measures, or of a ‘ disregard for the comfort ”? of my readers. 
The second portion of this accusation is almost too absurd for 
comment. It can hardly be said that one who devotes 
months of study to the translation of a treatise, by the publi- 
cation of which he obtains nothing in the form of an adequate 
pecuniary remuneration, could be guilty of disregarding “ the 
comfort of his readers.” Now, in regard to the statement 
that my introduction to the French measures argues an 
ignorance of their British value, I need only remark that the 
distinguished translators of Professor Kolliker’s ‘Manual of 
Histology ’ are open to a similar imputation, and yet, I believe, 
their production is by some regarded as the very beau ideal 
of translations. Without, however, endeavouring to shield 
myself behind authorities, 1 can state that my reasons for 
