200 coreespondence. 



The relative Prices of English and American Objectives. 



To the Editor of the ' Monthly Microscopical Journal.' 



Boston, August 15th, 1873. 



Sir, — In the article in your August number, by Dr. Pigott, in 

 the following passage, " I bave very little doubt that if anyone be 

 willing to offer Messrs. Powell and Lealand double the price of their 

 Y^^th — the same as charged for Tolles' immersion y^^th, by Mr. 

 Stodder, ^175, or 34Z. sterling— they would be able to produce a 

 glass proportionately improved in some of the minor details," Dr. 

 Pigott has— of course unintentionally — made a large mistake in the 

 comparative prices of the two instruments — a mistake that " uncom- 

 mercial" writers have too often made, in my experience, from not 

 knowing the value of the United States' currency ; and he has also made 

 another mistake, in ignorance of what was sold to Dr. Woodward. 



As these errors, from the wide territory in which your Journal is 

 circulated and read, are calculated to do a serious pecuniary injury to 

 Mr. Tolles, I will ask the privilege to make a definite statement of 

 the comparative cost of the two objectives. 



Dr. Pigott (evidently) values the pound sterling at ^5 United 

 States' currency. The actual value to-day is ^5 60c. It was 10c. 

 to 12c. more when Dr. P. was probably writing — (this change from 

 the constantly fluctuating value of gold) — so that the price paid by 

 Dr. W. was not = 34Z., but only 31Z. 4s. nearly, a difference of more 

 than 10 per cent. But the excess over the cost of the P. and L. yV^l^ 

 was partly caused by the addition to Dr. W.'s y\th of a " compound " 

 dry front valued at ^40 ; deducting this item, which is not included 

 in the price of P. and L.'s -^^th, leaves the actual price (for compa- 

 rison) of the y^-gth immersion with a single front of a new plan never 

 before used in any objective, K135 = 24Z. 4s. nearly, instead of 34Z. 

 But the price that American instruments are sold at should not be 

 compared with the price of English instruments in London, but with 

 the price that they can be imported for and sold here. The price of 

 P. and L.'s yV*^ ^^ London is 16 guineas; add the duty only, no 

 freicjlii, insurance, or other charges, and it costs here K131 71c. United 

 "states' currency— a difference from T.'s price of the -jl^th ^3 29c. 

 only. The excess of American cost over the English may be fully 

 accounted for by the different rate of wages of skilled workmen in 

 Boston and London ; for though Tolles does all the important optical 

 work with his own hands — as I suppose that P. and L. do — yet he 

 must employ some assistance for the brasswork, and the men capable 

 of doing that work to suit him command wages double the income of 

 many English clergymen. As it has been publicly charged that 

 Tolles' prices are " enormous," and as Dr. Pigott's statements appear 

 to confii-m the charge, it is due to him (Mr. T.) that this detailed 

 explanation (never before made) should be as widely published. I 

 do not suppose that Dr. Pigott wrote by authority of Messrs. P. and 

 L. in his suggestion that an offer of a higher price would produce a 

 better lens ; they probably will not deem it a compliment that it is 

 suggested that the prices of their published list are not for the best 

 lenses they know how to make. Yours, &c., 



Charles Stodder. 



