Further Notes on FrustuUa Saxom'ea. By W. J. Hickie. 125 



Of the ' American Naturalist ' I know nothing ; and even of 

 the ' Lens ' itself I have seen only the small sheet forwarded by 

 Dr. Woodward on the 27th of last October. Mr. Morehouse's 

 papers also did not come under my notice till long after my letter 

 was written, as I am in the habit of obtaining the back volumes of 

 the ' M. M. J.' very irregularly and at uncertain intervals. It now 

 rests with Dr. Woodward to explain how it happens that, while he 

 silently acquiesced in Mr. Morehouse's strictures, a courteous letter 

 from this side of the Atlantic could draw from him two such para- 

 graphs as those I shall proceed to quote from his present paper. 



On page 274 he says : " It will be observed that I did not, in 

 my ' Note,' speak generally, as Mr. Hickie does, of what ' Dippel 

 and others ' fancied they saw, but specifically of the longitudinal 

 striae of Dippel." . ..." In my ' Note,' then, I spoke only of the 

 longitudinal strise of Bi'ppel, but now, in response to Mr. Hickie's 

 letter, I willingly express my belief that the longitudinal lines 

 which he describes are of the same character." 



That is to say, I ought to have sjooken "specifically," as he did, 

 and with all fulness of knowledge, in July, about a matter of which 

 I neither had, nor could have, any knowledge till the 27th of the 

 following October, when he himself sent me the information. Of 

 course, the idea suggested to his readers is that I have been tamper- 

 ing with the text of his article by interpolating "and others," 

 from a desire to make it appear that his views are opposed to those 

 held by microscopists in general, while they really are at variance 

 only with certain rash statements put forth by an obscure German 

 called Dippel. 



Again, on page 279 he says : " Mr. Hickie asserts that there is 

 a difference, but does not make clear in wbat the difference con- 

 sists. I should be happy to learn further from him on this head, 

 if he has anything to teach." 



Just so, in the Prussian " Eeddymadasy," opposite the picture of 

 a wine glass, we find,* " This is a wine glass. Out of this folks 

 drink wine— when they can get it." 



Elsewhere also he has invited me to produce fresh evidence 

 for his consideration. This I must decline to do, as there 

 would be little profit in arguing with one whose fundamental 

 axiom seems to be, hke Hume's, that " No amount of evidence is 

 sufiicient to prove such and such things." 



My own letter was written in all good faith and sincerity, and was 

 rather an indirect expression of my high estimate of Dr. Woodward 

 himself, than any correction of erroneous views, about which I 



* See page 78 of the ' Hand-Fibel ' ; fiinfuudreissigste Aiiflage. Preis unge- 

 bimden 4 Sgr. Berlin, 1872. A respectable volume, though it omits the im- 

 portant fact recorded by Dr. Woodward, that schwach gezeichnet is the German for 



" verij pale.''' 



