44 The Microscope. 



LETTER FROM W. H. BREARLEY, DETROIT, MICH. 



The article in the last Microscope upon the Working De- 

 partment of the Rochester Session, does an injustice to Mr. E. 

 H. Griffith. 



Fortunately I am able to give specific and conclusive infor- 

 mation upon the subject of who originated the Working Depart- 

 ment, and am pleased to know that the wisdom of the sugges- 

 tion was not only demonstrated at Rochester, but is confirmed 

 by this controversy as to who had the honor of its origination. 



In August, 1880, the American Society of Microscopists met 

 at Detroit, and as secretary of the Griffith Club of this city, I 

 was active in arranging for the session. As early as the pre- 

 ceding April, Mr. Griffith came to me and advised our attempt- 

 ing to have a Working Department as one of the features of 

 the approaching session. He explained his conception of the 

 plan, substantially as carried out at Rochester last summer. 



At his suggestion I corresponded with Prof. Hamilton 

 Smith (the president) and with Dr. Ward, of Troy, asking to be 

 allowed to make the needed local arrangements, and explaining 

 Mr. Griffith's plan at length. They replied in letters that are 

 now on file with the secretary of our society, that our meeting 

 was not to be a school, and that they thought this annex would 

 be undignified for a society of specialists. I showed these let- 

 ters to Mr. Griffith the next time he came to Detroit, and he re- 

 marked, " Of course that settles it, but it don't change my con- 

 viction that such a department is desirable, and I shall keep 

 stirring the matter until we have it." That he has '* kept stir- 

 ring it," I have had proof in frequent conversations since that 

 time, and have often remarked to myself the persistency of his 

 determination to sometime secure this department as a feature 

 of our annual session. If Prof. Mc Calla originated the Working 

 Department he must have done so before he became a member of 

 the National Society, as he was received into membership at the 

 Detroit meeting. Mr. E. H. Griffith has been indefatigable for 

 years in his labor all over the country in the interests of our an- 

 nual sessions, and to him more than to any other one man I feel 

 the present prosperous condition of the society is due. 



LETTER FROM C. M. VORCE, CLEVELAND, OHIO. 



I am pained to observe that Prof. McCalla in the January 



