to the American people. It represents the results of a long, 
earnest life devoted to scientific pursuits. It is a work that will 
be a standard authority for very many years to come. 
We do not know what publishing house will bring out the 
work, but it is evident that to reproduce these plates alone will 
cost many thousands of dollars. The only way, it appears to 
us, that any publisher could afford to produce such a work 
would be to issue it in monthly parts, with two or three plates 
in each issue, charging for the same about one dollar a part. 
In this way the whole work could be procured at a total cost of 
about fifteen dollars and without any great sacrifice on the part 
of the purchaser. We are writing this notice without the 
knowledge of Prof. Smith, who kindly sent us the drawings at 
our earnest request. Nothing would contribute to our ambi- 
tion more than to publish and introduce such a grand work as 
this. Did we have any assurances from our friends we would 
make Prof. Smith an offer to publish the work at once. Should 
a large number of our readers be pleased with what we have 
announced, and should Prof. Smith not procure a publisher un- 
til next month, we may have more to say on the subject. We 
ask no pledges, only words of encouragement. 
THe Microscopr. 15 
WE are in receipt of an illustrated catalogue from Mr. S. N. 
_ Ayres, of Jamestown, N. Y. It gives a list of his micro-photo- 
graphs and micro-photo charms. Mr. Ayres’ work is unique in 
character and our readers had better send for one of these lists. 
We have received a note from one of our subscribers which 
speaks for itself. “As a fellow F. R. M. S. allow me to say a 
few words regarding paragraph in your Microscopg, Sept., ’85, 
page 207. ‘Mr. Bulloch of Chicago, * * * asked for some 
Kerosene, etc.’ The word kerosene is not derived from the 
Greek, was coined by a person not knowing that language, dic- 
tionaries to the contraries—it is a patent granted this company. 
Originally it was made from coal or shale and afterwards 
adapted to petroleum. Kerosene is the result of two distilla- 
tions with an intermediate chemical treatment. All other 
illuminating oils made from petroleum are by a single distilla- 
tion finished by chemical treatment in the agitators. Mr. Bul- 
loch was correctly informed.” 
