Tue Microscope. 75 
“ Edentates are animals wanting some of the teeth of other ani- 
mals,” while “ Mr. Samuelson, a naturalist, took a glass of water 
and in a few days found its interior lined with slime, which 
proved to be a mass of monads all trembling with life.” 
There is a constant confusion of the name of a science with 
the names of groups of animals, thus “ Entomology has been 
subdivided into eleven orders,” and the definitions of these or- 
ders are rich. Who can extract a single idea from the follow- 
ing? Siphoniptera “have mouths with a sucker of two pieces,” 
Hemiptera have “two wings covered, and an elytra, as in the 
grasshopper,” while the Lepidoptera have the wings “ covered 
with farina,” and the Diptera alone are accorded six feet. 
In Botany the case is much the same; “the principal wri- 
ters on this interesting science are Linnzeus and Jussieu,” al- 
though the classification of Professor Lindley “ appears in some 
measure to be supplanting the recognized systems of ” the two 
anthors first named. In Mineralogy Werner and Mohs are the 
only authorities mentioned, while in Geology only the first of 
these is quoted and his classification is adopted. On the same 
page occurs the expression “ life, which is spirit.” 
It would be unfair were we to quote the above alone, for 
frequently it occurs that a person who is ignorant of one subject 
may be posted on another, and the man who attempts a scien- 
tific dictionary should know something of at least one science. 
Let us test our author on the physical sciences. One test will 
be enough. The text shows that he has a conception of the ele- 
mentary nature of metals, and then follows the following won- 
derful list: ‘‘ A few of the principal metals are here given in 
alphabetical order: Antimony, Arsenic, Bismuth, Blacklead, 
Brass, Cobalt, Copper, Gold, Iridium, Iron, Magnet, Manganese, 
Mercury, Nickel, Ochre, Pewter, Platinum, Silver, Steel, Tin, 
Tungsten, and Zinc,’’—a list of twenty-three names and only 
seventeen of them metals! 
The dictionary proper is arranged in alphabetical order and 
is largely made up of medical terms, these forming at least a 
third of the whole work. Among these especial prominence is 
given to those in use a century ago. Among the other words 
“definitions which do not define” are the rule, and on every 
page one or more egregious mistakes occur. Throughout the 
