THE MICROSCOPE. 



gtBt0xinI g,epfiirhix:eti'L 



IS A "FAMILIAR, COLLOQUIAL STYLE," INELEGANT 

 AND UNDIGNIFIED? 



THE above question forces itself upon us after a careful reading 

 of an extended editorial in a late number of the ^^Amencan 

 Monthly Microscopical Journals 



Having had occasion to know something of the spleeny nature 

 of the editor of that journal and having a desire, as far as possible, 

 to live at peace with our neighbors, we wrote Mr. Hitchcock a can- 

 did letter before the ilrst number of The Microscope was issued, 

 telling him of our intentions, of the field our journal would occupy, 

 etc., and also expressing the hope that no jealousy would arise be- 

 tween us, that our fields were distinct and separate, and offering to 

 give mutual aid to our enterprises. 



The reply to this letter was eminently satisfactory and would 

 be highly interesting to our readers, but we cannot reveal its assur- 

 ances as the letter was written in all confidence. 



This letter, written to Mr. Hitchcock, was the only letter of this 

 kind written to any editor or publisher before the appearance of our 

 journal. Mr. Hitchcock must have been familiar with our ''style" 

 long before this, for we occupied a number of pages of his Quarterly, 

 (see: Study of one of the Distomes; Origin and death of the red blood- 

 corpuscles, etc.) He must have known, from this, to some slight 

 extent what to expect from us editorially. Therefore, there is no 

 excuse for his writing us such a private letter as he did and then 

 printing as an editorial, matter contradictory. 



While Mr. Hitchcock charges us with nearly everything, he 

 cannot accuse us of ))lagiarism, while v/e do most decidedly charge 

 him with appropriating so nearly, the title of Mr. Phin's journal that 

 he often gets credit where credit is not due. Copying so closely the 

 title of this established journal has largely given to him what success 

 he has had. 



The difference between an "American Microscopical Journal " 

 and an "American Journal of Microscopy" is truly a microscopic one. 

 We shall expect in a few years, after Mr. Hitchcock's monthly has 

 followed his quarterly, that a new bi-monthly journal will be 



