172 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[September, 



EDITORIAL. 



Publisher's Notices. — All communications, ex- 

 changes, etc., should be addressed to Henry Leslie 

 Osborn, Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University. 



Sub^riptions, and all matters of business, should be 

 addressed to the Business Manager, P. O. Box 630, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Subscription price $1 .00 PER YEAR strictly in ad- 

 vance. All subscriptions begin with the January 

 number. 



A pink wrapper indicates that the subscription has 

 expired. 



Remittances should be made by postal notes, money 

 orders, or by money sent in registered letters. Drafts 

 should be made payable in Washington, New York, 

 Boston, or Philadelphia. 



The regular receipt of the Journal, which is issued 

 on the 15th of each month, will be an acknowledgment 

 of payment. 



The first volume, 1880, is entirely out of print. The 

 succeeding volumes will be sent by the publisher for 

 the prices given below, which are net. 



Vol. II (1881) complete, gi.50. 



Vol III out of print. 



Vol. IV (1883) complete, $1.50. 



Vol. V (1884) complete, ;Ji.50. 



Vol. V {1884), Nos. 2-12, $1.00. 



Vol. VI (i885),$E.oo. 



Editorial Change. — In the July 

 number it v\as suggested that on ac- 

 count of the protracted residence of 

 the Editor in Japan a change would 

 be made in the editorial management 

 of the Journal. Prof. Hitchcock 

 was compelled to leave the country 

 for his work in Japan before the 

 publication of the August number, 

 and before arrangements had been 

 completed for the future conduct of 

 the magazine. In this condition of 

 atliiirs we have imdertaken to act 

 temp(M"arily as editor until we can 

 further communicate with the Editor. 

 We promise the readers of the Jour- 

 nal that so long as our connection 

 with the magazine shall continue we 

 shall spare no pains to keep up the 

 interest of the pages of the Journal. 

 As heretofore, we trust there will 

 always continue the greatest good- 

 feeling between the friends of the 

 paper and the acting editor, and shall 

 always welcome letters of inqniry or 

 information, and solicit the kind treat- 

 ment of the readers. Fully under- 

 .standing the difficulties of the situa- 

 tion, but with hopes of success, we at- 

 tempt this temporary position until an 

 arrangement shall be made for the en- 

 tire term of Prof. Hitchcock's absence. 

 Whatever that arrang-ement shall be 



Prof. H. will always continue to 

 watch over the magazine as he ever 

 has, and retain all his interest in it, 

 and send it frequent letters from his 

 residence in Japan. He will also 

 retain the relation of publisher to the 

 Journal. Letters to him should be 

 addressed to the Dai-gaku Bunko, 

 Osaka, Japan. 



Henry Leslie Osborn, 



Acting Editor. 



The Benefits of Improvements 

 IN Objectives. — The presidential ad- 

 dress of Dr. Dallinger, delivered at the 

 last annual meeting of the Royal Mi- 

 croscopical Society, shows very clearly 

 that the recent improvements in the 

 consti^uction of lenses for the micro- 

 scope have revealed many important 

 facts which are utterly beyond the 

 possibility of demonstration by even 

 slightlv inferior optical appliances. 

 The work upon which Dr. Dallin- 

 ger has been for manv years engaged 

 — the studv of the life history of mi- 

 nute flagellate monads — has demand- 

 ed the highest qualities of critical ob- 

 servation with the best objectives. Go- 

 ing back less than ten years, to 1878, 

 definite and positive results of obser- 

 vation with the best lenses then pro- 

 duced were recorded. In the author's 

 own words : " The lenses were the best 

 that the science and art of the time 

 could produce ; and the organisms on 

 which the researches were made were 

 thoroughl}' known, and were exam- 

 ined through consecutive years under 

 every varietv of condition, optical and 

 other ; while the limits of disclosure 

 were clearly known, and can be read- 

 ily shown with the same lenses on the 

 same objects to-day.' But there was 

 more to be done ; details that were only 

 suggested by the work of that time and 

 faintly indicated in the drawings pub- 

 lished, were relegated to future exami- 

 nation when further improvements 

 should be made in objectives. The 

 expected progress ^vas I'apidly accom- 

 plished. First came Powell & Lea- 

 land's fine \vater- immersion lenses, 

 then the homog-ene immersions of 



