1880.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



31 



the microscopical world and still is in 

 an unsettled state, is that of gaining 

 definiteness and uniformity in mi- 

 crometry. In this field emergencies 

 have arisen during the past year 

 which have compelled me to take 

 considerable responsibility, as well 

 as to perform a large amount of 

 work, trusting that the generous 

 approval of my colleagues would 

 accept and ratify what seemed at 

 the time and what seems now most 

 consistent with the interests of 

 science and the dignity of this body. 

 It will be reiiiembered that a year 

 ago, just at the close of our India- 

 napolis meeting, resolutions were 

 offered favoring the adoption of the 

 metric system for micrometry, and 

 the one-hundreth millimeter as the 

 unit to be employed, inviting 

 foreign cooperation, and accepting 

 an offer of standard micrometers 

 from Prof. William A. Rogers of 

 the Astronomical Observatory of 

 Harvard University. None of these 

 points, save the last, were new or 

 unconsidered. They had been 

 studied at leisure for years by many 

 members who were present. The 

 metric system had been adopted by 

 all the civilized world except Russia, 

 England and the United States ; 

 and its universal adoption was, as a 

 rule, earnestly desired and favored 

 by the educated and scientific 

 classes. It has been adopted, or 

 recommended after mature delibe- 

 ration, by the National Academy of 

 Sciences, the American Metrologi- 

 cal Society, the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of 

 Science, by the American Society of 

 Civil Engineers, the United States 

 Coast Survey, the United States 

 Marine Hospital Service, the Am- 

 erican Medical Association, the 

 Congress of Opthalmologists, and 

 by the largest state and local medi- 

 cal societies and by leading medical 

 schools and journals, by numerous 



boards of education, college facul- 

 ties and local scientific societies, 

 and by experts in various branches 

 of science and art. On the other 

 hand, the resolutions contained 

 some minor faults, mostly in mat- 

 ters of taste or tact, which could 

 have been easily remedied by refer- 

 ence to a committee. But there 

 was no time for reference or for 

 adequate discussion, and rather 

 than discourage their object by 

 failure or postponement, they were 

 adopted and referred to the local 

 societies for consideration. They 

 were passed unanimously, at a small 

 session, it is true, but by the same 

 vote which established this Society 

 and authorized its meeting here 

 to-day. As too often happens, their 

 incidental faults attracted more at- 

 tention than their really scientific 

 object. The unit proposed was evi- 

 dently too long for integers and too 

 short for fractions, and "unlikely to 

 receive a single ajjproval either at 

 home or abroad; the proposal of 

 international action, though its ob- 

 ject was universally approved, was 

 in a form not likely to accomplish 

 that object, and the liberal offer 

 of Professor Rogers was wholly 

 misundei-stood and perverted, until 

 it took the form of the preposterous 

 statement that it was proposed to 

 make Professor Rogers' microme- 

 ters standard as distinguished from 

 those of other (!) makers, not the 

 least amusing of all the blunders 

 and absurdities of this precious 

 statement being the association in 

 any manner of trade, rivalry or 

 mercenary considerations with tlie 

 work of one of our most generous 

 scientists who has freely shared 

 with the public every result of his 

 labors, while spending thousands of 

 dollars upon his investigations with- 

 out a thought or a possibility of 

 ever seeing the money again. It 

 soon became evident that an or^an- 



