1897] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 261 



ing-. The thirteen papers which were read occupy one 

 hundred and thirty-five pag-es. Why should people g-o 

 hundreds of miles to the meeting- to hear — 



13 papers which will occupy 135 pages and to miss — 



11 papers which will occupy 128 pages when every word 

 uttered at the meeting- will be sent out in type? 



Notice this sample of wasted space : 



"Secretary. — This completes the list, Mr. President." 



"President. — We are now under the head of ordinary 

 business." 



"Secretary. — I wish to say that all members who have 

 read papers and have not handed them in are requested 

 to do so as soon as possible as I wish to have the Transac- 

 tions out about the first of December, if possible, and 

 surely before the holidays [Applause]." 



The Proceed ing-s were out the following- June with 

 "March, 1897" printed on the cover. By waiting-, one may 

 read every word and need not go to the meeting- to hear any- 

 thing-. 



There is probably not another society in the world that 

 prints all this minutiae. It is a waste of money. The most 

 successful societies now releg-ate all the business to secret 

 meeting's of an executive board. Who cares to g-o from 

 New York to Toledo to hear the full society discuss the 

 advisability of printing 400 copies of the constitution ? The 

 excuse for this printing- is that not one in twenty of the 

 members are present and that they must be informed of 

 what g-oes on. Many of them pa}" their dues and if they 

 do not g-et what is in the book, they get nothing- therefor. 

 But this in turn becomes a cause of small meeting-s. 



Men do not like to confess their ambitions. If they did, 

 we should probably hear from nearly all those who con- 

 tribute to the Proceedings that they are candidates for 

 the un-American Eng-lish honor of F. R. M. S. The Eng-- 

 lish society judg-es candidates by their technical publica- 

 tions and judges Americans by this volume in question. 

 This fact is known by the members of this little g-roup. 

 Do not they act with this fact in view? And do they not 

 larg-ely forg-et and ig-nore matters of g-eneral interest or 



