1885.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



159 



however, has long been in mind, al- 

 though not well thought out. 



Our correspondent, whose name is 

 withheld because his letter was not 

 written for publication, asserts that 

 the public does not want to be in- 

 structed, but amused. Perhaps so ; 

 but is it the proper function of a scien- 

 tific society to amuse the public ? It 

 maybe said. Yes, if thereby instruction 

 can be imparted. However, we .are 

 not sure but something more than 

 mere amusement is wanted by the 

 public at microscopical exhibitions. 

 Indeed we are inclined to believe the 

 great attraction of a microscopical 

 exhibition to most persons is the ex- 

 pectation of seeing beautiful and won- 

 derful structures and organisms in the 

 world of minute things. But it can 

 hardly be true that the mere beauty of 

 the specimens is the whole attraction, 

 for the minute size of the objects, and 

 the revelations of the perfection of 

 Nature's smallest works, gives an ad- 

 ditional interest to such exhibitions. 

 There is, therefore, another element 

 to be considered, which we have thus 

 merely indicated, and it is only put- 

 ting tile matter in another form to say 

 that the people who attend are really 

 desirous of learning something. If 

 the more brilliant and striking objects 

 do attract most attention, it may be 

 because they are more readily under- 

 stood or appreciated. It would seem 

 that before we reach a conclusion so 

 uncomplimentary to the intelligence 

 of the public, as that of our corres- 

 pondent, we should at least try the 

 experiment of making interesting to 

 the mind objects not specially attrac- 

 tive to the eye. The experiment has 

 yet to be systematically tried. 



The criticism to be made upon our 

 exhibitions generally is that they are 

 mere displays of fine objects, and 

 those who look at them are not able 

 to learn what they are. Even the 

 wingf-case of the diamond beetle gains 

 in interest by a few words of explana- 

 tion, especially if the scales of a but- 

 terfly's wing are shown beside it and 

 their relation to it briefly stated. The 



New York Microscopical Society was 

 the first to attempt to materially im- 

 prove this condition, and its annual 

 programmes are excellent in this re- 

 spect. 



Whether the plan suggested pos- 

 sesses any merit whatever in large 

 gatherings or not, it is unquestion- 

 ably the one that is most satisfactory 

 at home, when entertaining a friend 

 with glimpses of microscopical life. 

 In this connection the plan is not a 

 new one, and probablv ever\' reader 

 has made frequent applications of it. 



At an annual exhibition in which 

 the descriptive programmes are care- 

 fully arranged, like those of the New 

 York Society, for example, the plan 

 might readily be carried out. The 

 whole scheme consists in selecting 

 several objects — it may be only three 

 or four in each group — that w^ill, so 

 to speak, explain each other, placing 

 these in proper sequence, with suit- 

 able descriptions on the programme. 



The indisposition ot the public to 

 acquire knowledge is proverbial, but 

 the prevailing opinion on this subject 

 may also be unjust — at least the ex- 

 tent to which it is true may be very 

 much exaggerated in our minds. 

 There are 300,000 visitors to the Na- 

 tional Museum in this city in the 

 course of a year. They do not all come 

 for amusement, but a very large pro- 

 jDortion of them examine the collec- 

 tions with deep interest, and endeavor 

 to add to their store of knowledge. 



NOTES. 



— If any reader should know of an old 

 form of microscope of American manu- 

 facture that would be of interest in a col- 

 lection to illustrate the progress in im- 

 provement of stands in this country, the 

 editor would be pleased to receive infor- 

 mation concerning it. A collection of old 

 microscopes will, probably at no very dis- 

 tant day, be on exhibition in this city, such 

 as will be of great interest to every micro- 

 scopist. A nucleus for a complete col- 

 lection of this kind, embracing not only 

 American but foreign instruments, has 

 already been secured by Dr. Billings for 



