14 



THE AMEEICi\lNr MONTHLY 



[January, 



ing by "large," ten-inch tubes and 

 ten to sixteen pounds weight " has 

 come," let them accept my proposi- 

 tion of the demonstration of superior 

 optical performance, or forever after 

 hold their peace. 



The question is not for argument, 

 but one of fact. 



Charles Stodder. 



Cleaning Diatoms. 



I offer the following suggestion for 

 cleaning diatomaceous material when 

 largely contaminated with sand. A 

 quantity of the material is placed in a 

 teaspoon, and water is then added 

 until the teaspoon is nearly filled ; 

 the spoon is gently shaken with a 

 back and forth or a circular motion, 

 for a few seconds or longer, when the 

 water must be quickly drawn off by 

 applying the tip of a finger to the 

 point of the spoon, taking care to 

 draw off the superficial water, with- 

 out allowing the heavier sediment to 

 pass over the point. Pour from the 

 spoon into a watch-glass, the sur- 

 plus water is then drained off, and 

 the diatoms removed for mounting. 

 This method produces a magical con- 

 centration of the diatoms, large and 

 small, making the remaining sand 

 inconspicuous by the superabund- 

 ance of the diatoms. 



K. M. Cunningham. 



EDITORIAL. 



Subscriptions.— Remittances for subscrip- 

 tion should be made by post-office money-order, by 

 drafts payable in New York, or in registered letters. 

 Money sent in any other way will be at the sender's 

 risk. A receipt will be immediately given for money 

 received by open mail. 



Boston Water. — The report of 

 Prof. Ira Remsen on the Boston 

 water, referred to last month, has 

 been published by the city of Boston. 

 It is illustrated by a colored plate re- 

 presenting the fresh-water sponge, 

 Spongilla fluvmtilis, with a transverse 

 and a longitudinal section of the 

 sponge. A letter from Prof. Farlow 



is also printed, who expresses his be- 

 lief that the " cucumber odor " is not 

 due to any vegetable growing in the 

 water. Prof. Remsen's conclusions, 

 which were quite fully stated in our 

 December number, were combated 

 by a number of gentlemen at a meet- 

 ing of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, but we are still inclined to 

 the belief, after carefully reading his 

 official report, that they will be veri- 

 fied by future investigations. 

 o 



Microscopical Societies. — We 

 have heretofore followed the estab- 

 lished custom of publishing the reports 

 of microscopical societies as they have 

 been furnished by the secretaries, 

 omitting matters of a purely business 

 nature, or such as were only of local 

 interest. This course has, for various 

 reasons, been more or less unsatis- 

 factory ; for we have felt that the 

 space occupied by the- reports, while 

 too small to admit of full notices of 

 the meetings of all societies, could be 

 filled with matters of greater general 

 interest and importance if the reports 

 were condensed and given in a differ- 

 ent form. 



We have, therefore, decided to 

 adopt a different plan this year, 

 which, although it will add to the 

 labor of editing the Journal, will, 

 nevertheless, we believe, prove more 

 satisfactory to subscribers and also 

 to the members of the societies. 



We propose to take the reports of 

 meetings that may be sent to us each 

 month, read them carefully, and em- 

 body the most instructive and inter- 

 esting features of them all in a single 

 article, as in this number. This plan 

 will doubtless make the reports more 

 readable, and it will afford us an op- 

 portunity to offer occasional sugges- 

 tions and criticisms. Under the for- 

 mer plan we were occasionally 

 obliged to print erroneous observa- 

 tions or conclusions without com- 

 ment, — we can now indicate these 

 without offence to the authors, for 

 even the best of us are liable to make 

 mistakes, and we have not the slight- 



