1859.] ADDRESS OF THE EDITOR. 11 



are other departments of the science deserving some notice, — as 

 attractive to many as the lists of rare plants, or the notes about 

 white Bluebells, blue Milkworts, etc. etc. Our readers are 

 hereby honestly informed, that we must give them what we get 

 from our contributors, and our contributors are, like ourselves, 

 labouring for the sake of science, not for profit. As a commer- 

 cial commodity, the ' Phytologist ' is " stark naught ;" as a means 

 of disseminating some information and much good feeling among 

 botanists, it is invaluable. Therefore the botanists of England, 

 ay and of Scotland and Ireland too, cling closely to it, as to a 

 standard, a sort of rallying-point, which fairly gives expression 

 to all the variable and ever-varying shades of opinion on bo- 

 tanical subjects. 



Some correspondents complain, on the other hand, that there 

 is a deficiency of good articles on the localities of plants, or 

 rather, good excursion- details, or rambles in search of rarities. 

 These look back to the years of former times, when the ' Phy- 

 tologist ' was young, and was then generally full of " Day's Bota- 

 nizings" in all parts, from the Lizard Point to Cape Wrath. 

 The subject was fresh then ; it is stale now. We do confess 

 a want of sympathy with these regrets. The obligations of the 

 present are too pressing to admit of much sentimental indul- 

 gence of the pleasing reminiscences " of days long past." While 

 doing our best under existing circumstances, we look hopefully 

 to the future, and endeavour not to regret "the days of auld 

 lang syne." 



Our object is to give general satisfaction, or to please all 

 parties ; and though not unmindful of the moral couched under 

 the story of the Miller and his Ass, we feel obliged to our cor- 

 respondents for the valuable hints that reach us, all sent with 

 the laudable intent of improving the ' Phytologist.' All receive 

 patient consideration, and our hope is to make them all in some 

 way or other conducive to the improvement of our periodical. 



We wish we could prevail on the botanical brotherhood of 

 the Microscopical Society to tell us what they see when they 

 have vegetable tissues at one end of their achromatic tubes, and a 

 clear, steady eye at the other. The structure of all parts of a plant 

 is instructive, from that of the pollen-graniiles to the more solid 

 or denser tissues of the vegetative organs. This hint is thrown 

 out at random, yet it may fructify and produce both edification 



