198 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[October, 



what have been since called the 

 "Annales." From a pamphlet of 

 ninety-five pages, the " Annales '' 

 have grown in four years, to a vol- 

 ume of over four hundred pages, 

 replete with valuable information. 

 We have examined them with much 

 interest, and it is with regret that 

 we have to confess that there is not 

 a Microscopical Society in this great 

 country that can offer an equivalent 

 publication of its own, as an ex- 

 change for them. It would seem 

 that there must be something radi- 

 cally wrong about our Microscopical 

 Societies, but just what it is and 

 how to correct it, are questions very 

 hard to answer. Certain it is, how- 

 ever, that there is hardly a Micro- 

 scopical Society in this country that 

 is doing any work of sterling scien- 

 titic value. The meetings are often 

 very interesting, and much really 

 useful information is imparted by 

 the members, but further than this 

 we cannot go. As educators of the 

 general public, our societies cer- 

 tainly are of great value, but we 

 hope the time will come when they 

 may justly rank among the best 

 scientific organizations of the time. 

 We have always thought that in 

 France the microscope is less gen- 

 erally used than it is even in our 

 own country. Nevertheless the 

 " Annales " before us indicate tliat 

 those who do employ it there have 

 used it to good advantage, and we 

 are not sure but the Memoirs pub- 

 lished by the Belgium Society with 

 83 members are more numerous, 

 and quite as valuable, as those pub- 

 lished by the great Royal Micro- 

 scopical Society of London. 



o 



Synopsis of Diatoms of 



Belgium. 



The first fascicle of Dr. Henri 

 Yan Heurck's "Synopsis of the 

 Diatoms of Belgium" fully bears 

 out the promises of the "Prospec- 



tus," which M^e have already noticed. 

 The figures are well drawn, and ac- 

 curately reproduced by the photo- 

 graphic process employed. The fas- 

 cicles consist entirely of plates, each 

 one faced by a list of the names of 

 the diatoms figured. There are no 

 descriptions whatever, the text being 

 confined to a single volume, which 

 will be published after all the plates 

 are issued. The classification adopt- 

 ed is that of Prof. Hamilton Smith, 

 with a few modifications. What 

 makes the work particularly useful 

 to those who are unfamiliar with 

 diatoms, is the fact that species and 

 even varieties are figured so care- 

 fully that the novice can distinguish 

 them without the aid of descriptions. 

 For this reason, the body of the work 

 is quite as useful to those who do 

 not read French, as to those who do, 

 and as the classification itself has 

 already been published in The Lens^ 

 this too is accessible to English 

 readers. 



The first fascicle consists of ten 

 plates, embracing 260 figures. 



As the fascicles are to be issued 

 at such long intervals, the complete 

 work can be purchased by those of 

 very limited means, requiring only 

 an expenditure of from $1.50 to 

 $3.00 every three or four months, 

 according to the number of plates 

 in each fascicle, and every micro- 

 scopist who has the least interest in 

 diatoms, would find the work very 

 useful. 



The second fascicle is announced 

 to appear about the first of this 

 month, and will contain twenty 

 plates. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



INJECTING APPARATUS. 

 To THE Editor: — I have read with 

 much interest Mr. White's description of 

 the injecting apparatus in your August 

 number. My friend, Dr. Henry Froehling, 

 of this city, uses one of somewhat similar 



