4o0 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



The Micrographic Dictionary: a Guide to the Examination and In- 

 vestigation of the Structure and Nature of Microscopic Objects. By 

 J. W. Griffith, M.D. &c, and Airmen Henfrey, E.R.S., F.L.S., 

 &c. Third Edition. Edited by J. W. Griffith and Professor 

 Martin Duncan. 8vo. London : J. Van Voorst, 1871-1874. 



If we are rather late in noticing the completion of this third edition 

 of the ' Micrographic Dictionary/ this must not be taken to indicate 

 any want of appreciation of the value of the work, but rather that 

 we regarded it as already so well known and highly esteemed that 

 any thing in the shape of a review of it was really a work of super- 

 erogation. That the authors must have hit upon a widely felt want 

 (must have " struck oil," if we may venture to use that elegant 

 Americanism) when they first conceived the idea of preparing such 

 a dictionary, may be regarded as proved by the reception it has met 

 with ; for it is no small evidence of popularity that so bulky a 

 volume, with nothing but its intrinsic merits to recommend it, should 

 have reached a third edition within sixteen years. 



The cause of this popularity is not hard to find. Microscopists 

 are pretty thickly scattered over this as well as other countries ; and 

 a prime want of every microscopist is a book which shall enable 

 him, without having recourse to what is perhaps beyond his reach, 

 an extensive scientific library, to ascertain in a general way the 

 nature of the objects which come under his observation. Ordinary 

 treatises on the microscope and its uses certainly furnish some 

 information of the kind required ; but this is generally restricted to 

 the more striking objects, and it would manifestly be foreign to the 

 purpose of such works to enter into details of genera and species. 

 But it is precisely one of the main objects of the ' Micrographic 

 Dictionary' to furnish such particulars, without neglecting the more 

 general subjects of microscopical research ; and thus the volume 

 becomes a sort of condensed summary of minute zoology and botany, 

 which renders it not only almost indispensable to the mere micro- 

 scopist, but also a work of the highest value for reference to natu- 

 ralists in general. 



The edition of the 'Micrographic Dictionary' now before us was 

 commenced in 1871, but, owing chiefly to ill health, Dr. Griffith, 

 the surviving author, was unable to advance regularly with the task 

 of editing it ; and after about half the work was completed he was 

 compelled to call in the assistance of Professor Duncan, whose well- 

 known attainments in various departments of natural history are a 

 sufficient guarantee that his part of the work is executed in a 

 manner worthy of the reputation which the book had already 

 t cquired. The principal alterations in this edition are in the 

 articles relating to the members of the animal kingdom ; and in his 

 treatment of these Dr. Griffith had already, in the portion edited by 



