156 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [August, 
and placing it on a secure foundation. That they have not done more for 
medicine, which through them is now a science, is due largely to the fact that 
too many of its practitioners are not sufficiently scientific, and due also to the 
great difficulty which stands in the way of the investigation of many interest- 
ing cases growing out of the very natural prejudice against post-mortem study. 
The physicians are little to blame for their slight acquaintance in some cases 
with the microscope or the importance of its use, for in the schools largely the 
subject of the cell structure is very insufficiently studied. But a few medical 
schools in this country realize the importance of this matter, and we may 
hope for more and more thorough knowledge of disease and its exact effect 
on the human organism as our lesser schools elevate their standard in 
this regard. The importance of a knowledge of biology and of thorough 
training in histology for the student who expects to be a thorough master of 
his science can hardly be overestimated. Such principles which may be re- 
garded as almost truisms now-a-days underlie the work of Ziegler, who is, 
besides a lecturer and writer, an active student of pathology and contributor 
to the science. His work is written in full harmony with the modern spirit 
of research, and no one can faithfully read it without catching some of the 
true spirit of the man, and finding the spirit grow in him as he reads and 
verifies. 
We were shocked one day not a year ago to receive a visit from a practi- 
tioner in a certain city. He showed us a small tumor on his left hand and 
asked to have it viewed with a microscope to see if it were malignant. We 
expostulated against such defiance of the rules of procedure, but promised 
to examine it if it were removed and sent to our laboratory. It was accord- 
ingly removed and, after several days, fell into our hands wrapped like a 
piece of meat from the butcher’s. | This same gentleman told us he had but 
little faith in the diagnosis of disease by the aid of the microscope. 
This rather extreme case represents a phase of objection which the users 
of the microscope have to meet—an objection from insufficient knowledge ot 
the facts in the case. Pathological histology is a young science ; it is full of 
unsettled problems, many so obscure that perhaps they cannot be solved ; 
but who will give them up? Certainly the vast body of experts seem to have 
no intention of giving up the earnest struggle to give to the science of medi- 
cine a firmer basis than ever by tracing disease to the cell of the living body 
most interested, as the first step in finding out just how to cure as many as 
possible, perhaps, in time, all the trouble which the flesh inherits or en- 
counters. Those who do not believe in the claims of the microscope to a 
large debt from the science of pathology ought to see to convince themselves 
by an examination of its claims, and then help the young science to grow by 
sympathy and support, not crush it because it is young. Fortunately there 
is, at present, but little opposition to the microscope in medicine and a grow- 
ing recognition of its claims. 
O 
American Society of Microscopists.—We have received the prospectus 
of the tenth annual meeting of this society and subjoin as much of it as space 
will permit for the benefit of our readers who are non-members. 
‘The meeting will be held in Pittsburgh, Penn., beginning August goth, 
and lasting four days. The time is set for the week preceding the meeting 
of the International Medical Congress at Washington, and will therefore be 
convenient in both time and place for those who desire to attend both Con- 
ventions. 
‘ Hotel headquarters will be at the Monongahela House, and the Sessions 
will be held in the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church. It has often 
been a matter for expressed regret at the close of the annual meetings that 
