FBEFAOE. 



the difficulty is to condense the leading ideas of the author into a brief 

 compass, so that any one who desires to know its scope, and to determine 

 whether it is desirable to refer to the original paper, can have before him 

 the necessary guidance. All this has been done by Mr. Bennett and 

 Prof. Bell, with an amount of skill and with a degree of regularity which 

 at the outset I could not have believed possible. What is still more 

 remarkable, is the punctuality which has been observed throughout. 

 In no single instance has the MS. been received after the appointed 

 time ; in most cases it has been in advance of time. A striking 

 testimony to what has thus been accomplished is to be found in the 

 view of an eminent biologist, who, in the earlier days of the Journal 

 expressed the opinion that the Summary must necessarily in a short 

 time "run thin": the same biologist last year spontaneously declared 

 that "the Journal got better and better." I claim therefore for 

 Mr. Bennett and Prof. Bell that botanists and zoologists owe them a 

 large debt of gratitude for the good work they have done with so much 

 self-sacrificing perseverance. 



The Microscopical division of the Journal is in like manner indebted 

 to Mr. J. Mayall, jun., for a large amount of assistance which for the same 

 length of time he has rendered in this department, assistance of such a 

 character that without it it would have been impossible to produce the 

 varied assortment of matter which has kept microscopists so fully, and 

 I may say so completely, informed as to all that is novel, interesting, or 

 curious in the various sections of the subject. 



I have left unnoticed the services of Mr. J. Arthur Thomson, who has 

 recently undertaken, with no little success, a part of the Zoology, and of 

 Dr. Hebb, who has practically had complete charge of the Technique 

 section, with what result the pages of the last two volumes of the Journal 

 abundantly show. This omission arises from the fact that I have been 

 dealing not only with the quality of the services rendered by the 

 three senior Co-editors, but also with the remarkable length of time 

 over which those services have extended, and in which respect they at 

 present stand alone. 



It is to be hoped that the increased circulation of the Journal 

 outside the Society may allow of some adequate return in a substantial 

 form being made to the Co-editors, and pending the arrival of the day 

 when that will be possible, I tender to them not merely my own thanks 

 but those of the Fellows of the Society at large, and I hope and believe 

 those of a still wider circle of biologists and microscopists also. 



Frank Crisp. 



