SCIENCE. 



A bronze statue of Leibnitz, measuring 3^ metres in 

 height, is about to be erected at Leipzig, on the southern 

 side of St. Thomas Churchyard. This memorial to the 

 great German philosopher will be executed by Professor 

 Hanel, of Dresden. 



The announcement is made that Dr. Carpenter the 

 well known Microscopist, and author of one of the best 

 works on the subject, will pay a visit to the United 

 States during 1880. We can accord him the promise 

 of a warm reception in this country, where he will be 

 welcomed by all classes of Scientists, for his tesearches 

 have covered a wide range of scientific investigations, 

 which were recorded in language so felicitous, that he 

 gave a charm even to the most abstruse subjects. 



The Twelfth and Thirteenth Annual Reports of Amer- 

 ican Archaeology and Ethnology contain, as usual, sev- 

 eral papers of great ethnological interest. From the Re- 

 port of the Curator, Mr. F. W. Putnam, it is evident that 

 much excellent work continues to be done in the museum, 

 which is rapidly becoming one of the most valuable re- 

 pertories of ethnology in the world. The papers are all 

 connecte>l with American ethnology, the most important 

 probably being that of Mr. Baudelier, on the Social Or- 

 ganization and Mode of Government of the Ancient 

 Mexicans. 



Ichthyophagy is about to receive a new impetus by 

 the organization of the Ichthyophagous club, the object 

 of which is " to reveal to gourmets the unsuspected ex- 

 cellence of many neglected varieties of fish-food, and to 

 make manifest to the people at large the still untried ca- 

 pacity of sea, lake, and river, to yield the materials of 

 human noruishment." The first dinner of the Ichthyop- 

 hagists will take place at the Rockaway Beach Hotel on 

 the 30th instant, which though partially experimental, 

 will include enough familiar components to satisfy the 

 least adventurous taste. 



The President of the club is John Foord, Esq., 

 managing Editor of the New York Times, and Mr. E. G. 

 Blackford, Treasurer, who will receive the names of those 

 who desire to attend the dinner, and enroll themselves as 

 Ichthyophagists. 



DIATOMACE^E v. DESMIDIACE^E. 

 Dr. Jabez Hogg, the well-known professional microscop- 

 ist and author of " The Microscope — Its History, Construc- 

 tion and Application," recently wrote a letter, in which he 

 incidentally spoke of " Bacillaria paradoxa" as a desmid. 

 On being challenged to give his reasons for such a classifi- 

 cation, Dr. Hogg wrote the following letter: 



BACILLARIA. 



[17575!- — Mr. Fedarb (17334) wishes to know my reasons for 

 classing Bacillaria amongst Desmidiaceae, and I beg him to under- 

 stand that it is not my classification, but that of botanists who long 

 ago claimed them ; and as biologists have thought fit to acquiesce 

 in this arrangement, I fear there is now no help for the microscop- 

 ist ; he must quietly submit. Ehrenberg, as many of your corre- 

 spondents well know, placed them in his great family of Infusoria, 

 but Kutzing, and other natura'ists, a few years ago, regarded Ba- 



cillaria paradoxa as a species of Algas. In the last edition of 

 Pritchard's "Infusoria," edited by men of repute, Bacillaria are 

 placed in the family of Surirelleae. The reason assigned for this 

 is, that diatoms and desmids differ very little in their general char- 

 acteristics. Both without much impropriety are said to be cellular 

 plants inhabiting salt and fresh water. They certainly differ, inas- 

 much as diatoms have a dense silicious skeleton, usually divisible 

 into two parts, or valves, and are without coloring matter or 

 chromule. Desmids, on the other hand, have a non-silicious 

 envelope, which is separable into two segments, and are filled with 

 green coloring matter — chromule. The vital phenomena presented 

 are nearly identical. Diatoms are more lively and have a more 

 animal-like motion, and their silicious skeletons are almost inde- 

 structible, and their envelope is very transparent and of a gelati- 

 nous nature. Desmids, I believe, are destitute of the sarcode ele- 

 ment, and are quite destroyed on being submitted to boiling. The 

 movements of Bacillaria paradoxa are so remarkable, and so little 

 understood, that in commenting upon them I was anxious to elicit 

 the opinions of those whose opportunities for studying their habit 

 were much greater than my own. 



With reference to Mr. Fedarb's request, that I should specialize 

 the "contaminating agents" of impure water, he will find that I 

 have made some attempt to deal with this difficult question in the 

 present number of the English Mechanic. 



Jabez Hogg. 



At our request. Professor H. L. Smith, of Geneva, N. Y., 

 who has made a special study of the Diatomaceae, has writ- 

 ten a comment on Dr. Hogg's explanation, which appears 

 to effectually dispose of this matter. 



NOTE. 



It is really astonishing to see what errors one may fall 

 into when writing upon a subject about which one is igno- 

 rant. " Ne sutor ultra crepidam" is a maxim which has not 

 lost its force yet. The arguments, if one can call them so, 

 adduced above for classing diatoms with dismids are easily 

 disposed of. The author does not seem to be aware that the 

 family name Bacillariae (adopted in the early days of micro- 

 scopical study, for what we now call Diatomaceae) has long 

 been dropped ; the name was given from the then most 

 striking genus, Bacillaria, of which one of the species is B. 

 paradoxa. I am not aware that any respectable Botanist, or 

 Biologist has ever claimed, as asserted in the above com- 

 munication, that diatoms and desmids are to be classed to- 

 gether, except that both are algas. If, for this reason, Bacil- 

 laria paradoxa can be called a desmid, we may call, e., g., 

 since both are phaenogams, Hepatica triloba a Honeysuckle- 

 What is meant precisely by saying that the editors of 

 Pritchard place Bacillaria in the family of Surirelleae, or 

 how it has any bearing on the question of calling it a des- 

 mid, is difficult to understand. Really the writer of the 

 above note has very little comprehension of what he is 

 driving at. No one knew better than Mr. Ralfs, editor of 

 Pritchard, article diatoms, the distinctions between diatoms 

 and desmids, and nowhere does he fail to keep them dis- 

 tinctly separate. It is not merely the silicious frustule, 

 " skeleton " as it is called above, for many of the diatoms 

 are not silicious, but it is their different structure, dif- 

 ferent internal substance, different modes of growth, 

 that marks them as distinct ; moreover desmids are 

 not found, as is stated, in salt water, though diatoms 

 are, and very abundantly too. In fine, not a single 

 respectable writer, either in botany or biology can be cited, 

 from Kutzing down, who will call Bacillaria paradoxa a 

 desmid. The question is not one of both being algas ; this 

 every one now-a-days concedes ; but it is as to the propriety 

 of calling an acknowledged diatom (one that once gave the 

 family name to this group of organisms,) a dismid. 



H. L. Smith. 



