SCIENCE. 



225 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 



229 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 

 P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1880. 



During the year 1877 the Microscopical Section of 

 the Indianapolis Lyceum of Natural History addressed 

 a letter to the various Microscopical Societies through- 

 out the United States, requesting expressions of their 

 views touching the desirableness of a National Con- 

 vention of the microscopists of the country, for the 

 purpose of taking the necessary steps to form a Na- 

 tional Association for the promotion of the progress 

 of microscopical science, and for the benefit and ad- 

 vantage of all concerned therein. 



Favorable replies having been received,THE Nation- 

 al Microscopical Congress, pursuant to a call, met 

 at the Court house of Indianapolis, Indiana, on the 

 14th of August, 1878. 



At this convention nearly fifty gentlemen, represent- 

 ing the Microscopical Societies of the United States, 

 decided by a resolution, unanimously passed, that •' it 



IS DESIRABLE TO HAVE A NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR 

 THE PROMOTION OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE." 



Thus The American Society of Microscopists 

 was called into life, under the presidency of Dr. R. H. 

 Ward, of Troy, N. Y. It met a second time at Buf- 

 falo, N. Y., on the 14th of August, 1879, and thirdly 

 at Detroit, Michigan, on the 21st of August last. 



It may be possible that the expectations of some 

 persons in regard to the useful results of this Society 

 have not been fulfilled; if such a feeling exists, we are 

 not aware of its having been expressed ; for our part 

 we congratulate The American Society of Micro- 

 scopists upon the results so far obtained, and feel san- 

 guine for the good work it may accomplish in the 

 future. 



The address of the first president, Dr. R. H. Ward, 

 was a model of its kind. The long extract we gave 

 from it in ''Science" for July 31, last, under the title 



of a "Plea for the Metric System in Microscopy," 

 showed the master hand of an accomplished writer and 

 earnest worker. 



Dr. Ward's address was of a most practical nature, 

 and well adapted to inspire enthusiasm ; he dwelt 

 upon the many instances in which the value of the 

 microscope had been demonstrated, and recalled the 

 many fields for microscopical work still fully open and 

 recognized, but yet unoccupied, and concluded by 

 showing that microscopical study might be made not 

 only a source of pleasure to ourselves, but an effective 

 aid to science and humanity. 



The third annual meeting of this Society held under 

 the Presidency of Professor H. L. Smith, of Geneva, 

 N. Y., was fully reported in this journal on the 25th 

 of September last. 



As a professional microscopist Professor H. L. 

 Smith, the second President, has so distinguished him- 

 self, that his reputation as an authority on the Diato- 

 mace?e and other allied forms, is not confined to this 

 continent, but acknowledged wherever such studies 

 are intelligently pursued. 



On referring to our report we find that Professor 

 Smith congratulated the Society on its progress, and 

 the meeting adjourned hopefully, after having elected 

 as President for the new year Mr. J. D. Hyatt, of 

 our city, a gentleman eminently qualified to occupy 

 the chair of his predecessor. 



Such being the history and present standing of The 

 American Society of Microscopists, we notice with 

 some surprise that the editor of the American Monthly 

 Microscopical Journal, in his issue for September last, 

 makes a proposition, to give this Society a coup tie 

 grace, by proposing that the Society shall disorganize, 

 and its members join the Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. 



The reasons for such action are stated to be as fol- 

 lows : 1. The Society has not received the support of 

 microscopists. 2. The officers of the Society have 

 been inexperienced men, who have not directed it 

 properly. 3. A supposed necessity created by the 

 writer, that this Society must meet at the same place 

 and time as the A. A. A. S., it being then infered that 

 as the latter Society has a subsection of microscopy, 

 there arises the difficulty of having two meetings on the 

 same subject simultaneously; therefore one should be 

 abandoned, the preference being given to the Amer- 

 ican Society of Microscopists for such act of self- 

 sacrifice. 4. Can the American Society of Microsco- 

 pists show any reason why it should exist ? If it can- 

 *not, the inference is obvious. 



This question having been raised in a journal de- 

 voted to microscopy, and by a gentleman who formed 

 one of the original Committee of Organization, it ap- 

 pears only courteous to the writer, to direct the atten- 



