1870.] 209 [Edwards. 



Mr. C. J. Sprague declined membership in the Nominating 

 Committee, to which he was recently elected, and Mr. James 

 M. Barnard was chosen in his place. 



Section of Microscopy. February 9, 1870. 

 Dr. B. Joy Jeffries in the chair. Nine persons present. 

 The following paper was read : — 

 Notes on Diatomace^e. By Prof. Arthur Mead Edwards. 



I am one of those who have always strongly advocated the keeping 

 of written and drawn notes by observers of nature. However crude 

 and imperfect the drawings may be, however incomplete the written 

 descriptions, yet, if made conscientiously and with due regard to 

 facts, stating what the observer thinks he sees, they always possess the 

 value of truth, and at the same time serve to place upon record and 

 impress upon the mind many things that would otherwise pass un- 

 heeded, and those often of great value. So by following out such a 

 plan, the mind of the student is drilled in system, the great secret of 

 success in all scientific observations, as well as in other matters. For 

 a long time I have kept a book in which, from day to day, and im- 

 mediately as observations are made, memoranda are jotted down, often 

 accompanied by sketches, colored or not, as the subject requires. 

 And on looking back, I frequently find in my older notes the key to 

 some puzzling phenomenon undergoing investigation at a later time- 

 Let not the observer plead the excuse that he cannot draw; I believe 

 that everybody can learn to draw sufficiently well to give a truthful, 

 if not artistic representation of what appears before his eyes. Every 

 one can write well enough to say what he sees when required, and 

 drawing is but a short-hand system of writing. 



I believe, also, that when a student of nature has recorded any- 

 thing that he thinks will be of value or interest to others, he is in 

 duty bound to make such observations public. To illustrate my belief 

 thus expressed, I thus communicate some brief abstracts from my 

 note book, and if they prove acceptable, will from time to time do the 

 same again. 



PKOCEEDI3TGS B. B. JT^ H.— VOL. im. 14 MAROH, 1870. 



