352 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
THE MICROGRAPHIC DICTIONARY.* 
W E are happy to see that after an interval of ten years the Micrographic 
Dictionary has entered upon a new lease of its existence, the first 
three parts of its fourth edition having just made their appearance. The 
hook is expected to he completed in twenty-one monthly parts. Of a work 
so well known and so highly appreciated, it is hardly necessary for us to 
say anything ; hut for the benefit of such readers as may he unacquainted 
with the former issues, we may venture to indicate, in general terms, 
what is the nature of the hook. 
The main purpose of the original authors, Dr. Griffith and the late Prof. 
Henfrey was to give, in a series of alphabetically arranged articles, a 
summary of information necessary or useful to microscopists, especially in 
relation to the microscopic forms of animal and vegetable life, and 
those details of minute structure in the larger organisms, for the exami- 
nation of which the employment of the microscope is necessary. These 
articles were very copiously illustrated, partly with plates, containing an 
immense number of figures, mostly coloured, and partly with numerous 
woodcuts. By the insertion of articles indicating a scheme of classification 
for the organisms referred to, with numerous cross-references, provision was 
made to enable the student to work out the objects systematically, thus, as 
far as possible, combining the advantages of dictionary arrangement with those 
of a systematic treatise. Further the authors prefixed to their Dictionary 
a general account of the microscope and its accessories, and of the mode of 
using them ; while in the body of the work they introduced many articles 
relating to special points connected with the structure or use of the micro- 
scope, such as angular aperture, polarization of fight, preparation and pre- 
servation of objects, test-objects, &c. By a judicious system of biblio- 
graphical references appended to each article, the reader was always told 
where he could find further information upon the subject if he required it; 
and thus between the knowledge directly conveyed by it, and its indications 
of other sources of information, the work was rendered a most useful and 
valuable summary of all matters connected with microscopic studies. 
In the second edition, which was just completed at the time of Prof. 
Henfrey’s lamented death, the authors made very great additions and 
improvements upon their work : many additional illustrations were given, 
and while the original design was closely adhered to, it was more thoroughly 
carried out, and the value of the book, which was much enlarged, was 
greatly increased. The third edition, in the preparation of which Dr. Griffith 
was aided by Prof. Duncan, in addition to his present assistants, was a still 
further improvement upon its predecessors ; and from the inspection of the 
few numbers of the fourth which have reached us, it would appear that 
the author is strictly following out the same mode of treatment. In its 
present form the Micrographie Dictionary may be regarded as an Encyclo- 
* The Micrographic Dictionary ; a Guide to the Examination and Inves- 
tigation of Structure and Nature of Microscopic Objects. By J. W. Griffith, 
M.D., &c., and Arthur Henfrey, F.R.S., & c. Fourth edition. Edited by J. 
W. Griffith, M.D., &c., assisted by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, M.A., and T. 
Rupert Jones, F.R.S. Parts I. to III. 8vo, London. Van Voorst, 1881. 
