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 havingbeen 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- 
maceie 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 de 
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- 
