A considerable number of papers prepared for this number have 
been necessarily delayed, on account of the limited space allotted, and 
yet our limits have been extended. The lithographs were executed by 
the editor and printed by a process making them cheaper than any other 
available, and any failure to realize the ideal of such work will, no 
doubt, be pardoned on this account. 
For information relating to the departments here represented, the 
reader is referred to the advertisement appearing elsewhere. The fact 
that the chemical laboratory has afforded us no material for this num- 
ber, may be attributed to the change in administration in that depart- 
ment, occasioned by the death of the lamented Prof. Osbun. 
