[Vol. T., No. MBL

��What is a micTOSco))i8t ? Firat and last, an amatear who rejoices in the beautiful variety of microSL'opical epecimens ; ooe who treasui'es atidea in the exact centre of which is a ring of cement neatly putoiit and boldiiig a cover-glaas under which lies some fine test-objogt, — a delicate diatom, a podura scale, a, bit of tissue the vessels of which are injected with gor- geous red, a polarizing crystal : in short, almost any tiny scrap of the universe, if so it be pretty in the pattern of its shape and color. These aame treasured alidea must have neatly bordered labels, and be catalogued and stored by a special system. The microscopist is one who has a formidable and extensive deal of brass stand, which can hold together a cabinet of appliances ; and he will display the most admirable patience in getting tbem iu posi- tion, until at last he sees the specimen, and is ready to cleau and pack away bis apparatus. His series of objectives is his glory ; and he possesses a fifteenth of Smith and Brown, which will resolve a band of Nobert's not to be re- solved by the objectives of, any of bin frieuds. His instrument is his pet : about it his Interest centres, while the direction of his studies is determined, not by any natural bond I>etweeu the objects, but by the common quality of minulencss. Is it not curious 'f Imagine any one dchberately setting out to study whatevej' he could cut with a knife. We should pity the man who chopped up the sciences according to the instrument be used. We cannot be brought to regard anatomy as a department of cutlery. nor can we seriously ailmit histulogj' as a de- partment of microscopy.

Scientific men have been very lenient towards the micruscopists ; and yet the latter, who have long been allowed to march as hangers-on to the i-egular scientific army, have gradually lagged behind . The army has g^wn, and divided into many separate corps, traversing the eonnlrj' of tlie unknown in all directions, and the micros- copist knows not whither to follow. If he turns in any direction, he must join with the special work there, uud can glean only in one field: he is no longer the universal gatherer. One

��must be of the army to be with it, and the forces are too scattered for any hanger-on to flit from one division to another. The would* I be microscopist has no place among scientiScfl investigators. He must enlist in one company I and there remain, or else be content to rank a an amateur, and not aa a scientific man.

��LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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��The north magnetlo pota.

With my article In Sdmce, Nq.98 [Dec. 19, 18841, en- titled ' The Netschllluk Xunuit,' there app«nred a majt of the distribution of those Eskimo, iu which 1 placed [lie north magnetic pole in nbout longitude 96° SS' west from Greenwich, or about sixtj-flve niiles due wast of [he poslliou given by Boas, its discoverer. In his sledge- journey of 1S3I. Since Ibis map waa Issued I have received two letlera from well-kaown scientific gentlemen, and a personal inquiry from another, ask- ing why I so mapped this change Iu thu magnetic pole, and on what observatlouB or conclusions It was based, even though I had put an interrogation-|Mdnt after the words Indicating the poBitlon. It Is well known that many calculations bave been made re- specting the western movement of this pole since Ita discovery; and. varying as they do, ibey all, so far as I have seen, would place it much farther to the west, for the year 1879, than my location gives IL

Tbe above iiiijulrles and facta make me think it would be lulereHting to give in your publication the rude and approximate manner in which I located It as almve, leaving each one to judge of Ita value. Its latitude 1 assumed to be the same as that detennlnMl by Ross, aa all writers speaking of Its revolution, whatever be lis rate, give the geographical pole aa It* centre. Its latitude, therefore, would not vary, 1 consider this co-ordinate, determined in this manner, by far the most unreliable of the two; I believe, how- ever, that those Interested in the subject will consider ""■ " ■ Lportant, as being the least likely U\

��, alio the least ii

��1 an ordinary com- ely delicate and reliable one Iu Its proper sphere, and returning to the same point, 111 the temperate zones, to within less than a dqree of arc started from any position that could be given. When at Cape Felix, the most northern point of King William's Land, the needle remained sluggishly ill almost any position that was given it; whenpointea in a north-east or sonth-wesc direction, I thought I delected a slight tendency to move to the westward. At Franklin Point I made some seventy-five to one linadred observations (the exact number I have in my journals, packed in Portland, Ore.; but I think ray memory will be close enough for descriptive pu(^ poses, and probably more exact than the rough approxi [nations), and the horizontal needle now commenced to show a little activity; a mean of the otuervatlons showing about longitude 99°, where It* direction cut the Koss latitude of the magnetic pole. Near Point Little, I took the longest and most careful series of observations, and the needle alwavs returned to within 18° (this I distinctly remeniberjof the pole as I have located it In the Netschilluk map, and tldt-

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