THE JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY AND NATURAL SCIENCE: THE JOURNAL OF THE POSTAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. Editor: ALFRED ALLEN, Hon. Sec. P.M.S. Associate Editors: PROF. V. A. LATHAM, D.D.S., F.R.M.S., ETC., J. STEVENSON BROWN, President Montreal Micro. Soc., FILANDRO VICENTINI, M.D., Chieti, Italy. VOL. IV. THIRD SERIES. VOL. XIII. OLD SERIES. London: BAILLIERE, TINDALL, & COX, 20 KING WILLIAM ST., STRAND. BATH: 1 CAMBRIDGE PLACE. 1894. Preface. E cannot bring the present volume to a close without once more cordially expressing our very sincere thanks to our large circle of contributors and subscribers for the help they have given us during the past year. On glancing over the volume now concluded we venture to congratulate ourselves that we have presented to our readers many very important papers, which are specially deserving of careful and thoughtful reading. Amongst these we may mention Mr. J. W. Fisher's Presidential Address on the "Border-Land of Life;" Mr. H. C. A. Vine's valuable series of papers on "The Predacious and Parasitic Enemies of the Aphides," a subject which he has deeply studied; Mr. J. T. Neave's interesting article on "The Reproductive Organs of the Red Sea-Weeds;" Mr. John Hood's paper on "Rotifers and and Where to Find Them;" and Mons. J. Tempère's "Technology of Diatoms," which has been specially translated for the Journal from Le Diatomiste. We have also been able to present a translation from the Italian of the first part of an important Memoir on "The Bacteria and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth," by Dr. F. Vicentini; the translation has been specially corrected and added to by the author. Our readers will notice the unusual amount of space occupied by this article in the current part of the Journal; this is chiefly owing to certain delays in the transla tion of the earlier sections, and also to our desire to have the first section of the Memoir completed in the present volume. Our space will not permit us to give a list of the other papers that have been contributed, but to the authors of all these we beg to tender our warmest thanks. Looking forward to the New Year, we are happy to be able to announce that we have already received some very interesting papers for the next volume. It is with especial pleasure that we call attention to the coming-of-age of the Postal Microscopical Society. Having been connected with the Society from its birth, we naturally feel proud of what we venture to claim as our offspring. As with all children, it has occasionally suffered from infantile disorders, but we are glad to say that it has outgrown all of these, and is now enjoying a vigorous youth; and we venture to predict that it will have an equally vigorous future before it. JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY & NATURAL SCIENCE: THE JOURNAL OF THE POSTAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. Knowledge is not given us to keep, but to impart; its worth is lost in concealment." [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for the views of the authors of the papers published.] Presidential Address. The Border-Land of Life. NE important result of modern microscopical research has been to establish the fact of the absolute identity, when traced to their lowest manifestations, of the phenomena of life in both animals and vegetables. There was a time when scientists drew a distinct border-line between the two, and this was comparatively easy so long as attention was directed only to those forms of animals and plants in which the component cells were so differentiated that certain phenomena could be distinctly traced as appertaining either to the one or the other; such, for example, as the decomposition of carbonic acid and setting free its oxygen; the maintenance of existence by the absorption of inorganic elements or organic compounds; and the exhibition of spontaneous motion irrespective of external impressions. Now, however, we learn that such a border-line does not exist, but there is a BORDER-LAND in which the earliest manifestations of life are found, and here for a brief space we may wander and INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MICROSCOPY AND NATURAL SCIENCE. THIRD SERIES. VOL. IV. B |