260 



had exhibited it at one of the Royal Society's Soirees and elsewhere ; and it 

 was to be regretted that he had not written a paper, and so given the matter 

 still greater publicity. Dr. Matthews had communicated with him, and 

 he stated that he got the idea originally from an American source. In any 

 case it was quite clear that Dr. Matthews had worked the matter out inde- 

 pendently, and without any knowledge of what had previously been done. 

 There could be no doubt of the great utility of being able to produce 

 very low microscopical powers, combined with fine definition. The old 

 " erecting-glass " fulfilled these conditions very imperfectly, its construc- 

 tion being only suited to the terrestrial telescope; and when used with the 

 microscope, the objective was turned the wrong %vay, giving the greatest 

 amount of spherical aberration. In the proper application of the principle, 

 the objective was turned so as to give the most perfect diminished camera, 

 image, which was magnified by a compound microscope, consisting of the usual 

 eyepiece and an achromatic objective which also acted as an erecting glass. 

 There were two papers by Dr. R. H. Ward, in the *' American Naturalist," 

 which were reprinted in the " Monthly Microscopical Journal " for 1872 ; 

 one " On a New Erecting Arrangement " (" M. M. J.," Vol. vii., p. 11.), 

 and the other " On a New Micro-telescope" (ib., p. 73). In neither of these 

 papers was anything said about reversing the object-glass — the all im- 

 portant point; so that many might have tried this plan without 

 success. In Goring and Pritchard's " Micographia," 1837, p. 51, would 

 be found a "Description of a New Micrometer" on this principle. Dr. 

 Goring took care to remark that, in default of a specially -made object- 

 glass, " the double object-glass of an engiscope, or two combined, may 

 be used with the convex lens or lenses turned towards the micrometer" 

 The micrometer was six inches below the objective, and formed the 

 object, the diminished image of which was thrown on the plane of the 

 object to be measured. Dr. Pigott adopted precisely the same arrange- 

 ment in his " Aerial Stage Micrometer." (" M. M. J.," 1873, Vol. ix., p. 2). 

 The " Micro-megascope " would be found extremely useful for examining 

 large objects and those situated at a distance, binocularly, for dissecting, and 

 camera lucida drawing, and was, in fact, an all-important addition to the 

 resources of the microscopist. It was easy of application, as all that 

 was necessary was an adapter to carry an objective in the place of the 

 ordinary condenser, thus utilizing any two of the low powers usually supplied. 

 Mr. Ingpen felt sure that the Members would agree with him that even if 

 Dr. Matthews were not the very first to employ the arrangement, they were 

 indebted to him for introducing it, and that they were assured of his good 

 faith in the matter. 



Several forms of the instrument were exhibited, including one which Mr. 

 Curties had constructed for application to the Tank Microscope, and kindly 

 presented to the Club. 



On the motion of the Chairman, the thanks of the meeting were unani- 

 mously voted to Dr. Matthews for his interesting communication, to Mr. 

 Ingpen for his explanatory remarks, and to Mr. Curties for fitting to the 

 Club microscope the adapting mounts. 



