176 Obituary. 



William Sidney Girbons. 



By the death of William Sidney Gibbons, of Melbourne, which 

 occurred in July last, the Society loses one of its oldest Fellows, 

 Gibbons' fellowship dating from 1858. The deceased gentleman 

 was ninety-two years of age at the time of his death, which was 

 the result of an accident. William Gibbons was a patriarch among 

 Australian microscopists, having been one of the first to encourage 

 the popular knowledge of microscopy in the early days of Victoria. 

 In 1852 he was carrying on investigations into the adulteration of 

 foods, and, like Hassall, he combined these researches, which came 

 more particularly within the scope of his activities as an analytical 

 chemist, with excursions into various branches of natural science. 

 In 1856 the " Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science" printed 

 some notes of his on several points of microscopical manipulation, 

 and figured a section-cutting instrument which was considered 

 an improvement on thos3 then in use. Later he contributed 

 several papers on microscopical subjects to local journals, and in 

 1858 he furnished to the " Microscopical Transactions " a descrip- 

 tion of a new method of micrometry. This involved the use of 

 a series of slips of card, one for each combination of powers. Laying 

 one of these on the stage of the microscope, which was focussed on 

 a stage micrometer, and observing the micrometer-image with one 

 eye, and the card with the other, he marked off the micrometer- 

 divisions on the card, which thus became a rule of one-hundredths 

 or one-thousandths, so that whenever he wished to measure an object 

 which he was observing with that combination, it was only necessary 

 to lay the scale on the stage beside the object, and read off the 

 measurement. The method had the advantage over all others of 

 simplicity, and cost nothing, but, of course, was not suited for 

 conditions requiring a high degree of accuracy. 



Mr. Gibbons was mainly instrumental in founding, in the later 

 fifties, the first microscopical society in Victoria, possibly in the 

 British Colonies. This, which was quaintly named the " Microscopic 

 Society of Victoria," was somewhat premature, and had but a 

 short existence. In 1873 another attempt was made, and the 

 " Microscopical Society of Victoria " was founded, Mr. Gibbons 

 being one of the most prominent of its promoters. This Society 

 survived till 1887, when it amalgamated with the Eoyal Society of 

 Victoria. 



Mr. Gibbons had long since retired from the active practice of 

 his profession, and was little known to the younger generation 

 of microscopists, but he retained his interest in science, and was 

 present at a meeting of the Eoyal Society not long before his death. 



W. M. Bale. 



