40 



the Mammalia, for the examination and accurate measurement of which tbe 

 use of high powers was necessary. 



The President said that cards of admission to the Soiree of the West London 

 Entomological Society had been placed upon the table, and he had also been 

 requested to ask for the co-operation of any members of the Club who might be 

 willing to assist the Society upon that occasion. 



The President referred to the excursions of the Club, and called upon those 

 members who took part in them to communicate the results to the meeting, 

 They often heard of excursions to be made, aud supposed that they were made, 

 but they hardly ever heard anything more of them. No doubt they were of 

 value, and bore abundant fruit to those who took part in them, but he must 

 say that, so far as the Society was concerned, they were fruitless. They 

 always happened upon a day when he could not possibly join them, but he 

 should be profoundly glad to hear of the results from those who did. 



Mr. Cocks having presented to the Club four slides of mosses collected during 

 the excursion to Weybridge. 



The President admitted that he had been a little premature in some of his 

 observations, and was very glad to find it so. The slides which Mr. Cocks had 

 presented showed what had resulted from one excursion, they were beautifully 

 finished, and quite models of mounting ; and he should be very glad to see them 

 under the microscope in the course of the evening. 



The President reminded the members that at their last meeting two very 

 interesting papers had been brought before them, which he thought might form 

 the subject of some further observations from gentlemen present, who had pur- 

 sued similar studies, and invite remarks upon either subject. 



Mr. Ingpen communicated some notes on "Personal Equation," with reference 

 to Microscopy, illustrating his remarks on the black board. 



The President, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Ingpen for his communi- 

 cation, observed that as they were essentially a Microscopical Society, nothing 

 could be more useful to them than the discussions of such questions as those 

 contained in the paper, which directly bore upon the subject of accuracy of 

 observation. 



Mr. J. G. Waller said that one or two points in the paper touched him pro- 

 fessionally, and he should like just to say with regard to the paintings of 

 Mulready, that he thought the gentleman who had made the observations quoted 

 by Mr. Ingpen must have been in error. When a painting was painted it was 

 always begun on the blue side of the scale, and finished on the yellow side. 

 Now Mulready was a very slow painter, and as he painted at times under pres- 

 sure from his patrons, it might happen that some of the pictures were not quite 

 finished and hence theblueness. He knew Mulready quite well, and could there- 

 fore speak from knowledge in the matter. With regard to Turner he did not 

 believe that the peculiarities adverted to were at all due to defects of vision, 

 and quoted an anecdote to prove that Turner had on one occasiou, when ex- 

 pressly requested to do so, painted a picture in which his accustomed extrava- 

 gancies did not appear. Titian painted up to the last— he believed to the age of 

 93. He had seen some of his pictures which were painted at an advanced age, 

 and certainly they were anything but blue, and he had never seen an instance 

 of this in the case of a great artist. 



The President said that the paper suggested many considerations of much in- 

 terest. With regard to astigmatism it most fortunately happened that it 

 generally existed in one eye only, and it was due to the fact of there being some 

 alteration in the curves of the front or back part of the line, making it more ov 



