285 



"Schmidt's Atlas of the Diatomaceae" (2| , , 



parts) ... ... ... ...) 



" Where there's a Will there's a Way " ... from Mr. T. C. White. 

 2 Slides of Sections of Eucalyptus globulus „ 



5 Slides of Sponges ... ... ... „ Mr. Priest. 



A letter received from the Belgian Microscopical Society, expressing a 

 wish to establish friendly relations and exchanges of proceedings, &c, was 

 read to the meeting. 



Mr. T. C. White made some remarks upon some slides of Eucalyptus 

 globulus, which he had presented to the meeting. The stem of this plant was 

 round, but the pith square. This point was further illustrated by sketches 

 on the black board, showing that the young end of the stem had also a 

 square form. 



Mr. H. F. Hailes exhibited and described a new form of section cutting 

 machine, which he had devised to meet all general requirements. Sectional 

 drawings were made upon the board in illustration of the working arrange- 

 ments of the apparatus. 



The President complimented Mr. Hailes upon the result of his ingenuity, 

 and considered this to be the steadiest and best section cutting machine he 

 had yet seen. 



Mr. B. T. Lowne said that all who were in the habit of cutting sections 

 must be aware that there was great difficulty in doing so when they had 

 soft substances to deal with, and especially when these were at all elastic. 

 He had always found great difficulty in making thin sections of nerve 

 tissue, unless it were hardened, which might be done by chromic acid, but 

 which sometimes made it too hard, and in most cases might be thought to 

 alter the natural ajjpearances. He had also always found a difficulty in 

 making such sections all equally good and of the same thickness. He had 

 sometimes had to make a number of sections of spinal cord, and it was 

 important to his enquiry to use the whole of them, and to have them 

 numbered in consecutive order ; but he found it very difficult to do this, 

 though it would have been easy with such a machine as that introduced by 

 Mr. Haile3. Such an instrument must be highly useful, and he should 

 certainly recommend it. 



Mr. Ingpen said that most of their number who saw this new machine 

 would at once appreciate its beauty and utility. Its principle was in some 

 respects the same as that devised by Dr. Hoggan, who fastened hard tissues 

 to a table moving backwards and forwards in a dove-tailed groove, with a 

 contrivance for preventing the saw from diverging either way, while soft 

 tissues were forced through a square box. That was a very expensive 

 machine if well made. There were one or two points in its construction of 

 which Mr. Hailes had made legitimate use, and the machine before them 

 was one which he felt sure would be found extremely useful for the purpose 

 for which it was intended. 



Mr. Hailes quite agreed with Mr. Lowne's remarks as to soft sections, 

 but he thought that was little more than a question of packing. The 

 machine was not, however, specially made for soft substances, but rather, 



