Dr. R. Mullineux Walmslcy, Chairman of the Technical 

 Optics Committee of the British Science Guild, outlined 

 the work of that Committee. 



I shall not detain you more than a few minutes. I attend this 

 afternoon, as you know, as representative of the British Science 

 Guild, and I thank the President for his kind reference in his Address 

 to that Guild. The Symposium, I take it, and I hope we all take 

 it, will be an epoch marking symposium in! the development of the 

 microscope. If it be not that, I very much fear that all the labour 

 which you, Sir, have put so fully into the organisation of this Sym- 

 posium will not have answered its full object. That being so, how- 

 ever, I .think it is only right to the Guild that I should give just 

 the bare facts of its connection with the development of the micro- 

 scope in order that they may be placed on record in the Minutes. 



It was on 14th May, 1915, that the British Science Guild called 

 a Conference of manufacturers and users of microscopes to ascertain 

 what was necessary to secure to the British Empire, and particu- 

 larly to the British Isles, the trade in these valuable instruments, a 

 large part of which for so long a period had gone to other lands. 

 Great Britain is historically and in many ways the home of the 

 microscope. The Conference met. It was attended by representa- 

 tives of the leading makers of microscopes in England and by repre- 

 sentatives of Government Departments, including the "War Office, 

 the Admiralty, the Colonial Office, and the India Office, and by cer- 

 tain well-known private users of microscopes. The necessity for 

 standardisation was the first point discussed, and was very generally 

 recognised; I think there was not a single dissentient. Details were 

 asked for, and a Committee was appointed, which met quite quickly, 

 and elected for its Chairman Sir Ronald Ross, one of the most 

 distinguished users of the microscope that we have. The Committee 

 did not lose much time. The Conference was held in May, the Long 

 Vacation intervened, but the Committee reported in October, 1915. 

 It published, for further discussion, its draft specifications of three 

 types of microscope, one for general use, and not very expensive ; 

 another type for advanced pathological work, and a third type for 

 research work. It is not, perhaps, surprising that with a distin- 

 guished medical man at its head, the Committee had devoted special 

 attention to pathological work. 



These specifications were published, and criticisms came in. It 

 was pointed out that they did not cover the whole ground, and 

 therefore the Guild appointed another Committee to consider what 

 other microscopes should be submitted to standardisation by definite 

 official specifications. A Committee for Microscopes for Special Pur- 

 poses was appointed, of which I have the honour to be the Chairman. 

 This Committee was appointed in the late part of 1915, and it re- 

 ported during 1916. The original Committee had confined its 

 recommendations in regard to pathological work to expensive micro- 



