PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 119 



only such instruinents us he ]iossessed, and with the difficulty lie was in 

 of havinu" to manufacture tliose instruments himself, he should ever 

 have succeeded in making the wide range of accurate oi)servations he 

 did. It testified very strongly to the truth of the proverb, which had 

 sprung up amongst naturalists, that it was never safe to advance anything 

 as a novelty until the work of the past had been thoroughly searclie(l. 

 He asked the Meeting to return their best thanks to their President for 

 his very interesting address, and to beg his permission to print that 

 Address in the Journal. 



Mr. Percy E. Radley seconded the proposal, which was carried ^^■ith 

 acclamation by all present. 



The President thanked Mr. Michael very cordially for his kind 

 words, and said he would feel much honoured to see his address published 

 in the Journal, where he hoped that Leeuwenhoek's portrait would also 

 find a place. 



He would now like to thank all Fellows of the Microscopical Society 

 for their kindness to him during the two years in which he had held 

 office, and to take this opportunity, on the last evening of his Presidency, 

 of saying how glad he was that Professor Sims Woodhead,^under whose 

 wing he began his scientific work, was to be his successor. 



In conclusion, he wished to thank not only the Fellows, but also those 

 Honorary Officers of the Society and the Council with whom he had been 

 associated during his years of office, without whose help he would never 

 have been able to carry through the work of President. 



Mr. Grundy proposed that a hearty vote of thanks should be accorded 

 to the Honorary Officers of the Society. He would like to express his 

 great satisfaction that the C5uncil had fixed their Meetings at an earlier 

 hour, so that an opportunity was accorded to Fellows of making use of 

 the Library on Ordinary Meeting nights. He thought that this would 

 be an especial advantage to those Members who seldom visited the 

 Society except on these particular evenings. He also referred to the 

 effort being made to use the very valuable work of the Biological Section 

 of the Society for the benefit of the Ordinary Meetings, and wished the 

 project every success. 



Mr. Sheppard said he had much pleasure in seconding the vote to 

 the Honorary Officers, which, having been put to the Meeting, was carried 

 unanimously. 



Dr. Shilhngton Scales said that it fell to the lot of the Honorary 

 Secretary to return thanks on behalf of the Council for the vote just 

 passed. He could heartily endorse all that had been said in regard to 

 the retiring President, from whom the Council had always received so 

 much help and kindness. It was some consolation that in Professor 

 Sims Woodhead they had so good a successor, but Mr. Plimmer would be 

 very greatly missed. His interest in their Society had been unfailing, 

 and they had always turned to him in all their difficulties. It was with 

 much regret, too, they were losing their Treasurer, Mr. Wynne Baxter. 

 The Council would greatly miss him as Treasurer. It would, however, 

 he thought, be some consolation to him to know that he left the Society 

 in so good a financial condition as his Report had shown that evening, 



