14 



Meeting held in the Library of Philosophical Hall, March 4th, 1889. 

 John Stubbius, F.G.S., F.R.M.S., in the chair. 



DEMONSTRATION OF THE USE OF SOME FORMS OF SUBSTAGE APPARATUS 

 FOR MICROSCOPICAL ILLUMINATION. 



JOHN STUBBINS, F.G.S., F.R.M.S. 



This demonstration was arranged to give those commencing microscopical 

 studies an opportunity of observing in^practical use a variety of forms of 

 apparatus and the advantages derived from their use in the better delinea- 

 tion of form and structure. 



The apparatus exhibited and used included : — Beck's achromatic con- 

 denser, and large and small spot lens ; Webster's condenser ; Kellner's 

 eye-piece, mounted as a condenser ; Bramhall's oblique illuminator ; Col. 

 Horsley's silvered cylinder ; oil immersion illuminator for high powers ; 

 Reade's rectangular prism ; Lord vS. G. Osborne's diatom exhibitor, an Iris 

 diaphragm, and a complete set of polarising apparatus. 



The arrangements of the lenses, &c., were explained by black-board 

 sketches. 



Mr. F. W. Branson, F.C.S., exhibited cholera bacillus under high power 

 illumination. 



Me.ssrs. J. Moorhouse and J. W. Addyman, B.A., exhibited Abbe's 

 condenser and other apparatus. 



Mr. W. Clapham exhibited stage illuminator and spot lens made by 

 himself at very little expense, and which certainly had the merit of giving 

 similar results to apparatus of much greater cost. 



Mr. F. Emsley exhibited Wenhara's half-circle illuminator. 



Meeting held in the Club's Rooms, 80, Municipal Buildings, March 

 11th, 1889. T. Fairley, F.C.S., F.R.S.E., in the chair. 



THECRUCIFER.B. 

 JAMES ABBOTT. 



The name, which is derived from Crux (Cross) and fero (I bear), is 

 especially appropriate to plants of this order, since the flowers have four 

 usually equal petals, which greatly resemble a cross in their arrangement. 

 Crucifers include many of our familiar vegetables, such as cabbage, 

 mustard, watercress, and others, besides manj^ common garden plants, 

 such as stocks, wallflowers, &c. They are readily distinguished by their 

 flowers from all other British plants, but are so much like each other in 

 character that the determination of their very numerous genera is attended 

 by some difficulty, and various expedients have been made use of in 

 classifying them. De CandoUe applied the relative positions of the radicle 

 and the cotyledons, while some of our British botanists have distinguished 

 the plants by the differences in the shapes and various modifications of the 



