12 



THE MICTROSCOPK. 



I should bo glad to bo shown any now specimens that any membof 

 may find now or hereafter, as I am forming a catalogue of the local 

 species. 



Nets and bottles then made their appearance, and a good 

 collection of shells, &c., was procured among the members. 

 Amonc^ them yfev^-Lymnaa Imosa, L. palustris, Succmea 

 gracilS, BytUnia tentaculata, B. Leackii, Planorhis comphmtm, 

 Cyclas ovalis, with fragments of Anodonta cygnca, and var. 

 anatina. 



Several new members were added. 



SOIREE, MAY 13th. 



A microscopical soiree was held at the President's residence, 

 at which about forty members were present. Fifteen micro- 

 scopes were provided for the occasion, all weU supphed witH 

 objects. The President read the following paper on 



THE MICROSCOPE: 



The microscope is an instrument of groat antiquity; indeed there 

 is no doubt that it was in use in its simplest form-namely, a globe of 

 glass filled with water, at a period long antecedent to the bxrth of 

 Christ. Seneca and Pliny, both of whom were bora at the commence- 

 ment of the Christian era, mention lenses made with glass or water ; 

 and Ptolemy speaks of magnifying glasses and refraction in his work 

 on Optics. This, however, was the microscope in its most piimitive 

 and simple form-a single lens of glass or water. It was not until tho 

 middle of tho 17th century that tho compound microscope, consisting 

 of a combination of lenses, came into limited use ; those microscopes 

 wore large, unwieldy tubes, with the objects fixed in them. Very un- 

 familiar instruments they must have boon, for we road about this time 

 of a travelling philosopher who fell ill with fever and died m a certain 

 town The municipal authorities examined his oficcts, and found an 

 immense brass tube, some six feot long, which on peeping into they 

 found to contain his familiar demon, an immense monster of a very 

 "uncanny" appearance. Of course, tho philosopher was refused 

 Christian burial ; and it was not until some time had elapsed that an 

 adventurous burgess, who had succeeded in unscrewing the end of the 



