MEMORANDA. 119 
and the other as thought best by our Society. You will see 
why we ascribe a great value to it, and why we desire that 
our shape should be adopted. We consider it very desirable 
that you should become well acquainted with the subject 
concerning the interchange of preparations, as we hope it 
might be possible that one day or the other we should see 
realised our much felt wish—to establish in this way a close 
communication between the microscopists of Great Britain 
and Germany. 
T am commissioned by our Society, to beg of you to insert 
the paper in one of the next numbers of the ‘ Microscopical 
Journal’—F, Funcx, M.D., Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
“The Microscopical Society of Frankfort-on-the-Main is 
fully aware of the paramount importance of establishing a 
mutual interchange of microscopical preparations, as proposed 
by the Microscopical Society of Giessen, and are very de- 
sirous of participating in it. Every one interested in the 
subject will feel much indebted for the great activity dis- 
played by that society, and we do not doubt that the same 
will lead to the best results for science. 
“ Above all, we acknowledge how necessary it is for the 
different societies to adopt the same form for the object- 
glasses. Our society, however, is not of opinion that the 
shape proposed at Giessen (37 to 28 millim), is a fortunate 
one, as it does not answer general requirements; we, there- 
fore, doubt whether it will be universally adopted, especially 
in England, where, up to this moment, the greatest amount 
of microscopical preparations exist. For this reason we have 
deemed it advisable to employ every possible effort to intro- 
duce a more useful shape, and we propose the object-glasses, 
as introduced in our collection (55 to 25 millim, with pro- 
tecting side glasses of 12 millim). At the same time, 
however, we declare ourselves prepared to adopt any shape 
proposed by the majority of microscopists. But, before the 
interchange begins,is the most favourable moment to in- 
stitute with the different societies inquiries upon this subject ; 
this would be almost impossible when once any particular 
shape has found an extensive general adoption. The reasons 
against the shape proposed by the Giessen Society, as well as 
an accurate description of ours, will be found in a. paper by 
one of our members, Dr. Adolfus Schmidt, published in the 
‘ Archiv fiir gemeinschaftliche Arbeiten, iii, 2. It may be 
of some utility to annex a short extract from it, as, perhaps, 
many a microscopist, especially botanists and zoologists, may 
not have seen it. 
