264 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
before. The Council divided itself into committees, each of 
which took up certain departments of preparation. One 
section of the members saw to the lighting by oil and gas 
lamps. Another collected together diagrams illustrative of 
microscopic objects. The invitations to country members, 
correspondence with exhibitors of microscopes and objects, 
were also thus carried on. It was soon found that the large 
preparations necessary for the exhibition of the number of 
microscopes which were promised would be so expensive that 
the funds of the Society would not bear it without bankruptcy. 
One of two plans offered, either to collect subscriptions from 
members, or to charge a sum on extra tickets required by 
members for their friends. The latter seemed the preferable 
plan, and, accordingly, each member was allowed, as on 
previous occasions, two tickets, and as many others as he 
wished for by paying for them. In this way the Council 
hoped to defray the expenses of the soirée without making a 
demand upon the funds of the Society, which ought to be 
devoted to strictly scientific purposes. It is gratifying to 
know that this arrangement so far succeeded, that the 
Society’s funds have suffered less by it than at any previous 
soirée. The fact of the members having become lable for 
the tickets they presented to their friends has been mis- 
understood, and has led to the report that the tickets were 
sold by the Council. This is only true in the sense that 
membership is paid for, as the distribution of tickets was 
entirely confined to the members of the Society. 
In the arrangement of the tables for the exhibition of the 
microscopes the committee received the greatest possible 
assistance and attention from the officers of the South 
Kensington Museum, who contributed all the help that 
lay in their power to the preparations necessary for the 
reception of the large party expected. 
Although nearly 5000 invitations were issued, it was not 
anticipated, till the evening of the soirée, that so large a 
number of persons would assemble. Long before the hour of 
eight o’clock, at which time the company was invited, they 
began to assemble, and from this time till eleven o’clock a 
continuous stream of visitors passed through the doors. The 
next morning it was found that 2847 tickets had been taken 
at the doors, so that there can be little doubt that con- 
siderably above 3000 persons were present. 
The display of microscopes—the great object of the 
evening’s assemblage—took place in the new galleries erected 
for the reception of the Turner and Vernon pictures. Along 
the whole length of these splendid galleries 1000 feet of 
