PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, 59 
scrutinises with the microscope the fossilised animals and plants 
which lived in bygone ages, as well as the rocks and soils which 
form our earth, and you can see here sections of coal, of granite, 
of sandstone, agate, and other minerals. The chemist determines 
the exact shape of his crystals, and these form objects of much 
beauty, especially when seen by coloured light by the polari- 
scope, which instrument will be carefully described to you. 
Amongst the striking preparations are various parts of the tissues 
of man and animals which are injected ; that is to say, the blood- 
vessels and other tubes are filled with carmine, and thus ren- 
dered very evident. Thus infinitely small parts of the skin of the 
cheek, tongue, lip, nose, eye of man—of the brain of the rabbit 
—the lung of the sheep, are thus injected. “ Beauty is” (said 
to be) “only skin deep.’ Our microscopes tell a different story. 
The texture of the surface of the skin to which, according to this 
proverb, beauty alone is confined, will bear the minutest scrutiny 
of our highest magnifying powers. It may be magnified 3000 
diameters ; that is to say, if, by any possibility, a whole human 
face could be seen in a microscope, that face would be as 
large as 3000 faces; or to put it in another way, if this hall, 
when filled, would contain 1500 people, one face would be as 
large as twice the number of faces in this completely filled room, 
and yet every particle of the outer skin magnified in this pro- 
portion retains the same finish—and not only this, but the 
smallest vessels which supply its life by red blood, and the red 
globules of these ruddy streams which give the skin its colour, 
its freshness, and its bloom, the nerves which give it feeling, the 
oil-glands and their tubes which keep it smooth, the mass of 
fibres which give it firmness, are each and all organized with 
the same elaborate contrivance, joined with the same perfection 
of delicacy. You might think there was no beauty in a common 
slug, but examine its mouth and tongue, as you will have an 
opportunity this evening, and especially by the light of the 
polariscope, and the arrangement of its teeth, which are num- 
bered by thousands and are inconceivably small, gives the im- 
pression of the texture of some rare and costly fabric of ladies’ 
dress. Indeed, not even the costliest lace or silk which the 
delicate fingers of Brussels or Honiton construct, or the looms 
of Norwich and Lyons supply, will bear such close investigation— 
the workmanship is human, not divine; man’s, not nature’s. 
The silk or the thread as it is nature’s work has her perfection ; 
but the forms, the arrangements, are by man, and fine as they 
may be, they are coarse to the lenses. In the snail’s mouth, in 
the green scum of stagnant ponds, in the dust of old hills, on 
the shores and depths of ocean, are to be found more exquisite 
patterns than the artistic maker of furniture, of ornaments, or 
of dress, could conceive, much less execute. It may be thought 
rather pedantic in an assembly like this, consisting of so large a 
number of ladies, to expect that many will feel much interest in 
