PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 61 
created thing. And slips of glass and cement are all that are 
needed to preserve them; and the objects themselves are so neat, 
so clean, so small, that they may be viewed, prepared, and mounted 
in any room. Most of the objects which you will see this evening 
have been procured from the scientific instrument maker, Mr. 
Wheeler, and they have all been prepared and mounted by himself 
and the other members of his own family, his sons and his daughters. 
In a highly civilised state of society, where a constantly increasing 
number of the educated have that leisure which wealth supplies, 
there are many who, even to save themselves from ennui, require 
some intellectual pursuit, and who may find an agreeable and 
increasingly agreeable occupation in the microscopy of nature; 
whilst the busy may find in the same study that change of object 
which is often the only possible relaxation to minds inured to 
constant mental activity. 
Dr. Bullar was warmly applauded at the conclusion of his 
address. The company then adjourned to the various rooms, in 
search of entertainment, which met them on every hand. The 
library, reading room, and some of the class rooms, were con- 
verted into scenes for the exhibition of the wonders revealed by 
the microscope and polariscope, a number of which, about forty, 
were placed upon tables, and attended by the following gentle- 
men :—Professor Aitken; Drs. Sims, Aldridge, De Chaumont, 
Osborne, Trend, Norcott, Scott, Lake, Maul, Summers, Eddowes, 
Broster, and Watson; Messrs. Sampson, Tovey, Randall, Keele, 
Le Feuvre, Murray, Jennings, Shorto, Buchan, Brunke, and 
Wheeler. Mr. Lucas, sculptor, entertained amazingly a party at 
the table allotted to him. He exhibited some curiosities, inclu- 
ding a series of photographs illustrative of phases in his own life, 
some of which elicited a vast amount of merriment. Dr. Maul 
exhibited a series of illuminated stereoscopic views. He also 
showed the effect of the polarization of light. A collection of 
photographs and drawings adorned the walls and tables. Alto- 
gether was passed one of the pleasantest evenings it is possible to 
conceive. ‘he entertainers acted under a full determination to do 
their best in their various departments, and the result was a 
perfect and gratifying success. 
About fifty microscopes were employed by the various mem- 
bers, so that in the course of the evening the large party had 
ample opportunities of seeing the objects. , 
Dr. Maddox, who lives in the neighbourhood, exhibited and 
explained many of his exquisite photographs. He is the first who 
has adopted stereoscopic photography to microscopic purposes, in 
order to show what are elevations and what depressions. Some 
diatoms exhibited this excellently. 
Mr. Hill, of Basingstoke, brought a very complete set of British 
lichens. 
Dr. Langstaff explained by diagrams the theory of the polari- 
zation of light. 
