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PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
aggregated and communistic in tlio sponge, and in the blood of man, 
and all intermediate creatures. “ The Principles Involved in the 
Construction of the Microscope ” was the subject of our next paper, 
and was dealt with by Mr. Waddington, in January. It seemed to 
me at the time that this was a very proper subject to bring before our 
Society, as many of our members, myself among the number, are 
insufficiently informed in the practical application of the microscope 
to the study of our department -of natural history ; still less are we 
acquainted with the optical principles involved in the construction of 
that all-important instrument. Mr. Waddington, who has made the 
microscope his study during many years, gave us the benefit of his 
extensive knowledge, and the result was a clear and instructive paper 
on the theoretical principles which find their expression in the micro- 
scope. There is, perhaps, no department of science that has made 
more important progress, in so short a space of time, as the study of 
the theory of light as involved in the manufacture of object-glasses, 
and the actual building up of the instrument itself. The subtle 
intellect and practical genius of the various makers, both Continental, 
American, and English — and pre-eminently that of Messrs. Powell and 
Lealand, of London, aided by the wonderful manipulative skill of Col. 
J. J. Woodward, of America — have been concentrated on this labour, 
and the results have been the exploding of ideas and errors that have 
nothing to recommend them but their age. But a few short years 
ago the resolution of lines, now rendered easy of accomplishment by 
our cumulative knowledge and practical thrift, would have been con- 
sidered, and were, beyond the limits described by our then knowledge 
of the principles of light. In February there was an unavoidable 
hitch in our programme, and no paper was ready or work recorded in 
the Secretary’s minutes. In March, however, Mr. Walters gave us a 
very able paper “ On the Reproductive Organs of the Fungi.” This 
was very properly followed, in the month of April, by an equally 
valuable one “ On Microscopic Fungi” by Mr. Pullinger. As maybe 
seen by the titles of the papers, each gentleman directed his labour to 
a separate part of the same very difficult subject. The undertaking 
was a formidable one, and no doubt taxed their mental energies, and 
drew largely on their botanic lore for fungal histology. I may venture 
to say, without fear of contradiction, that their ability proved itself to 
be equal to their self-imposed task. The study of fungi is still a 
difficult one. Many facts in their life-history are yet wanting. Many 
phenomena exhibited by them remain unexplained, and much labour 
and patient investigation are required to elucidate their manifold 
wonders. Our vision is limited, the field is large, the horizon is 
clouded, and many phenomena are dim and ill-defined in outline. The 
neglect in which the study of these objects has been left is doubtless 
explained by their apparent want of those points of beauty of form 
and colour which render some other departments of botanic study so 
attractive. Many, too, are difficult to approach on account of their 
essentially microscopic character, yet botanists who have made these 
objects the subject of their earnest inquiry aver that they are most 
interesting histologically, and that they possess a fair share of beauty 
