PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 183 



investigation himself, and has, therefore, had of late to depend on 

 microscopical friends. It would be indeed gratifying to all concerned 

 if this Society could even in the smallest degree, at any time, facilitate 

 the development of the learned professor's illustrated series of Decades, 

 of which many beautiful plates connected with the first part have 

 been lying unissued for several years. Speaking of the Decades, puts 

 me in mind of Mr. McGillivray, whose love for natural history is an 

 hereditary possession. Some years ago he helped Professor M'Coy 

 in determining certain Victorian polyzoa, and also contributed three 

 papers on those zoophytes to the Transactions of the Philosophical 

 Institute and Eoyal Society of Melbourne. He also described the 

 first known Australian fresh-water polyp, the Plmnatella Ajjlinii, which 

 he named after Mr. Aplin, the finder. I trust sincerely that this 

 accomplished naturalist, in spite of his arduous labours as a profes- 

 sional man, will not altogether give up microscopical manipulation. 

 A prior contributor, however, to the pages of Victorian microscopy 

 exists in Mr. Sidney Gibbons, who is one of the earliest pioneers in the 

 effort to make the microscope a popular instrument in this country. 

 In 1852 he commenced inquiries into the adulterations of food, which 

 he has continued ever since. In 1855 he read a paper before the 

 Victorian Institute on microscopic investigation, and some minor 

 details of manipulation. In this paper he described, among other 

 things, the invention of a cutting machine, which eventually found its 

 way into the text-books. In 1857, Mr. Gibbons wi-ote two popular 

 microscopical papers for the ' Journal of Australasia.' In 1858 he 

 started a new method of micrometry. In 1866 he was engaged as an 

 expert on behalf of the Government to bear testimony in a murder case 

 as to the existence of stains of human blood. He was at the time 

 exposed to some obloquy for his unhesitating assertion that he could 

 safely swear to the character of those stains under the conditions 

 given ; but whatever room may still exist for discussing the validity 

 of his reasons, it must be a gratifying circumstance for him to have 

 learnt from subsequent revelations that his conclusion as to the fact 

 itself was certainly right. In 1868 he was engaged by the City of 

 Melbourne Corporation to report on the sewerage of that city, with 

 particular reference to the system of cesspit filtration, and to percola- 

 tion, which involved considerable microscopical work. He also 

 reported dui-iug the present year on waters sent him for chemical and 

 microscoj)ical analysis by the Beechworth Shire Council. In August 

 and September, 1872, he published two papers in the ' Australian 

 Mechanic,' headed "The Yan Yean under the Microscope," in which 

 he defends the comparative pui'ity of our general water supply. It is 

 right also to mention that Mr. Gibbons, conjointly with the Eev. Dr. 

 Bleasdale, founded some years ago a society called the Microscopical 

 Society of Victoria. Its name, unhappily, was symbolical of its fate, 

 for by degrees it became truly microscopic, and at last resolved itself 

 into sheer invisibility. Dr. Bleasdale, too, as well as Mr. Gibbons, 

 was, in days gone by, very zealous in his endeavours to promote the 

 advancement of microscopy, and was associated with the Government 

 analytical chemist, the late Dr. Macadam, and other medical men, in 



