186 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



teachers of state and other schools, and desirable private persons, 

 be, at their request, supplied with such tables, so as to enable them 

 to co-operate with the Microscopical Society as collectors of objects ; 

 this anticipated collection, it being understood, involving no trouble 

 or responsibility beyond the voluntary transmission from time to 

 time of any object of interest, with a short memorandum of a few 

 prescribed particulars duly attached. And lastly, that on any one 

 of such corps of observers becoming an associate of the Society, he 

 shall receive from the skilled members all advice and assistance, by 

 correspondence or otherwise, as may be found most convenient, to 

 enable him to make choice of such microscopical instruments and 

 apparatus as may be most suited to his purposes ; and, further, to aid 

 him as far as possible to become in every way a thoroughly competent 

 microscopist. Many of us know, from personal experience, how easy 

 it is for beginners in microscopy to throw away both time and money 

 for want of a little able and disinterested advice. The assistance 

 that can be effected by the Society under this head will be in the 

 long run, I am sure, highly valued. You see here to-night a wide 

 range of sjiecimens of English instrumental skill, from the luxurious 

 first-class productions of Eoss, Powell and Lealand, and Smith and 

 Beck, to the economical but useful work of Baker, Collins, and Field. 

 If time were allowed, I should like to dilate on the respective merits 

 of the instruments with which I am most familiar, in respect to 

 various methods and objects of inquiry ; but this will follow probably 

 hereafter to sub-committees of our Society. I may perhaps, however, 

 be permitted, in passing, to di-aw your attention to the specimens on 

 the table of Smith and Beck's educational, and to their popular 

 binocular, microscope ; and, likewise, to Collins's binocular, all of 

 which the Minister of Instruction has kindly lent us for the evening. 

 These were among the instruments introduced by me for educational 

 purposes dui'ing the ten years I had the honour of a seat at the 

 Board of Education. One of the most interesting and practically 

 usetul objects for occasional investigation and discussion at our meet- 

 ings will be the accurate determination of the real value to working 

 microscopists of the various stands, objectives, and accessory apparatus 

 so prodigally developed by makers in the mother-coimtry. But indeed 

 we should not couiine ourselves to the results of English industry. 

 Hartuack, of Paris, appears to be leading the way on the Continent 

 to greatly improved optical work ; and Tolles, Spencer, and Wales 

 are said to be doing marvels in America. I hope to see the day 

 when we shall have choice proofs of what the whole microscopical 

 world can produce collected around us, and carefully tested by our 

 own eyes and hands in our own Hall in Melbourne. One other thing, 

 gentlemen, you as well as I should be rejoiced to see, and that is a 

 really useful microscope of Victorian manufacture. At present, the 

 idea is naturally provocative of a smile, but I cling to the belief that 

 not only among the adult immigrant population, but even among our 

 native-born youth, we shall some day find thorough mechanicians, 

 who will emulate the marvellous skill and persistent energy of their 

 forefathers. Look at the triumphs of the American microscope 



