PROCEEDINGS OF SOOIETIES. 1 ipa 
In conclusion, the President remarked that this anatomical know- 
ledge was after all but the beginning of medicine. Still it was an 
improvement upon the time when the physician walked on air, so 
to speak—having nothing but symptoms to guide him—and given an 
anatomical basis, it would for most diseases at least be a histological 
one. The difficulties of investigation were great, and the slowness 
of discovery was not the fault but the misfortune of the histologist. 
LIvERPOOL Microscoproan Soctrety. 
The ninth ordinary meeting of this Society was held at the Royal 
Institution, Friday, December 1, the Rev. H. H. Higgins, A.M.,, in 
the chair. 
Captain Jno. H. Mortimer, of the U.S. ship ‘ Hamilton Fish,’ an 
associate member of the Society, exhibited a number of marine 
specimens which he had presented to the Free Public Museum. He 
also communicated some interesting facts in connection with the 
Physalia pelagica, known as the Portuguese man-of-war, the tentacles 
of which are of great length, consisting of a muscular band studded 
on its margin by rows of beads, each bead being a mass of small 
spherical cells, each of which contains a small spiral stinging thread, 
coiled up inside. Portions of the tentacles had been mounted for 
microscopic examination, and under a power of 500 diameters the 
cells and spiral contents were easily seen. Captain Mortimer stated 
that he had frequently witnessed the discharge of the stinging threads 
from the cells, and that the stinging power was perceptible some days 
after the death of the animal. He believed that the above facts were 
new to science. 
The paper for the evening was on “ Lines of Animal Life,” by 
the Rev. H. H. Higgins. The paper was illustrated by diagrams, 
especially by one of large size representing a Stammbaum des Thier- 
reichs, or genealogical tree of animals, enlarged from ‘ Grundriss der 
Zoologie, by Professor G. v. Koch, published in part, during the 
present year. \ 
A short and interesting discussion followed, after which the 
meeting concluded with the usual conversazione. 
San Francisco Microscorican Society, 
A meeting of the San Francisco Microscopical Society was held 
December 21. 
Mr. Isaac Lea donated to the cabinet a sheet of Phlogopite Mica 
from Canada, and another of Muscovite Mica from Chester County, 
Pennsylvania. Mr. Lea also exhibited a new micaceous mineral 
known as Hallite, a film of which he placed on the stage of the 
microscope and called attention to its characteristics, 
Mr. Hanks presented a sample of diatomaceous earth from a 
newly discovered deposit in Ione Valley, Amador County, California, 
