302 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS, 
phenomena which are so wonderfully visible in many of thé 
minute inhabitants of our ponds and ditches. Some thirty or 
forty microscopes, all of the continental model, were placed 
upon tables suitably arranged, each instrument with some interest- 
ing specimen, either living or preserved, displayed in it. This 
exhibition was open daily, and the specimens were frequently 
changed, so that a constant visitor might in time become familiar 
with the microscopical appearances of a great variety of natural 
objects, and would probably soon become an ardent student of 
nature, and possess a microscope of his own. What the Germans 
were, and probably ave doing in their permanent exhibition, we, 
as a Microscopical Society, endeavour to do in perhaps a more 
spasmodic manner, but we hope not less effectually, at our soirées 
and open exhibitions ; we try to infuse into our fellow-beings some 
of that love of nature which we all possess, whether we are micro- 
scopists or not, and which never becomes less by distribution. 
But we also have a higher aim than this. If each member of this 
society were to interrogate his own consciousness as to the motives 
which urged him to join us, I am afraid that such introspection 
would not, in every case, afford a flattering view of his principles 
of action. It is not, however, our province to inquire into these 
motives, but to welcome all comers who are desirous of placing a 
foot upon the lowest rung of the ladder, the ascent of which will 
make them earnest students of nature. It is not to be expected 
that many of us will succeed in climbing very high, and it is, 
indeed, probable that some of us come under the appellation of 
the “playing microscopist.” With regard to this individual the 
Rey. J. J. Halley, in his presidential address to the Microscopical 
Society of Victoria, says :— 
“ We will grant that in his hands the instrument is a plaything 
and nothing more, that he looks at the wondrous beauties revealed 
merely to please the eye, that he peers into quaint and curious 
forms merely to satisfy curiosity, that the valve of a diatom is inter- 
esting to him merely as it is strange, and that the organs of an insect 
or the home of a Bryozoon only allure as they are novel. In this 
there is nothing to be despised. The great order of the Bimana 
must be amused, and the more rational the amusement the better ; 
and surely it is not less rational to find amusement in examining 
the wonders of Nature,—her painting of marvellous beauty, her 
sculpturing of unrivalled forms,—than in turning over the prints of 
man, or spending time collecting and examining his effigies ; surely 
as reasonable as counting the pips on a card, as cannoning ivory 
balls, or bouncing indiarubber ones over a net. We will not then 
push out of existence the playing microscopist,” but “ will welcome 
all such to our gatherings, assuring them that they will find here 
much to amuse them if they do not care to learn.” 
