( 276 ) 

 PEOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.* 



EoYAL Microscopical Society. 



King's College, Maj 1, 1872. 



W. Kitchen Parker, Esq., F.E.S., President, in the cliair. 



Tlie minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 



A list of donations was read, and a vote of thanks passed to the 

 respective donors. 



The Secretary called the attention of the meeting to a simple and 

 inexpensive method brought forward by Mr. Richards, of adapting a 

 second objective by its being screwed into a brass plate and placed on 

 the stage, and centred by the stage movement after the plan jn'oposed 

 by Mr. P. H. Ward, M.A., fur erecting the image when using the mi- 

 croscope for dissecting purposes. This jilau was referred to in the 

 January number of the Transactions, 



A communication was read from Dr. Beale in reply to the criticisms 

 of Dr. Klein upon his (Dr. Beale's) recent pai)er " On the Eolation of 

 Nerves to Pigment and other Cells or Elementary Parts." 



Mr. Hogg said he thought Dr. Beale laboured under some misap- 

 prehension with regard to Dr. Klein's paper published in the Trans- 

 actions. He believed Dr. Klein had no intention of claiming more 

 for German physiologists than the discovery of the fine nerve fibre in 

 connection with vessels and other structures contemporaneously with 

 Dr. Beale, and it would appear therefore they had some claim to 

 be regarded as discoverers in a field of research, which had gained not 

 a little from Dr. Beale's investigations. Dr. Klein showed that Eemak 

 in 1843 first described " a terminal network of nerve fibres," and that 

 investigations on nerve structure had been carried on from that time to 

 the present by his countrymen. He also showed that the carmine 

 jDrocess failed to bring out clearly the finer nerve fibres, while the 

 chloride of gold process, now so much employed by the German 

 school, demonstrated in a most satisfactory way the finer nerves of the 

 epithelial layer of the cornea, as well as those i)ermeating deeper 

 seated structures; and, what was still more important, these finer nerves 

 could be seen by the use of low powers. A power of 250 diameters 

 would show even the varicosities of the minutest fibres. He would 

 refer to Dr. Klein's mode of making his preparations, which he thought 

 of some importance. He (Dr. Klein) first passed a fine silk thread 

 through the cornea of the liviug frog, to set up a certain amount of 

 inflammatory action, and as soon as possible after death the cornea 

 was removed and steeped in the chloride of gold solution. In this 

 way the solution permeated thoroughly every portion of the corneal 

 structure. The light, subsequently acting upon the connective tissues, 

 stained them a beautiful violet colour, while the nerves were left 



* Secretaries of Societies ■will greatly oblige us by writing their report legibly 

 — especially by printing the technical terms thus : H y d r a — and by " underlining" 

 words, such as specific names, which rau«t be printed in italics. They will thus 

 bocuro accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings. — Eu. ' M. M. J.' 



