"ouZi!ST?87o.] Roijal Mieroseopieal Sooiety. 131 



meetings bad all been presented to tbe Society by tbe respective 

 authors, together with a portion of the drawings, diagrams, and 

 specimens by which they had been illustrated. These papers, wth 

 others which have since been read, but never published, are duly 

 deposited in the archives of the Society, and a catalogue of such 

 communications and illustrations will be forthwith prepared. In 

 the first annual address from the chair, Professor Owen reviewed at 

 considerable length the previous monthly contributions to micro- 

 scopic science in reference to minute anatomy, animal and vegetable 

 physiology, zoology, and jjalaeontology ; but beyond short abstracts 

 of some of these papers in the ' Microscopic Journal,' the only 

 reference to them is contained in the President's address. An 

 official catalogue of our MSS. is therefore a desideratum. 



' The Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London,' 

 published by Van Voorst in three volumes, and issued to members 

 gratis, contained a selection of the papers read before the Society 

 during the first thirteen years of its existence. The nine parts 

 of this work contained on an average about six papers and five 

 plates for each year; but such was the tardiness of publication, 

 that the first part of vol. iii., published in 1850, contained two 

 papers read in 1847, and three read in 1848. This quiescent 

 period was closed in 1852 by the publication of the Quarterly 

 Journal. With reference to this publication it may be stated, as a 

 matter of history, that Mr. Samuel Highley, then associated with 

 his father, observing that the ' Transactions ' of our Society appeared 

 with great irregularity and at increasingly long intervals, thought 

 that a journal devoted to microscopy, published regularly every 

 quarter, would be welcomed by the increasing number of persons 

 interested in the microscope, whether as an instrument of rational 

 amusement or of earnest research. He felt convinced, however, 

 that the elements of success depended upon leavening purely scien- 

 tific matter with a sufficiency of popular articles and memoranda to 

 enlist the support of a large number of histological amateurs, without 

 whose aid the existence of a scientific periodical would be impos- 

 sible. Dr. Lankester and Mr. George Busk were then invitol by 

 the proprietors to become the editors of the projected journal. 

 The prospect of a more speedy publication of our papers secured 

 the co-operation of our Society, and the first number of ' The 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science ' was launched in 

 October, 1852, with the promise of contributions from very many 

 microscopists of note in the United Kingdom. In the first instance 

 the ' Transactions ' of the Society, as published in the Journal, were 

 issued gratis to the members as heretofore, and Is. per quarter was 

 charged to those who received the additional matter also. This 

 arrangement was the sole cause of the separate paying of the two 

 distinct portions of the Journal. 



k2 



