The Microscope. ii07 



In every detail of these meetings Mr. Durant was interested. 

 Since then scientiHc study has become so well established in the 

 college, and the departments have been so greatly enlarged and 

 widely separated in different buildings that such extensive exhibits 

 have not been undertaken. As the standard of membership has 

 been raised, the papers which have been upon a wide range of topics, 

 have increased in intrinsic value, and in the excellence of the indi- 

 vidual work which has always been exhibited in connection. The 

 society has come to furnish a means of exchange between the differ- 

 ent departments, by which those devoting a large part of their time 

 to one, could yet keep intelligent in others; moreover, by throwing 

 its monthly meetings so often open, it has drawn into enthusiasm for 

 scientific work those who have just entered college, after a long drill 

 in mathematics and classics, and who have rarely been so fortunate 

 as to have teachers who had opened their eyes to the beauties of 

 nature. 



The society has been favored with lectures by friends from 

 without. The following is a partial list: Micro-lithology, by Mr. 

 Dickerman, of Boston, illustrated with lantern projections of rock 

 sections with polarized light; Inclusions in gems by Mrs. Chase, of 

 Philadelphia, illustrated by a rare collection of gems which she 

 brought on; Rulings on glass, by Prof. Rogers, illustrated with a 

 collection of slides afterwards sent to the Royal Society of London. 

 Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter, president of the Royal Society, was received 

 in 1882 and spoke some inspiring words. Dr. Bolles, of Salem, has 

 given tvv^o admirable lectures, finely illustrated. Dr. McCork, of 

 Philadelphia, lectured on the Honey Ant of the Garden of the 

 Gods. Mr. Elijah Edwards spoke on the Bee and its Habits, and 

 placed an observation hive in one of our windows for study of the 

 insects at work. Mr. Storrow Higginson has spoken three times 

 before the society, once on Personal Recollections of Thoreau. Each 

 time he has brought out his exquisite collections of lichens. Mr. A. 

 B. Hervey, of Taunton, spoke on marine algae with plentiful illus- 

 trations by charts and microscopes, and Prof. Wm. Davis, of Har- 

 .vard, gave a most rare lecture on the causes of the red sunsets and 

 sky colors in general, following a study in the society of sand and 

 dust, volcanic, meteoric and cosmical. Dr. C. E. West, of Brooklyn, 

 this year brought on some of the most valuable ol^jects in his re- 

 markable collections for our inspection, and gave from his own 

 experience the history of microscopy in this country for fifty years. 



