The MicroscopU. 8o3 



for that purpose. It may be remembered that the thermometer 

 just at that time was on a spree, and its lofty aspirations tended 

 to make our audience and the attendance generally much 

 smaller than would otherwise have been the case. The subject 

 of the address was, " The Investigation of Scorches and Burns 

 in Textile Fabrics," giving a report of an actual case, in which 

 the work of an expert with the microscope completely altered 

 the appearance of the evidence in a criminal suit, and saved a 

 man's life. The address was deeply interesting to all who 

 heard it. 



A very ingenious apparatus for the purpose of showing a large 

 • number of slides without the presence of a skilled operator was 

 exhibited and described by Dr. James M. Flint. There were 

 two forms, one in which the slides were placed on a horizontally 

 revolving wheel, b}^ turning which they were brought succes- 

 sively under the objective, and the other in which the slides 

 were arranged on an endless band, which by appropriate devices 

 was dragged over the stage. Either kind was well adapted for 

 museum or class work, for teaching, in schools, etc., and one of 

 them had been some time in actual use. Dr. Thomas Taylor re- 

 marked that he had, independently, hit upon a similar device 

 but a little differently constructed, which also was exhibited 

 before the close of the meeting. 



" Comparison of the Epithelium of the Mouth in Necturus and 

 Diemyctelus." This paper by Prof, and Mrs. Gage was illus- 

 trated by numerous excellent drawings by the latter, showing 

 the changes in the forms of epithelium in the different parts of 

 the oral cavity of the lizards referred to. 



The paper by Prof W. H. Seaman on the " Phosphorescent 

 Organs of Fire Flies " was also illustrated by drawings of these 

 glands to the structure of which little or no attention seems to 

 have been paid by native observers, notwithstanding the abund- 

 ance of material. The speaker noticed the exhaustive mono- 

 graph of Prof Dubois on the Pyrophorus noctiluca of Brazil, 

 whose light was sufficient to read or study by, and described the 

 very small loss of energy in the production of light by this in- 

 sect, which was possessed of a method far more economical for 

 the production of light than any we yet know, since a very small 

 part of the energy is changed into either heat or electricity. 



On Thursday evening the usual soiree was held in the armory 



