nee julyL wie | | PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 55 
for in vegetable organisms such characteristics as he had particularized 
were not present. With regard to the use of the word “ Catalytic,” 
he had followed Liebig. He believed that many of the results obtained 
in his experiments favoured both the theories of Pasteur and Liebig, 
while in others the theories of Pasteur could not be maintained. 
The President announced the election of Mr. Hankey, of Chicago, 
as an Honorary Fellow of the Society, and read the following extract 
from Mr. Hankey’s letter of the 21st March last, with reference to his 
(the President’s) allusion to the State Microscopical Society of Illinois: 
—<“T feel a deep personal interest in the greeting which, through you, 
London extends to Illinois. Regarded simply as an evidence of 
courtesy and good-will it is most cheering. But in a broader sense, 
while serving as a reminder of the universal brotherhood of science, 
it yet possesses the far higher and nobler mission of promoting and 
cultivating (quietly and unostentatiously it is true, but none the less 
surely) the good feeling, harmony, and Christian intercourse which 
should exist between two nations so closely and indissolubly connected 
by the ties of kindred and of a common language —a mission more 
effective for the desired results than all the arts of diplomacy. If 
compatible with your rules I shall iake pleasure in being admitted to 
membership.” (Applause.) 
Mr. Stephenson then gave a description of his new form of bino- 
cular microscope, stating that while it possessed the two important 
properties secured by Mr. Holmes in his Binocular—viz. equal in- 
clination of the two bodies to the object, and the same amount of illu- 
mination in each field of view—the image of the object was erect and 
capable of being viewed by several persons in succession by merely 
turning the binocular body to each party sitting round a table. 
Mr. Brooke said that from his observation of a fly’s tongue ex- 
hibited under Mr. Stephenson’s microscope, it appeared that the defi- 
nition was not at all interfered with by the peculiar construction of 
the instrument. The two fields presented to the two eyes were equally 
illuminated by the two pencils of light diverging equally from the 
object, instead of being thrown off obliquely, as in Mr. Wenham’s 
arrangement. The binocular effect produced also is more perfect than 
in the ordinary instrument. The two horny processes by which the 
fly’s tongue is articulated, and the series of tubes of which it consists 
were very weil defined. 
Mr. Slack said he had been struck with the perfection of the de- 
finition given by Mr. Stephenson’s microscope, and the equality of the 
illumination in each tube when low powers were employed. With a 
power of 3rd only part of the field was illuminated, but that portion 
afforded most admirable definition, and no noticeable errors were 
occasioned by the light impinging upon the edges of the prisms. It 
was certainly a very valuable invention. 
Mr. Lee said he wished to correct the impression that Mr. Stephen- 
son’s microscope could be satisfactorily employed only with low 
powers. He had made examinations with Gundlach’s ;1,th immersion 
lens (about equal to a ;';th of the best English makers), which were 
quite satisfactory, the definition not being interfered with in any way. 
