pe ae inate PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 173 
BRIGHTON AND Sussex Naturat History Socterty. 
Microscopical Section. 
(Continued from p. 120, No. XX.) 
The discovery of the alternation of generations was due to careful 
study, and the knowledge of the fact of the Polyps of our shores having 
other existences as free-swimming Meduse considerably modified our 
previous ideas respecting them. The well-known sections of insects, 
by Dr. Hallifax, show the viscera and nervous system undisturbed, and 
—better still—the advantage to others, as well as ourselves, of well- 
directed work. Asa concluding illustration, I may mention that the 
stupendous tale of past life, read by the microscope in our chalk cliffs, 
would have been incomplete without that systematic comparison with 
the bottom of the present ocean, which has proved the persistence 
through ages, not only of the laws of Nature, but of the forms of life. 
I have not chosen pathological examples, notwithstanding the pre- 
eminent importance of microscopic examination in pathology, as its 
study is scarcely within our province. I hope, however, that I have 
sufficiently supported my opening statement of the advantage of 
systematic work in place of such desultory observations as are com- 
paratively worthless. Our interest must increase with well-directed 
study, and numberless facts which we at first pass by, unnoticed, may 
eventually teach lessons of lasting use. The prism had shown the 
spectrum to thousands before Newton’s intellect gave its interpreta- 
tion ; and, although the comparison may seem far-fetched, there are 
subjects within range of the microscope which, by the exercise of 
thought and reason, may still further demonstrate the connection of 
the infinitely great and the infinitely little, and assist us to know more 
of the life which it has already taught begins in a germ,—apparently 
the same, whether it results in the highest or lowest of organized 
beings. We can all make some advance to such knowledge by the 
systematic study of recent things, which I have endeavoured to recom- 
mend, even by tedious repetition; and I trust that by our work we 
may justify the formation of this Section of our Society. 
The mecting then resolved itself into a conversazione, at which 
the following gentlemen exhibited microscopic objects, under a goodly 
array of microscopes by the best London makers :—Mr. J. Dennant exhi- 
bited sections of fossil teeth from the Coal-measures; Dr. Hallifax showed 
some of his sections of insects, in which the internal parts were displayed 
in situ, one of the most striking being the lady-bird. Mr. Cooper exhi- 
bited deep-sea soundings from different localities, and Foraminifera 
from Hastings, the Mediterranean, and Australia. Mr. Sewell exhibited 
injected preparations of Dr. Thudicum’s rabbit, an animal possessing 
a world-wide reputation from being fed at times on muscle containing 
Trichina spiralis ; the presence of entozoa was traced in all, parts of 
the voluntary muscle, but nowhere else. Mr. Aylen showed a number 
of entomological preparations. Dr. Addison exhibited blood, as acted 
upon directly by various agents, such as diluted sherry, &c. The effect 
produced was an alteration in the appearance of the blood discs, and, 
