170 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[September, 



read by T. J. Burrill, Profes- 

 sor of Botany and Horticulture at 

 the Illinois State University. It 

 was %)on "The So-called Fire 

 Blight of the Pear and Twig Blight 

 of the Apple Tree." We intend to 

 refer to this article next month. 



The committee appointed to ex- 

 amine the specimens of adultera- 

 tions of commercial articles, and to 

 award the prize, a fine objective, 

 oftered by Prof. Griffith, for the 

 best mounted specimens, reported 

 that CM. Vorce was the only con- 

 testant and that his exhibits of cof- 

 fee and butter were fine ones. He 

 was therefore entitled to the prize. 



President Smith presented it to 

 him in a brief speech, and he ac- 

 cepted, regretting that there had 

 been no other contestants. 



The subject of publishing the 

 papers in the microscopical journals 

 before they appeared in the Pro- 

 ceedings came up, and the following 

 resolution was adopted after some 

 discussion : 



Resolved, That all papers read 

 before the Society should, if accept- 

 ed by the publishing committee, be 

 withheld by tlieir authors from 

 publication elsewhere until after 

 their appearance in the Proceedings ; 

 and that the committee shall be in- 

 structed to signify their acceptance 

 or rejection at the close of each 

 session, and shall publish the Pi*o- 

 ceedings witliin three months after 

 adjournment if possible. 



A resolution offered by Prof. 

 Burrill, that the President and Vice- 

 presidents elect of the Society be 

 appointed a committee to report 

 upon some plan for uniformity in 

 size and naming of eye-pieces and 

 tubes, was adopted. 



The report of the Treasurer, Mr. 

 Fell, showed $266.06 on hand, and 

 $450. Y5 due the Society, of which 

 the treasurer regarded $114.69 as 

 being very certain of being paid, 



making total assets $380.81. The 

 report was adopted. 



Prof. Griffith renewed his offer 

 of a y^-mah. eye-piece or its equi- 

 valent for the best mounted slides 

 showing adulterations in commer- 

 cial articles, accompanied with the 

 best thesis upon the specimens sub- 

 mitted. His offer was accepted with 

 thanks. 



The society then adjourned to 

 meet in the evening at Merrill Hall. 



In the evening there was a "Soi- 

 ree " at which many fine instruments 

 and beautiful objects were • shown. 



Among the exhibitors were Mr. 

 Walmsley, Mr. W. H. Bulloch, Mr. 

 Edward Bausch, Mr. Edward Pen- 

 nock, of J. W. Queen & Co., Mr. 

 L. P. Sexton, with microscopes and 

 objectives by Gundlach, and many 

 others. 



One of the Detroit daily news- 

 papers characterizes the " Soiree " 

 as " one of the most successful of 

 its kind, ever held in this country " 



Penetration in Objectives— is it 

 a Defect or an Advantage ? 



BY C. M. VORCE. 

 [Summary by the author.] 



Penetration in objectives was de- 

 fined as that quality by which the 

 objective is able to present the 

 images of different planes of an 

 object in such close superposition, 

 that the eye distinguishes them 

 simultaneously, as the images of 

 objects seen by the unaided eye 

 are perceived. He claimed that 

 the images presented to the eye by 

 objectives having this quality of 

 penetration, impress the mind at 

 the instant of view, with a true 

 idea of the bulk and substance of 

 the object, and the arrangement 

 and relation to each other of its 

 parts. The reverse of this, he 

 stated, was true of the images pre- 

 sented by objectives, in which the 



