1888.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 187 



The lOtli Annual Meeting of the American Society of Microscopists. 



By CHAS. W. smiley, 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



The Society assembled at Wirthwein Hall, Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, 

 August 21, at lo A. M., and held morning, afternoon and evening sessions. 

 On Wednesday morning and afternoon sessions were held. On Thursday 

 there were three sessions. On Friday there was a morning session in Co- 

 lumbus, and an evening session in Newark, Ohio, making ten sessions in all. 

 The headquarters were at the Park Hotel, which furnished reduced rates to 

 members. 



TUESDAY MORNING. 



On account of the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Sciences, at Cleveland, being still in session, the attendance was not 

 so large as had been anticipated. The meeting at Cleveland adjourned late 

 Tuesday evening. 



On assembling Professor David S. Kellicott, the president, announced that 

 Professor T. J. Burrill, secretary, was temporarily ill, and suggested that 

 Treasurer S. M. Mosgrove, M. D., of Urbana, act in that capacity. Dr. 

 Mosgrove assumed the office, and among other recommendations suggested 

 that members who were three years in arrears for due^ be dropped from 

 the rolls. 



The following new members were elected: — J. Edward Bering, James B. 

 Shearer, William Libby, jr., Willis R. Whitney, Charles E. Jameson, Dr. 

 Thomas O. Hoover, Leonard Pearson, Edward P. Lawton and Miss Vida 

 A. Latham. 



The first paper was by Professor H. J. Detmers, of the Ohio State Univer- 

 sity, on ' What I saw in the optical establishments of Germany.' Professor 

 Detmers had arrived from Germany within a few days and the subject was 

 fresh in his mind. He is decidedly of opinion that American appliances are 

 superior to those of the Germans, and states that most of the improvements 

 in German instruments are of American invention. The paper was discussed 

 by several gentlemen, among others Professor Seaman of Washington, D. C, 

 who did not fully agree with Professor Detmers. 



The following abstract of his paper is compiled from the St. Louis 

 Druggist : — 



The doctor, who is a German by birth and education, gave a most inter- 

 esting account of his visits to the great optical works of Zeiss in Jena, Sei- 

 bert, Wetzlar, and others. In each he spent a day, devoting a large portion 

 of the time to 'fighting objectives' with the most expert manipulators. He 

 carried with him a one-tenth homogeneous immersion of Herbert Spencer, 

 a one-twelfth homogeneous immersion of Bausch & Lomb, a fifteenth of 

 Tolles, and a few other high grade objectives of American manufacture. He 

 carried, as a test-plate, a slide oi Amphipleiira peJhicida^ from Lake Nep- 

 issing, N. Y., mounted in balsam, boldly stating his belief that the best 

 American objectives in the hands of experts were in every respect the equal 

 of those of the best German opticians, when handled by experts. He chal- 

 lenged to a trial of skill the makers of what the world has acknowledged to 

 be the best objectives — the renowned Apochromatic of Zeiss, and of the other 

 makers above-mentioned. The challenge was accepted, and Dr. Carl Zeiss, 

 being ill, deputed his brother. Dr. Roderick Zeiss, to manipulate his objec- 

 tives. Every appliance that could assist in the resolution of the diatom was 

 there and brought into play. After striving for some time he yielded, and 

 Dr. Detmers, with his American stand and objectives, readily showed the 

 lines of resolution. Failing in the test of vision, they proposed photography 



