i68 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [May 



the society consisted of 177 members, of whom no less 

 than twenty-two were Fellows of the Royal Society, and 

 included such well-known names as Thos. Bell (professor 

 of zoology at King-'s College), Birkett (of Guy's), George 

 Busk, F. R. S. (president 1848-9), Sir James Clarke, John 

 Edward Gray (keeper of the zoological department of the 

 British Museum), John Lindley, Ph. D., F. R. S. (president 

 1842-3), John Kippist (the librarian of the Linnaean Socie- 

 ty), the Marquis of Northampton (then president of the 

 Royal Society), Sir John Tomes, Erasmus Wilson, and 

 Joseph Jackson Lister, F. R. S., who has been described 

 as "the pillar and source of all the microscopy of his age." 

 In passing, it may be noted that it was on January 29th, 

 1840, that the society adopted standard sizes for the glass 

 slips for objects, 3 x 1 in. and 3 x I 1 /? in., which sizes are 

 universally employed to-day. As the list of subsequent 

 presidents is read over, one cannot but be struck by the 

 fact that they were all eminently practical men ; some of 

 their names are so familiar to us on account of their work 

 that it seems impossible to dissociate them from present 

 day microscopy, such, for instance, as George Jackson, 

 M. R. C. S, (1852-3), who gave us the well-known Jackson 

 form of microscope ; Dr. William B, Carpenter, C. B., 

 F. R. S. (1854-5), whose book, recently edited and revised 

 by Dr. Dallinger, is the standard work on matters micro- 

 scopical (it was during Dr. Carpenter's presidency that 

 the standard screw for objectives was fixed and intro- 

 duced) ; John Thomas Quekett, F. R. S. (1860) and others. 

 Professor Huxley was a member of the council in 1857, 

 and contributed his first paper to the Society's proceed- 

 ings during the presidency of Dr. Arthur Farre, F. R. S. 

 (1850-1). 



"The society was established for the promotion of mi- 

 croscopical and biological science, by the commuication, 

 discussion and publication of observations and discoveries 

 relating to (1) improvements in the construction and mode 

 of application of the microscope, or (2) biological or other 

 subjects of microscopical research." 



How perfectly the society has adhered to the lines laid 



