1889.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 191 



displayed by nature in protecting these minute organisms from their 

 enemies and furnishing them with such elaborate means for obtaining 

 their subsistence. Mr. Breckenfeld also exhibited a slide of ^Lcidium 

 or " cluster cup fungus," found infesting the scanty vegetation on Sig- 

 nal Peak, Yosemite Valley, some seven thousand feet above sea level. 



Dr. E. G. Clark exhibited some interesting slides of cinnabar ore 

 in Chalcedony showing free mercury, a rare thing in the natural state ; 

 also a beautiful mounting of crystallized gold, displaying the peculiar 

 fern-leafed disposition of the crystals produced by the galvanic current. 



The most notable feature of the evening was the exhibition by 

 Charles C. Riedy of his collection of old and rare works of the early 

 writers on microscopy. To the student and all interested in micro- 

 graphical literature this was an opportunity seldom offered to examine 

 many volumes published by the pioneers in this branch of science, that 

 are now very scarce. Mr. Riedy is devoted to the study of the Infusoria, 

 and to facilitate his inquiries in that direction the present collection has 

 been slowly accumulated, though not without great difficulty and per- 

 severance, many of his orders for special works having been several 

 years in the hands of European book-dealers before they were obtained. 

 The different volumes cover the entire field of microscopical research 

 fr,om its very beginning, and contain a complete resume of the evolution 

 of optical science, together with the progress of mechanics as applied 

 to the microscope. Many of the editions, in fact a majority of them, 

 contain a high grade of illustrations, considering the date when they 

 were executed, while some are embellished with fine-line copper-plate 

 engraving that would do credit to our own day. The oldest publications, 

 belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, are all bound in 

 heavy parchment, and mostly written in the scholarly language of the 

 time — Latin. The printing is remarkably good and legible, there 

 being no perceptible fading of ink or paper. The authors represented 

 were Adams, Baker, Baster, Bonanni, Descartes, Ellis, Eichhorn, 

 Gleichen, Gotze, Grew, Hill, Hooke, Joblot, Ledermuller, Leeuwen- 

 hoek, Martin, Neednam, Power, Redi, Schaffer, Glabber, Smith, 

 Spallanzani, Schott, Swammerdam, Trembley. Notable among these 

 are Descartes' works, with numerous wood-cuts, small quarto, Amster- 

 dam, 1650. This work contains an illustration of Descartes' gigantic 

 microscope, eight feet high. 



In the collection is Powers' " Experimental Philosophy, in Three 

 Books, containing New Experiments, Microscopical, Mercurial, Mag- 

 netical." London, 1664. This last work is the earliest volume on the 

 microscope in the English language. 



Before adjourning a unanimous vote of thanks was tendered Mr. 

 Riedy for his interesting exhibition of what is certainly the most unique 

 collection of rare microscopical literature in the United States. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Psychic Life of Micro-organisms . By Alfred Binet. Trans- 

 lated from the French by Thomas McCormack, with a preface by 

 the author. Chicago, 18S9. The Open Court Publishing Com- 

 pany. (Price, 75 cents.) 



M. Alfred Binet, the collaborator of Ribot and Fere, and one of the 



