1894.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 133 



The American Microscopical Society. 



By ARTHUR M. EDWARDS, M. D., 

 NEWARK, N. J. 



You ask me to give you what I know of the American 

 Microscopical Society. Tliis is all I remember or can 

 kaow : 



At my house, 49 Jane street, during the years 1864 and 

 1865, there used to meet a trio of enthusiastic microscop- 

 ists consisting of C. Van Brunt, Gr. S. Allan and myself to 

 consider natural history generally but the microscope 

 particularly. At one of these meetings, it was proposed 

 by Van Brunt I think, to get together the microscopists 

 that lived within hailing distance to form a society. 

 Van Brunt and Allan did not live at that time in New 

 York, so it was proposed that I should call the meeting 

 to be held at my house. This I did and put a notice in 

 the paper that "a meeting will be held this evening at 

 the house of Mr. A. M. Edwards, 49 Jane street, for the 

 purpose of organizing a society for the advancement of 

 microscopical research." I have not kept any date of 

 this but it is a scrap from the paper of April 8, 1865. A 

 goodly number of gentlemen were present who were in- 

 terested in natural history more especially microscopy. 

 I remember besides Van Brunt and Allan those present 

 were R. K. Browne, S. Jackson, J. W. S. Arnold, S. A. 

 Jones, W. H. Atkinson and several others. We organ- 

 ized the society under the name of the American Micro- 

 scopical Society, for it was the first to be formed in 

 America. We adjourned to meet at the same place one 

 week from that date and a committee was appointed by 

 the chairman. Dr. R. K. Browne, to draw up a constitu- 

 tion and by-laws, April 15, 1865 is a memorable day in 

 the minds of all, for on Good Friday; April 14, 1865, 

 President Lincoln had been assassinated at Ford's Thea- 

 tre in Washington, and had died at the house opposite, 



