134 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [May, 



where he was taken from the theatre. A gloom over- 

 spread the whole land and we met together to mourn our 

 loss and to organize a society. The committeemen who 

 were appointed were S. Jackson, S. A. Jones and myself. 

 I drew up the constitution and by-laws and proposed the 

 seal which was a diagram of the refraction of light with 

 the motto Fiat lux, the motto being the suggestion of 

 Dr. S. A. Jones. We then organized and signed the con- 

 stitution, I being the first to sign. Officers were then 

 elected, being A. M. Edwards, President; R. K. Browne 

 and Mr. Gr. S. Allan, Vice Presidents; C. Van Brunt, 

 Treasurer ; S. A. Jones, Secretary ; S. Jackson, curator ; 

 and J. W. S. Arnold, Librarian. We met at the houses 

 of several members until we got too large in numbers, 

 when we met at a general public meeting room. This 

 was at last the Mott Memorial Building, 64 Madison Ave- 

 nue, New York. There I went out of the presidency and 

 was succeeded by J. E. Gavit, President ; R. Dinwiddie 

 and W, H. Atkinson were Vice Presidents; A. M. Ed- 

 wards, Corresponding Secretary ; J. H. Hinton, Record- 

 ing Secretary ; T. D'Oremiealx, Treasurer , S. Jackson, 

 curator; and J. W. S. Arnold, Librarian. The society 

 went on swimmingly until one person was admitted. I 

 do not know by whom, but as soon as he got in there 

 was trouble, at least several of the members went out, 

 I was one of the first to go. The society met and met, 

 decreasing in interest until it again met at the members 

 houses. It dwindled down in numbers and lost its in- 

 terest until it ceased — when I do not know for I had 

 ceased to be a member and had moved out of the city to 

 reside in Newark, N. J. This is all I can remember or 

 care to remember of the American Microscopical Society 

 as it was then called. It was organized under the laws 

 of the state of New York, December 22, 1866, under the 

 name of the American Microscopical Society of the city 

 of New York. 



