1882.J 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



171 



pared a circular and question-blank to 

 makers and dealers in microscopes 

 which, with the approval of the Com- 

 mittee on eye-pieces, was printed and 

 sent out by the Secretary. Several 

 additional meetings of the Executive 

 Committee have been held, and by 

 means of various circulars in addition 

 to the above, sent out either by the 

 Committee or myself personally, and 

 a somewhat extended correspondence, 

 I have managed to keep myself in 

 constant communication with our 

 widely scattered membership, as well 

 as with a number of working micro- 

 scopists not yet affiliated with us. 

 * * * The Committee on eye- 

 pieces, having fully considered the 

 matter, determined first to get to- 

 gether as much information as possi- 

 ble, and with that end in view, took 

 action as already stated, requesting 

 that replies be sent to Dr. R. H. 

 Ward, its Chairman, to whose very 

 competent hands the preparation of 

 the report has been entrusted. 



" It has been found to be quite im- 

 possible to deal finally with this sub- 

 ject at the present time, but the re- 

 port of progress will, we believe, 

 prove interesting and suggestive, and 

 show the advisability of continuing 

 the Committee for another year. * * * 



" The prize offered by Mr. E. H. 

 Griffith, for the best paper on the adul- 

 teration of some important article of 

 food or medicine and its detection by 

 means of the microscope, having been 

 formally accepted by the Society, a cir- 

 cular was issued by order of the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, giving information 

 as to terms of competition, etc. An- 

 other valuable prize was offered by 

 Prof. Stowell, editor of TAe Micro- 

 scope^ but after consultation with mem- 

 bers of the Executive Committee, I felt 

 obliged to decline it, for the reason, 

 among others, that there was not suf- 

 ficient time to get the matter properly 

 before the members, and allow of a 

 satisfactory preparation of papers. I 

 recommend that this whole subject of 

 prizes be taken up, and that the fixed 

 policy of the Society in regard thereto 



be decided upon and announced. It 

 will require careful consideration, as 

 there is much to be said both for and 

 against the practice." 



At the conclusion of the report the 

 regular order of business was taken 

 up. New members were elected, and 

 the reading of papers was begun. In 

 giving the brief notice of abstracts 

 of the papers read it should be stated 

 that they are founded upon the reports 

 published in the newspapers of Elmi- 

 ra, many of which are quite errone- 

 ous ; but until the Society recognizes 

 the disadvantage of withholding from 

 publication all papers read before it 

 until they appear in the Proceedings, 

 after a lapse of six or nine months, 

 we do not see how we can give per- 

 fectly satisfactory accounts of the 

 meetings to our readers. Neverthe- 

 less, we will endeavor to do justice 

 to all concerned with such informa- 

 tion as is available, and in the course 

 of a short time the difficulties now in 

 the way will surely be removed. 



Prof. D. S. Kellicott read the first 

 paper — on " Certain Crustaceous 

 Parasites of Fresh-water Fishes." Of 

 this v/e have no account. Dr. Red- 

 ding presented a contribution treating 

 of the use of osmic acid for staining 

 and hardening. Mr. C. M. Vorce 

 spoke of the organisms observed in 

 the water of lake Erie — a subject 

 which, as our readers well know, Mr. 

 Vorce has been studying for several 

 years. In the evening President 

 Blackham delivered his address. The 

 subject was : " The Evolution of the 

 Modern Microscope." The following 

 abstracts are taken from the Ad- 

 dress : — 



" The earliest employment of the 

 microscope as an instrument of scien- 

 tific research, though traced back 

 definitely to the latter part of the 

 sixteenth or the beginning of the 

 seventeenth centuries, cannot now be 

 assigned with any degree of certainty 

 to any one individual or country, 

 even. * * * Zacharias Jansen 

 & Son, of Amsterdam, are said to 

 have manufactured them as early as 



