1882.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



1Y5 



human eye no longer needs a micro- 

 scope, but shall see clearly the now 

 hidden things of God. 



" Mr. Spencer was born on Quality 

 Hill, in the town of Lennox, N. Y., 

 in the year 1813. He was the young- 

 est son of General Ichabod S. Spen- 

 cer and nephew of the late John A. 

 Spencer, of Utica, N. Y. He came 

 from Lennox to Canastota about 1831 

 and to Geneva in 1875, and died at 

 the latter place September 28th, i88r, 

 at the age of sixty-eight. Mr. Spen- 

 cer was educated at the Cazenovia 

 Academy, and after graduating there 

 he entered the freshman class at Ho- 

 bart, then Geneva College, at Gene- 

 va, N. Y. ; his uncle, Dr. Thomas 

 Spencer, being at that time a professor 

 in the medical department of the col- 

 lege. He remained at Geneva, how- 

 ever, less than a year, and soon after 

 went to Hamilton College, at Clin- 

 ton, N. Y., of which his uncle. 

 Judge Joshua A. Spencer, was then 

 one of the trustees. His repugnance 

 to being educated at the expense of 

 others, or as a 'charity student,' as 

 he termed it, was so great that he did 

 not long remain at Hamilton, but re- 

 turned to Canastota to study and ex- 

 periment by himself, as he had found 

 that, at that early day, comparatively 

 little attention was paid in the col- 

 leges to the subjects which most in- 

 terested him, most of the time being 

 devoted to classical studies. He be- 

 took himself, therefore, to more earn- 

 est, practical work in science, not, 

 however, neglecting to give a fair at- 

 tention to classical literature, and in 

 later years he received the honorary 

 degree of A. M. from Hamilton Col- 

 lege." 



Mr. Thomas Taylor described his 

 new freezing microtome. The Chair- 

 man of the Committee en eye-pieces. 

 Dr. R. H. Ward, reported progress, 

 by letter, stating that all manufac- 

 turers but one had agreed to desig- 

 nate their eye-pieces by their focal- 

 lengths, but no agreement had yet 

 been made as to the diameter of the 

 tubes. 



Mr. J. D. Hyatt read a paper on 

 the influence of diatoms upon the 

 odor and taste of drinking water, as 

 demonstrated by observations on the 

 Croton water. The substance of this 

 paper has already been printed in 

 these columns. 



Dr. Robert Dayton described a 

 modification of the half-button illu- 

 minator, devised by himself. 



Prof. S. H. Gage read a valuable 

 paper on the relations of fat-cells to 

 connective tissue. The results of in- 

 vestigation are thus summarized : — 



" I. With the use of the microscope 

 as an instrument of research, it is un- 

 mistakably shown that the fat of the 

 body is not free in the tissues, but in 

 small circumscribed masses, which, 

 with the development of the doctrine 

 of the cellular structure of the ani- 

 mal body, were considered as cells. 



" 2. With the growth of the con- 

 ception of the unity of life, the com- 

 plex structure of man has been in- 

 vestigated through the lower animals, 

 and adipose tissue is now recognized 

 by all as composed of protoplasmic 

 cells, simply holding their fat in 

 readiness for the use of the body. 



" 3. This paper attempts to show 

 .that by the study of adipose tissue in 

 a very simple form, the conflicting 

 views as to the origin of the fat cells 

 may be harmonized. And while its 

 main thesis is that connective tissue- 

 corpuscles may become fat cells ; it 

 also holds that the special or migra- 

 tory cells of Ranvier and others may 

 likewise serve as fat reservoirs, and 

 finally our knowledge in its present 

 state points unmistakably to the con- 

 clusion, that after a cell has given up 

 its fat it reassumes in full its previous 

 functions." 



Mr. E. H. Griffith, who has been 

 constantly improving his " Griffith 

 Club Microscope " for the last two 

 years, exhibited one of them and ex- 

 plained it in detail. 



The officers elected for the next 

 meeting are the following : President, 

 Albert Mc Calla ; Vice-presidents, 

 E. H. Griffith, George C. Taylor ; 



