1880.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



19 



attended the Buffalo meeting of the 

 " American Society of Microscopists " 

 and enjoyed a very pleasant time, both in 

 hearing the interesting papers and dis- 

 cussions, and witnessing a fine exhibition 

 of instruments and objects, in which he 

 and the Secretary participated. 



Mr. Hitchcock proposed a scheme 

 which he thought would, if adopted by 

 the Society, add greatly to the interest and 

 value of the meetings. His remarks may 

 be summed up as follows : In order to 

 secure some interesting objects for exhi- 

 bition at every meeting, he proposed that 

 a number of the most active members 

 should agree to collect specimens of living 

 plants or animals for each meeting. These 

 members should be divided into compa- 

 nies of two for each collection, and he had 

 prepared a short list of members arranged 

 according to the plan proposed. During 

 inclement Weather, it is expected that the 

 gentlemen appointed will furnish mounted 

 objects, or material or apparatus of interest 

 in place of living forms. In addition to 

 this, it was proposed that there should be 

 a popular address delivered every two 

 months, upon the evenings of the regular 

 conversational meetings. Invitations should 

 be issued to ladies and gentlemen who 

 are known to be interested in scientific 

 studies. A scheme for table-work was 

 also brought forward, which was intended 

 to afford practical instruction in methods 

 of preparing, mounting and studying speci- 

 mens. 



October 3rd, 1879. M. Hyatt exhibited 

 a section of the silicious coat of Eqtdsetian 

 hymnale, or common scouring rush, by 

 polarized light — a gorgeous object* He 

 announced that he prepared it by llrst 

 scraping off the matter which adheres to 

 the inner surface of the cuticle, then 

 bleached it by steeping it in Labarraque 

 solution, afterwards washing in alcohol 

 and mounting in balsam. Mr. Wall 

 showed his method of mounting opaque 

 objects in wax, by cutting thin sheets of 

 black wax into circles, placing a disc upon 

 the slide, fixing a brass curtain-ring in the 

 wax by the application of heat, and cover- 

 ing the cell thus made by thin glass, after 

 which he finished it in the usual man- 

 ner. 



Public conversazione held Oct. 17th, 

 1879. This was the first of the meetings 

 provided for by a recent resolution. 



A popular address was delivered by Mr. 

 J. D. Hyatt, the President. He was in- 

 troduced by Mr. Braman, who made a few 

 very happy remarks upon the history and 

 condition of the Society. The subject of 



Mr. Hyatt's address was " The Mechanism 

 of Insect-Stings" which he illustrated by 

 blackboard sketches,and greatlymagnified, 

 colored drawings on paper. He fully ex- 

 plained to the audience the elaborate 

 compound levers and muscles, by which 

 great rapidity and much power was dis- 

 played by the Bee in thrusting its stings 

 into the flesh. 



This address was attentively listened 

 to by a ver)' intelligent audience of about 

 200 ladies and gentlemen, who, at the 

 conclusion were shown into the smaller 

 meeting-room, where twenty-nine micros- 

 copes with attractive objects, were exhi- 

 bited. 



ILLINOIS STATE. 



The Illinois State Microscopical Society 

 recently held its semi-annual meeting, at 

 which Mr. Colgrove delivered an address 

 on " Recent Microscopical Work." He 

 stated that while no discoveries of special 

 interest had been made in microscopy, 

 during the past six months, the micro- 

 scope had contributed materially to the 

 sum of human knowledge, during this 

 period. He re'viewed the subject briefly, 

 stating that the discussion of the question 

 of aperture had ceased ; the advocates of 

 low angles, with the exception of Mr. 

 Wenham, have apparently abandoned the 

 field while makers are now producing ob- 

 jectives of high angular aperture; and 

 we find that those best qualified to judge, 

 generally recommend the immersion ob- 

 jective, used with a fluid whose refractive 

 index is the same, or nearly the same, 

 as that of crown glass. 



In this matter we do not fully agree 

 with Mr. Colgrove. The discussion is 

 not dead, but sleepeth. 



Continuing his remarks, the speaker 

 said that Prof. W. Fleming has recently 

 published a detailed account of his exten- 

 sive researches on the structure of nuclei, 

 and their behavior during the process of 

 cell division, according to which the 

 nucleus consists of : 



1. An investing membrane. 



2. An intra-nuclear net-work, consist- 

 ing of an extensive system of ramified 

 filaments, exhibiting at intervals, thicken- 

 ings or pseudo-nucleoli. 



3. The true nucleoli. 



4. A pale ground-substance filling up 

 the remaining space, and devoid of visible 

 structure in the living state, but assuming 

 a granular, fibrillar appearance by the 

 action of reagents. 



The subject was afterward taken up by 

 the medical gentlemen present, and dis- 



