t890.] MICEOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 243 



MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 



San Francisco, Cal., — W. E. Loy, Sec'y. 



August jj^ i8go. — A paper on "Pond Life" was read by A. H. 

 Breckenfeld ; living objects were shown under the microscope. Sev- 

 eral members had brought in their stands, and nine microscopes were 

 placed on the tables. Professor E. S. Runyon, of the College of Phar- 

 macy, had his oxyhydrogen microscope on exhibition, and the image 

 of the more interesting " dips" was thrown on the wall in a much en- 

 larged form. There was successfully shown several species of the 

 Rotifera^ including Brachionus and Vulgaris^ a very fine gathering 

 of fresh-water worms, and an endless variety of Infusorians, including 

 the beautiful Etiglciia viridis. There was also a respectable showing 

 of the various species of fresh-water algas, in fruit and in conjugation. 



August 2'ji i8go. — \\\ addition to members. Dr. Edward Gray, of 

 Benicia ; Everett M. Hill, of Napa College, and J. O. Whitney, of 

 Oakland, were present as visitors. 



The committee on the proposition to take rooms in the new Academy 

 of Sciences building on Market street, reported adversely. 



The meeting nights of the society were changed, by an amendment 

 to the constitution, from the second and fourth Wednesday evenings to 

 the first and third Wednesday evenings in each month. 



Henry G. Hanks presented a paper descriptive of a very rare and 

 beautiful specimen of crystalized gold. 



September J ^ i8go. — This was the first meeting under'the change of 

 time of meeting, and the attendance was light. 



Henry G. Hanks called attention to a very old reference to lenses, 

 or magnifying glasses, which he recently found in an old work, " The 

 Vanity of Arts and Sciences," by Henry Cornelius Agrippa. The 

 edition shown was an English translation, published in 1676, from the 

 original Latin edition, published in 1527. The reference alluded to 

 reads thus : 



" So we read, as Celius in his ancient writings relates, that one 

 Hostius, a person of an obscene life, made a sort of glasses, that made 

 the object seem greater than it was, so that one finger should seem to 

 exceed the whole arm, both in bigness and thickness." 



It was found that Coelius Antipater (to whom Agrippa probably re- 

 fers) was a Roman historian who lived 125 years B. C. He wrote a 

 history of the first Punic War, only parts of which were extant. So 

 far as known, this was the first ac!count of magnifying glasses in his- 

 tory. 



Henry Cornelius Agrippa, the author of this curious old book, was 

 born at Cologne in 14S6, and was a man of talents, learning, and eccen- 

 tricity. In his youth he was Secretary to the Emperor Maxmillian, 

 and was knighted for bravery in Italy. On quitting the army he de- 

 voted himself to science, and made pretensions to an acquaintance with 

 magic. In 1530 he wrote his treatise " On the Vanity of the Sciences," 

 which was a caustic satire upon the inefiiciency of the common modes 

 of instruction. After an active, varied, and eventful life he died at 

 Grenoble in 1539. 



