166 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



saying that he was one of the finest characters in history. 

 Mr. Dyer gave a sketch of the Huguenot movement from 

 the death of Coligny down to the French Revolution. He 

 also gave a very graphic account ot the Huguenots from 

 the time of the Edict of Nantes in 1598, to its revocation 

 in 1685, and spoke of the emigration of the Huguenots 

 to America, South Carolina, New York and Massachu- 

 setts. 



Monday, April 4, 1892. Dr. J. E. Wolff of Boston, 

 lectured on the "History of Rocks learned by the Micro- 

 scope." This was accompanied by graphic illustrations 

 on the screen. The nature of rocks was first dwelt upon 

 as forming part of the crust of the earth, and the manner 

 in which they came to occupy the positions, where we now 

 find them, explained Thus rocks may have come in a melt- 

 ed state from deep down in the interior of the earth, and 

 either have solidified at a depth, or pushed their way to 

 the surface and flowed as the lavas of the present day ; 

 these are the volcanic or eruptive rocks, or, the waves, 

 washing along beaches and rivers carrying down sediment, 

 may have piled up masses of sand and mud, which in the 

 course of ages were buried with further masses hardened 

 and consolidated, and thus our present sandstones and 

 slates formed, or in the deep water of the sea small or- 

 ganisms by their shells or in other ways may have formed 

 the great beds of limestones which we use for our lime 

 and building stone. Afterthe rocks in these different ways 

 have taken their places in the crust, they have shared in 

 the great movements of the solid crust of the globe. The 

 slow processes of decay have more or less affected the min- 

 erals of the rocks. Various illustrations of the processes 

 of preparing thin slices of rock for the microscope were 

 shown and explained. The lecturer spoke in conclusion 



