218 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [ November, 
sively that none of these can be regarded as elements. In fact, it appears from their 
investigations that not less than about twenty new elements will have to be assumed 
to take part in their constitution Am. Druggzst. 
Amphipleura pelucida.—We have received a very handsome photograph of this 
diatom from Mr. N. F. Smith, of Hartford, Conn. It is enlarged 3000 diameters from 
specimen on Méller’s Balsam ‘ Probe-platte,’ by Dr. A. J. Wolff, with Spencer ,'; homo- 
geneous immersion lens, numerical aperture 1.35. 
Prof. C. R. Barnes, one of the editors of the Botanical Gazette, has accepted a po- 
sition at Madison, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin, as Professor of Botany. 
It is thought that Prof. Henry Drummond, of University of Edinburgh, the well known 
author of Natural Law in the Spiritual World, will be called to the position vacated 
by President James McCosh at Princeton University. 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETIES. 
Essex County, N. J. 
The first meeting of the season was held at the residence of Geo. S. Allan, D: D.S., 
Montclair, N. J., on Thursday evening, Sept. 15th, the business of the evening being 
the election of officers for the ensuing year. The following gentlemen were elected 
as officers of the society :—Dr. Geo. S. Allan, president; Frank Vanderpoel, secretary ; 
Geo. S. Woolman, treasurer; Executive Committee, Messrs. Jay L. Smith, Rev. F. 
B. Carter, W. C. Gardner. 
The duties of the executive committee were defined as being similar to those of the 
executive committee of the American Society of Microscopists, and they began their 
labors immediately by obtaining promises from almost all of the members present to 
prepare papers for the coming meetings. 
The outlook was very favorable for a successful season, and the feeling of encour- 
agement to original research was very great. During the evening, Mr. Jay L. Smith, 
the retiring secretary, gave an account of the Pittsburgh meetings of the American 
Society, after which the meeting adjourned. 
MorGAan W. AyreES, M. D., Secy. pro tem. 
) 
The second meeting of the season was held at the residence of Mr. H. F. Crosby, 
Montclair, N. J., on Thursday evening, Oct. 6th. 
After the regular business of the evening had been attended to, the members were 
shown a number of sections of the earth-worm (Lumbricus Agricola) which had been 
carefully prepared and mounted by Messrs. Smith and Gardner. The number and 
structure of the different muscular bands, the position of the setae, the muscles con- 
trolling the latter, and various other disputed points about the worm’s anatomy were 
very clearly shown. 
Under a dissecting microscope a worm had been placed, the first fifteen somites 
having been laid open, disclosing to view the various internal organs. To those to 
whom the subject was new, it was rather surprising to see so much complication in a 
creature of such apparent (external) simplicity as a common earth-worm, and all of 
the members felt that this, one of the humblest of created beings, apparently had 
enough about its structure to astonish and interest the most intelligent student of mi- 
croscopy. The society adjourned to meet two weeks later at the residence of Mr. J. 
L. Smith, West Orange, N. J. 
FRANK VANDERPOEL, Sec’y. 
At the third meeting of the society, held Wednesday evening, Nov. 2d, the chief 
paper of the evening was a report by Rev. F. B. Carter upon original studies upon the 
the rhizopoda. We regret that this paper did not reach us in time for reproduction in 
the JoURNAL.—[ED. | 
O 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
The meeting was held as usual Sept. 28th, Vice-President Dr. Ferrer in the chair. 
Dr. M. C. O'Toole, of San Francisco, was elected a regular member. 
Dr. Henry Ferrer exhibited a new rectilinear lens of wide aperture made by Stein- 
heil of the old Fraunhofer Institute of Munich, especially for photographic purposes. 
It is the lens used by the Austrian government to produce reduced copies of charts 
