1891.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 113 



The presence or absence of a nucleus in these low forms of life is of 

 considerable importance. 



[J. Wood-Mason, commenting on there being no visible nucleus, said 

 it was not remarkable, as only-the one specimen had been found which 

 had, perhaps, been too full of granules and food particles to permit of 

 a nucleus being seen, if present; and moreover no reagents were used. 

 It was impossible to say whether the organism was an animal or a veg- 

 etable until it had been observed throughout the cycle of its life-history. 

 Might not the flagellated bodies have been the zoospores of the Bio- 

 myxa itself.'* One of the animals which had been placed originally 

 among the Amoebce reticulosa had recently been proved to be the 

 amoeba stage of one of the Myxomycetes (yMycetozoa') . It was also 

 at present quite uncertain whether this Amceba was a compound or a 

 simple body, that is to say, whether it had resulted from the growth of 

 a single primordial cell or from the fusion of many.] 



Address of the Retiring- President of the Washington Microscopi- 

 cal Society. 



By Dr. THOMAS TAYLOR, 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



[Abstract.] 



At the close of each year, since its organization, the Microscopical 

 Society of Washington has made an exhibit of work done by its mem- 

 bers, frequently including work done by eminent men of other countries. 

 To-night we meet tor this same purpose. 



It has also been customary for the retiring President of the vSociety 

 to make a few remarks regarding the advance made in this branch of 

 scientiiic inquiry, not only as regards the improvements in the instru- 

 ments of precision used, but also, as regards important discoveries that 

 may have been made by their use in the hands of skillful and patient 

 investigators throughout the world. 



The Microscopical Society of Washington will, I believe, compare 

 favorablv with any like society in the United States as regards the prac- 

 tical experience, scientific attainments, or natural gifts of its members. 

 This society consists for the most part of men of various professions, 

 such as professors of anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapeutics, 

 chemistry, surgery, botany, bacteriology, and law. Our members are 

 all enthusiasts in scientific work. Within the last ten years great pro- 

 gress has been made in mici'oscopy. 



Twenty years ago, when I entered upon my work in the United ^States 

 Department of Agriculture, there was )iot o?ie microscope in general 

 use in the Department. To-day there are probably no less than thirty, 

 and a like degree of progress may be safely assumed for the universities 

 and colleges of this city. Nor is Washington alone in this march of 

 progress : The universities, colleges, and Hatch Agricultural Experiment 

 stations throughout the country are all engaged more or less in micro- 

 scopical investigation. 



Large establishments in the United States are now devoted to the 

 manufacture of lenses and microscopes of superior qualit}'-. 



The simple or single lens microscope has given way largely to the 



