160 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [July, 



belong to the stand, so I will not consider them here. The lamp and 

 attachment, as well as the turn-table, shown in the illustration, are 

 ascessories which require special description, not in place at this time. 



The American Society of Microscopists. 



By Dr. F. L. JAMES, 



ST. LOUISj MO. 



This Association, now in the thirteenth year of its existence, will hold 

 its fourteenth annual meeting in Washington, D. C, August lo, and 

 continue in session five days. Its roll of active members contains about 

 three hundred and fifty names. Its membership consists of two dis- 

 tinct classes, viz : professional men and students of the natural sciences, 

 who use the microscope in their daily vocations as an instrument of re- 

 search, diagnosis, or precision ; and amateurs, or those who find pleas- 

 ure and profit in the revelations of the instrument. Many of the latter 

 class, ffom having early chosen special lines of study and investigation, 

 have acquired high reputations in their respective departments of mi- 

 croscopical research. In its earlier years this class predominated in 

 the membership of the .Society , but at present the professional element 

 is largely in excess. 



The qualifications for membership are very simple. The applicant 

 must be a respectable person socially, and interested in the use of the 

 microscope. 



The advantages of membership are dual in their nature, i. e.^ gen- 

 eral and social, or those which accrue to the individual from associa- 

 tion with others engaged or interested in the same pursuits in any and 

 all walks of life ; and special, in that the meetings of the Society are to 

 a certain extent educational in their nature. In the " Working Ses- 

 sions " expei"ts in every department of microscopical technology are 

 engaged in giving manual demonstrations of the details of their lines 

 of work ; in the informal evening " conversaziones " the room of every 

 worker who has anything special to exhibit or demonstrate is open for 

 the reception of all those who wish to witness the demonstration ; finally, 

 the soiree affords an opportunity of displa5dng for the benefit of the 

 members, as well as the public generally, all that is most beautiful, in- 

 teresting, and instructive in the cabinets or laboratories of the exhibitors. 

 Of late years the soirees have been attended by many thousands of vis- 

 itors in every city in which the society has met, and have been regarded 

 as distinguished social as well as scientific events. 



The dues are trifling, only $2.00 per annum, and in return the mem- 

 ber gets a volume of the Annual Proceedings, which costs very nearly 

 this amount. These procedings are elegantly and profusely illustrated 

 with photo-engravings, autotypes, chromoliths, and wood engravings, 

 done in the highest style of art. There is scarcely a subject in the whole 

 range of microscopical work upon which information may not be found 

 by reference to the indexes of these volumes, and collectively they form 

 a library of microscopy full of invaluable matter to the student and 

 worker. 



The railroads have of late years extended excursion or convention 

 rates to and from the places of meeting, and, although no arrangements 

 have as yet been definitely made, we can assure our readers that the 



