PKOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 333 



Mr. John Mayall, jun., exhibited Mr. Nelson's microscope lamp, 

 embodying several modifications and improvements which he had 

 suggested should be made in it since its original introduction. 

 The body of the lamp was now fitted with a rack and pinion move- 

 ment by which it could be easily raised or lowered, and a slight 

 alteration enabled the burner to be brought down 3/4 in. nearer to 

 the table than before. An adjustable slot diaphragm plate had been 

 made to fit in front of the glass of the lamp, and an extra groove had 

 been provided in which tinted glass might be placed. The cylindrical 

 part of the metal chimney was now made so that an opal glass re- 

 flector could be inserted if desired. 



The President said he was struck with the description of the lamp 

 in its original form which had appeared in the Journal of the Society, 

 and he was very desirous of examining it further. The ability to 

 lower the lamp so much was a most useful feature, the fault of most 

 lamps being that they could not be brought low enough for many 

 purposes. 



Mr. E. Ward's new cells, devised by Mr. Wilks for mounting with- 

 out pressure in Canada Balsam, were exhibited (see p. 825). 



Herr E. Booker's improved form of freezing microtome was ex- 

 hibited by Mr. J. Mayall, jun. 



Mr. J. W. Groves said that the diagonal motion given to the knife 

 was very ingenious. There was also an ingenious automatic arrange- 

 ment by which the specimen was raised after making each cut so as 

 to be in position for the next section. A screw adjustment enabled 

 the thickness of the sections to be controlled, and when once set, any 

 number of consecutive sections could be cut of the same thickness 

 by simply repeating the movement of the razor. 



Mr. Crisp, in reply to a question from Mr. Michael, referred to the 

 description given in the Journal of the instrument in its original form, 

 and read extracts therefrom. 



Mr. Beck said that he thought the object in introducing a new 

 piece of apparatus should be increased simplicity of construction, and 

 he should like to know if it was claimed that the new microtome 

 could cut a section very much better than any other, because if not 

 he hardly saw what utility there was in introducing it. Any one who 

 was in the habit of cutting thin sections would be aware how very in- 

 convenient it was to have to wipe up and clean a complicated instru- 

 ment, as compared with a more simple one. Those who had much 

 practical experience of section cutting knew that the difficulty lay 

 more with the substance to be cut, as to its condition, freshness, hard- 

 ness, &c., than with the instrument with which they cut it. 



Mr. Crisp mentioned with regret that since their last meeting they 

 had received an intimation of the death of Mr. Charles Stodder, of 

 Boston, who had always been very kind and courteous in his relations 

 with the officers of the Society. 



