3°2 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



the section was established. There had been a want of system 

 in the microscopical work carried on in Belfast, a want of that 

 union among workers that so much encourages and fosters 

 scientific research, and especially a want of a central body to 

 whom all beginners in this interesting branch of study could 

 come for information and assistance. To fill these wants the 

 new section had been established, and he thought its power as 

 an educational institution was shown by the wide range of 

 subjects on exhibition that night, and the interesting demon- 

 strations that were about to be given of the preparation and 

 mounting of all kinds of microscopical objects. The meeting 

 was then declared open, and the company scattered themselves 

 around the tables, on which fully twenty microscopes were 

 ranged, illustrating nearly as many different branches of 

 research. Special prominence was given to demonstrations of 

 the modes of preparing slides of various objects and materials. 

 Mr. Joseph Wright, F.G.S., explained the means adopted for 

 the examination of the interesting group of the Foraminifera. 

 By his side stood a bag of sandy mud, obtained from the sea 

 bottom off the South-West of Ireland on one of the dredging 

 expeditions recently sent out by the Royal Irish Academy. He 

 showed how by drying the material, throwing it into water, and 

 skimming off and straining all that floated on the surface, the 

 Foraminifera were separated from the mud that encompassed 

 them, and thousands of their tiny and exquisite shells secured 

 for examination. Mr. Adam Speers, B.Sc, demonstrated the 

 mode of cutting sections of vegetable tissues with a razor, and 

 shewed a number of such sections to advantage. In close 

 proximity, Mr. William Hanna, B.A., exhibited a ribbon- 

 sectioning microtome, with which he cut a block of paraffin 

 into a long ribbon, one-four thousandth part of an inch in 

 thickness, with ease and despatch. The President had one of 

 the most interesting exhibitions in the room, consisting of a 

 demonstration of the compound structure of the eyes of insects. 

 A watch hung at the back of the table, and viewed by aid of the 

 microscope through the eye of various insects, was seen to be 



