Hunt. 312 [March 19, 
ances with different words. The principal variation from Dr. Pigott’s 
descriptions was in the colors, but his observations were made by day 
instead of by gaslight, and, furthermore, the objective used by Dr. Pig- 
ott was not perfectly corrected for chromatic aberration, while Tolles’ 
7s Was corrected as accurately as possible — perfect accuracy in this 
respect being, doubtless, impracticable— nevertheless giving sharp 
definition of the black lines and beads. 
Mr. Stodder said he had examined the scales with the same lenses 
by direct sunlight, which thus shown are most beautiful objects, 
crowded with “‘beads” tinted with all the colors of the spectrum. 
The “ beads” measured 49,000 to the inch, by the same means used 
by Dr. Pigott. Are these “ beads” real or illusory? From the fact 
that minute particles of powdered glass and the like, give per- 
fectly distinct bead-like images, Mr. Stodder believed the existence 
of real spherules on the scales not proved. 
March 19, 1873. 
The President in the chair. Twenty-six members present. 
The President announced the recent death of the cele- 
brated Botanist, Dr. John Torrey, an Honorary Member of 
the Society for over thirty-two years. 
Dr. T. Sterry Hunt was requested to prepare an account of 
the life of Dr. Torrey, which was read at a subsequent meeting. 
Dr. John Torrey died of pneumonia at his home in New 
York, on the 10th of March, 1873, in the seventy-seventh 
year of his age, having been born in that city on the 15th 
of August, 1796. Choosing the medical profession, he grad- 
uated as doctor of medicine in 1818, and in 1824 was 
appointed professor of chemistry, mineralogy and geology 
in the Military Academy of West Point, but resigned his 
post in 1827, to accept the chair of chemistry and botany in 
his alma mater, the New York College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, of which he discharged the duties most acceptably 
until his resignation in 1855. During the greater part of 
this time, he occupied also the chair of chemistry and nat- 
ural history at Princeton, to which he was named in 1830, 
resigning it only in 1853, when he was made chief assayer to 
