Montlily Microscopical 1 
Journal, Nov. 1, 1869. J 
( 281 ) 
PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES * 
EoYAL Microscopical Society. 
King's College, October 13, 1869. 
The Eev. J. B. Eeade, F.E.S., President, in the chair. 
The minutes of the last meeting (June 9th) were read and con- 
firmed. 
A list of donations was read, and the thanks of the meeting pre- 
sented to the respective donors ; a special vote being accorded to 
Mr. Eoss, who, as the President announced, had given to the Society 
new immersion front lenses for the ith and object-glasses which 
he had already presented to the Society. 
The President said that it had been intended that a paper by Dr. 
Pigott, of Halifax and London, " On High-power Definition, with 
Illustrative Examples," should have been read ; but it would be de- 
ferred until the next meeting, when he hoped Dr. Pigott would be in 
London, and able to read his communication personally. The Presi- 
dent explained that the paper contained an account of an examination 
of the Podura scale, which gave results qmte different from those 
which were usually obtained, the whole surface of the scale being 
resolved by Dr. Pigott into minute beads ; and the President handed 
round a drawing made by Dr. Pigott in which the " note of exclama- 
tion " marking generally seen by observers appeared as a number of 
bead-like bodies. The President, while reserving his own doubts as 
to the accuracy of Dr. Pigott's views, hoped that before the next 
meeting the Fellows would examine the object for themselves, and 
come prepared to discuss it. The President also announced that Mr. 
Mclntyre would read at the meeting in November, a paper on a 
related subject, viz. " The Scales of Certain Insects of the Order 
Thysanura." 
Mr. Slack observed that it might assist Fellows who wished to take 
part in the discussion that would be raised by Dr. Pigott's paper if 
they examined a good test Podura scale with a high power and uni- 
lateral light obtained by Eeade's prism, or by a single radial slot-stop 
in an achromatic condenser. With Beck's -g-oth he could easily show 
a dotted structure ; but several appearances obtained by varying the 
incidence of the light, and by infinitesimal changes of focus, seemed 
equally entitled to consideration, and were very difiicult to interpret. 
Mr. Hogg exhibited a phial containing a quantity of dichroic fluid 
which had been found by Mr. Allbon in a ditch not far from town.f 
The fluid obtained by Mr. Sheppard, of Canterbury, who first dis- 
covered and described it, contained a great deal of animal life, while 
that exhibited by Mr. Hogg was almost entirely composed of a con- 
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing out their reports 
legibly — especially the technical terras — and iby "underlining" words, such as 
specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus ensure accuracy 
and enhance the value of their proceedings. — Ed. M. M. J. 
t We learn from Mr. Eeeves, Assistant-Sec. E. M. S., that Mr. Allbon's fluid 
came from a ditch between Mortlake and Kew, and contained Batrachospermum 
atrum in a decomposed state. 
