4 
Transactions of the Society. 
Cornelius Varley. Joseph Jackson Lister, F.B.S., was horn in 
London on the 11th January, 1786; his parents were members of 
the Society of Friends, to which he also belonged throughout his life ; 
at the age of fourteen he left school to assist his father in the wine- 
trade. His tastes were shown early, for as a little child he found out 
that if he looked at distant objects through air-bubbles in the window- 
pane the vision of his eye (then myopic) was improved — a subject 
which he subsequently worked out ; it was not, however, until 1824, 
when he was thirty -eight years of age, that he turned his attention to 
object-glasses. The history of his optical researches in this and other 
subjects, culminating in the great paper of 1830, which will be found 
in our Transactions for 1870, p. 134, is from the pen of his still 
more famous son. It has been said of Lister, by one well fitted to 
judge, that “ he was the pillar and source of all the Microscopy of the 
age.” He died at Upton House, Essex, in October 1869, at the age 
of eighty -four. The Loddiges were a great deal more than ordinary 
nurserymen ; George was one of the most liberal patrons and most 
skilful users of early achromatic objectives ; he was his own architect 
for his great palm-house at Hackney, which was built by his ow r n 
workmen. In his publication ‘ The Botanical Cabinet/ eight 
hundred and eighty-nine of the figures were drawn by himself ; his 
collection of casts of antique gems was about two thousand, principally 
taken by himself; and his collection of humming-birds, on which he 
intended to publish a book, was at the time unrivalled. 
Cornelius "V arley will also be a name well known to you ; he was 
a very active early member of this Society, and his communications, 
illustrated by rough but effective drawings, will be found frequently in 
our Transactions. 
It will be remembered that the seventeen had met “ to consider 
the propriety of forming a Society for the promotion of microscopical 
investigation, and for the introduction and improvement of the Micro- 
scope as a scientific instrument.” The result was a resolution that 
such a Society should be formed, and that a Provisional Committee 
(Bowerbank, Lister, G. Loddiges, E. Quekett, Eeade, Solly, and Ward) 
be appointed to carry this resolution into effect. 
This Committee held meetings, drew up a set of rules, adopted the 
name of “ The Microscopical Society of London,” which was devised by 
Bowerbank and Eeade, and arranged to hold a public meeting at the 
rooms of the Horticultural Society, which were then at No. 21 Eegent 
Street, on the 20th of December, 1839. At this meeting Prof. 
Owen took the chair, and w 7 as elected President ; Ward, Treasurer ; and 
Dr. Arthur Farre Secretary. Forty-five gentlemen inscribed their 
names in a book as original members, and it was resolved that all who 
joined before the 29th of January, 1840, w T ere to be considered original 
members. 
No more fitting first President than Prof. Owen could possibly 
have been found, his is a name of world- wide reputation ; but at the 
