PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
143 
satisfactory ; and with regard to the Treasurer’s statement, he would only 
say, as a business man, that it was rather a matter of regret that the 
mortgage investment had been repaid at a time when it was so difficult 
to obtain an equally good investment for their capital. 
Mr. F. W. Hembrey having seconded the adoption of the Report, 
the President put the motion to the meeting and declared it carried 
unanimously. 
The President then read his Annual Address (see ante , p. 1), which 
took the form of an interesting resume of the history of the Society from 
its inception in December 1839 and its establishment in 1840 as the 
u Microscopical Society of London,” under the presidency of Mr. (after- 
wards Sir Richard) Owen, to the present time. 
Mr. H. Virtue Tebbs moved “ That the best thanks of the Society be 
given to the President for his very interesting address, and that he be 
requested to allow the same to be printed in the usual way.” In refer- 
ence to that portion which related to the future of the Microscope, 
perhaps he might be allowed to recall a remark which was made to him 
many years ago by the late Dr. Bowerbank, who, when speaking upon 
the same subject, expressed his opinion that the instrument had then 
attained to such a pitch of perfection that it was not probable, and 
indeed he thought it was not possible, that it could be further improved ; 
and yet those who were present that evening had lived to see changes 
and improvements of a remarkable kind in mechanical construction, 
in the introduction of immersion and apochromatic lenses, and in the 
system of staining preparations which had led to so many valuable 
results. As also an instance of the progress made in America, he might 
mention the fact that when, in 1848, the U.S. Government were sending 
out an exploring expedition to the Pacific it was thought desirable that a 
Microscope should be provided for investigations, but the country was 
searched in vain for one, until at length it was found that an English 
doctor visiting the country had one in his possession, and this was 
borrowed for the occasion. 
Prof. Bell said that as he had been in some sense responsible for the 
line adopted by the President in the address which they had just heard, 
he thought he might with great propriety second the vote of thanks. In 
the course of his remarks, he fancied that the President did not appear 
to attach so much importance to the historical side of the matter as he 
did himself, for he was strongly of opinion that every student should 
make himself thoroughly acquainted with the history of every subject at 
which he worked. Of those who had been mentioned by the President 
as having been associated in the formation of their Society, the names of 
Owen, of Bowerbank, and of Quekett would remain in this country and 
in this metropolis famous as long as two great institutions survived — 
the Natural History Museum, which owed so much of what it was to 
Owen, and which owed to Bowerbank his magnificent collection of 
sponges ; to the energy of John Quekett the fine collection in the 
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons was largely indebted, whilst 
the name of Lister would always be associated with the advances in 
surgery which had so largely added to the reputation of the profession 
in England. It was a difficult matter for a Society like theirs, which 
