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PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 
The President said he thought the Fellows of the Society would be 
interested to hear that a series of thirty-six photomicrographs had been 
sent to the Society of Arts in compliance with the request read at the 
meeting in January last — for exhibition at Chicago. These had been 
contributed by various Fellows for the purpose, and amongst them was 
a series of twenty-four enlargements sent by Mr. E. M. Nelson. These 
had been given by Mr. Nelson to the Society and were sent to Chicago 
as the Society’s property. 
A special vote of thanks was, upon the motion of the President, given 
to Mr. Nelson for his valuable donation. 
An electric turntable was exhibited by Mr. Winter, of Messrs. Mawson 
and Swan, on behalf of Mr. Payne, of Newcastle. It consisted of a brass 
turntable of ordinary pattern having a small electric motor fitted to its 
axis beneath the plate, the whole being caused to revolve by the current 
from a bichromate battery cell. The speed, it was explained, could be 
regulated by the strength of the current applied, or by the pressure of 
the finger. 
The President said it was certainly a pretty piece of apparatus, and 
one which under some circumstances might be useful as answering the 
purpose of the old treadle device of Dr. Matthews to rotate the turntable, 
and at the same time to leave both hands free. 
Dr. W. H. Dallinger said it was not very easy to describe the con- 
tents of the remarkable Atlas* which he held in his hand. Those who were 
conversant with histology might at first sight take them to be some rather 
bad photographs of organic tissues, although they were really good photo- 
graphs of some of the results obtained by Prof. Biitschli in the course of 
his recent experiments. Most of those present were probably aware that 
Prof. Biitschli had been turning his attention to the preparation of what 
had been somewhat rashly termed “ artificial protoplasm.” His pro- 
cedure might be briefly explained by saying that he first took a small 
quantity of pure olive oil and kept it in a watch-glass for twelve days 
at a temperature of 60° — or for a less number of days at a temperature 
of 80° — at the end of which time it became extremely thick and white 
in colour. He next transferred a small quantity of this to a mortar, and 
having added a little powdered carbonate of potash, he breathed upon the 
surface, supplying thus sufficient moisture to cause the two to combine, 
the pestle being then used to mix them until they assumed a semifluid 
condition. Minute quantities of this mixture were then placed upon a 
glass slip, and a thin cover-glass, supported upon some extremely small 
feet of wax, was placed over the preparation, and a drop of water was so 
applied that it and the material would mingle. If this was examined 
under the Microscope they would, after a lapse of from twelve to twenty- 
four hours, probably — but not always certainly — find that the whole 
mass was broken up into minute globules having very much the appear- 
ance of a large aggregation of small soap-bubbles in a tub, but being to 
* ‘Atlas von 19 Mikrophotographien zu O. Biitschli, Untersuchungen iiber 
mikroskopische Schaume und das Protoplasma.’ 
