PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.] 
417 
Meeting of May 16th, 1894, at 20 Hanover Square, W. 
The President (A. D. Michael, Esq., F.L.S.) in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the Meeting of 18th April last were read and 
confirmed, and were signed by the President. 
Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell said it was a most unusual occurrence for them 
to be without any list of Donations to announce, but on that occasion — 
whether from the hardness of the times or from other causes he could 
not say — not a single person had made a donation to the Society during 
the preceding month. 
Mr. C. L. Curties exhibited and described a Microscope which had 
been specially made for photographic purposes, a feature of which was 
that the nose-piece was removable so that an ordinary short focus photo- 
graphic lens could be substituted for the objective if required. He also 
exhibited a new form of apparatus for obtaining instantaneous photo- 
graphs of objects under the Microscope, which he thought would be 
found of value where it was desired to obtain photomicrographs of living 
objects. The box, which formed the body of this camera, was fitted with 
a shutter carrying a right-angled prism, by means of which the object 
could be observed so as to determine when it was in the best position, 
the focus and amount of illumination being ascertained by previously 
examining an object requiring the same power as the living specimen. 
As examples of what could be done with this apparatus he showed two 
photomicrographs of blood-corpuscles taken with powers of X 300 and 
X 600 diameters, and also some low-power pictures of living specimens 
of Lophopus with tentacles extended. In taking these photographs 
Zeiss’s apochromatic lenses had been used. He thought it would at 
least be seen from the specimens shown that it was quite possible to 
take instantaneous photographs of objects under the Microscope. 
Dr. W. H. Dallinger thought that these photomicrographs were 
really very good, and was sure the Society would regard the successful 
manner in which they had been taken as a matter of great interest, 
especially as it had previously been thought to be hardly possible for 
such a thing to be done. He noticed in the immediate neighbourhood 
of the Lophopus there were some Vorticellse, and this suggested that it 
might be possible to take them in the act of closing, so as to get an idea 
of how the movement was performed. 
The President said that he was not himself in the habit of taking 
photographs, but he thought the Microscope exhibited was a very prac- 
tical and handy instrument, supplying two or three wants felt by those 
who practised this kind of photography. The apparatus for taking 
instantaneous photographs under the Microscope was a thing they had 
not been in the habit of seeing. It would no doubt be of great service 
to many because these rapidly moving objects were most difficult to 
draw in what were really their natural positions. If, therefore, by this 
means only a good outline could be obtained, the details could be after- 
wards filled in by hand, and much more natural drawings might be thus 
obtained than were at present possible. 
The thanks of the Society were voted to Mr. Curties for his communi- 
cation. 
1894 2 F 
