240 
PROCEEDINGS ^OF THE SOCIETY. 
Meeting of the 15th of February, 1899, at 20 Hanover Square, 
The President (E. M. Nelson, Esq.) in the Chair. 
The Minutes of the Meeting of the 18th of January last were read 
and confirmed, and were signed by the President. 
The List of Donations to the Society was read, and the thanks of 
the Society were given to the Donors. 
From 
An Old Microscope (No. 33) and a 1/4-in. Objective by Andrew) I/essrs. W. Watson 
Ross J and Sons. 
The President said he had to call the attention of the Fellows to a 
very valuable present made to the Society by Messrs. Watson and Sons, 
b3ing a beautifully made Ross Microscope complete (see p. 214). In 
1841, the Society ordered three Microscopes of the best models then 
known, one by Messrs. Ross, one from Mr. Smith, and one from Mr. 
Powell. Those by Smith and Powell were in the Society’s possession 
still ; but the one by Ross was, most unfortunately for the Society, ex- 
changed at a later date for one of more modern construction. This 
great loss of an original instrument had now been to a large extent 
remedied by this gift of Messrs. Watson. It would be noticed that it 
had a rotary foot ; this was not, however, an original idea, but had been 
invented by Cuff in 1760, and had from time to time been re-invented. 
This Microscope was furnished with a short lever nose-piece, fine adjust- 
ment, and a rackwork rectangular movement. He was sure the Fellows 
present would join in passing a very hearty vote of thanks to Messrs. 
Watson and Sons for thinking of the Society in this way, and for the 
presentation of this very beautiful Microscope. 
The vote of thanks was then put from the chair, and carried by 
acclamation. 
Mr. Beck exhibited a very ingenious and compact reversible com- 
pressorium designed by Mr. Davis, the construction of which was 
illustrated by a coloured sectional diagram. 
Dr. Tatham said that Messrs. Beck had kindly given him an oppor- 
tunity of seeing this new instrument. It was made chiefly of ebonite, 
and therefore possessed the merit of comparative lightness, a quality not 
always found in compressoria, which were sometimes so heavy that they 
were clumsy to use. The compressorium before them, like most other 
productions of Messrs. Beck, was exceedingly well made, and in his 
opinion would be found a useful accessory by the naturalist. 
