224 Transactions of the Royal Microscopical Society. 
IV . — An Introduction towards the Application of the Micro- 
spectroscope to the Study of Evergreens. 
By Thos. Palmer, B.Sc., F.B.M.S. 
(Read before the Royal Microscopical Society, November 7, 1877.) 
Plate CXCIX. 
The few remarks to which I beg to call your attention are not as 
yet so much connected with the science of the micro-spectroscope 
as I should almost wish they were ; but, for this very reason, I will 
endeavour to show how useful a knowledge of that instrument con- 
nected with botanical inquiry is. By its application, some of the 
great worker's experiments are made clearer to us ; not that I wish 
to imply for a moment that we do not understand them, but they 
are so frequently lost sight of that our memories require rubbing 
up occasionally, or we are very apt, in these days of quick advance- 
ment, to forget some of those valuable discoveries which must have 
caused our ancestors so much anxiety and thought when first they 
conceived them. Well, then, the subject which I now wish to 
bring before you must be regarded simply as an introduction 
towards the application of the micro-spectroscope to the study of 
evergreens. 
That due justice may he done to the subject, perhaps you will 
allow me to enter upon a few old facts which tend greatly to sub- 
stantiate what I wish to say. 
When many of these authors wrote, spectroscopes were not 
dreamed of, and what apparatus they possessed was of the most 
imperfect character as compared with that used by present ob- 
servers ; still great, undisputed laws were established, many of which 
puzzle us now to imagine how they assumed so much. Neverthe- 
less there they are. 
As plants, then, are living beings endued with especial powers 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 
Fig. 1 . — Young leaves of laurel. 
„ 2. — Mature „ „ Alcohol. 
,, 3. ,, „ ,, Ether. 
„ 4. — „ „ „ Wax precipitated. 
„ 5. — Solution from „ 
„ 6. — Mature leaves of holly. 
„ 7. — Young „ „ (variegated). 
„ 8. — Mature „ arbutus. 
„ 9.— Young „ „ 
„ 10. Red ,, ,, 
Note. 
Class 1 is a symmetrical band. 
„ 2 is an unsymmetrical band. 
