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THE MONTHLY
MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL:
TRANSACTIONS
OF THE
ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY,
AND
RECORD OF HISTOLOGICAL RESEARCH
AT HOME AND ABROAD.
EDITED BY
HENRY LAWSON, M.D., F.R.MS.,
Assistant Physician to, and Lecturer on Histology in, St, Mary’s Hospital.
VOLUME IIt.
R
REW YORK
BOTANICAL —
CarpE®:
LONDON:
ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY, W.
MDCCCLXX.
DEG aae901
THE
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL,
JANUARY 1, 1870.
I.—The Structure of the Scales of Certain Insects of the Order
Thysanura.
By S. J. McIntire, F.R.MLS.
(Read before the Royat Microscorican Socrery, Nov. 10, 1869.)
Puate XXXYVIL.
Some months ago I had the honour to submit a few observations to
the Royal Microscopical Society respecting some insects belonging
to the Thysanura, fam. Poduride—insects which deserve to be
better known to microscopists than they hitherto have been, from
the single interesting fact, one of many connected with them, that
their scales are very beautiful microscopic obejets. Since then cer-
tain views have been put forward relative to the structure of the
scales of one of these creatures, Lepidocyrtus Curvicollis, which do
not harmonize with my own, nor with those enunciated by the late
Mr. Richard Beck, in whose published opinions I entirely concur.
By the courtesy of Mr. Joseph Beck I was invited last April to
inspect the drawings of Podura scales left by his brother, and on
seeing them I was agreeably surprised to find that our observations,
though quite independent of each other, were upon the same
insects. In the drawings, which are exceedingly beautiful, the
so-called “bead-like spherules,” to quote from the recent papers on
the subject, which are forming at the present time a bone of con-
‘tention, are beautifully depicted, and the conclusion one must come
to, therefore, is that they were well known to Mr. Beck. It is
strange, then, that so accurate an observer as he is known to have
been should not have made public the new views respecting the
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVII.
Fic. 1.—Scale of Lepisma Saccharina x about 150
sae +3 Lepisma from Bombay 150
Nes “e Petrobius Maritimus xX 250
£ Greenhouse Degeeria xX ,, 1500
- Templetonia Nitida < ;;, 1900
” 3 Degeeria Domestica S< ee tO
VOL. III. B
x
”
”
Sot gob
9 Transactions of the ["Sournai, Jan 1170.
markings, and corrected his former statements, in which he dis-
tinctly asserts his belief that the scale is a corrugated structure, if
he believed them to have any real existence as spherules. But, on
the contrary, the latest expression of opinion by that authority
which I heard him give, was to the effect that no alteration had
taken place in his views with regard to the structure of the scale of
Lepidocyrtus (Podura scale).
In making some notes, as a necessary supplement to the short
paper I have already communicated on the scale-bearmg Podure, J
may be permitted, perhaps, to state, with some diffidence, the objec-
tions which seem in my mind to militate against the new theories:
I say theories because I have heard two urged. The most formidable
objection to the “ bead-like spherule” theory seems to me to be the
fact, that all through the scales of insects, whether Lepidopterous
or Coleopterous, so far as my knowledge extends, the markings are
due to corrugations or wrinklings of one or both membranes of the
scales. Now, if this plan of structure holds good so extensively in
the Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Diptera, as I believe it does, I
cannot help asking, “ Why should not the same plan affect the
Thysanura?” I think I shall presently be able to show, by com-
parisons, that it does, with certain modifications. The other theory
is founded on the optical illusion of rows of beads which is often
observable when two Lepidopterous scales of known striated struc-
ture lie across each other at any angle. A similar appearance and
its cause is alluded to by Mr. Beck in his book on the Microscope,
in treating of the scale of Lepisma Saccharina. It also is often seen,
but I believe it is equally illusive, in solitary scales of certain
foreign Lepidoptera, &c., where the strong longitudinal cost are
crossed at right angles by transverse corrugations. The theory
which is advanced is to the effect, that the elongated “beads,” or
“note of exclamation’? markings of the Podura scale, are due to
striz on opposite sides of the scale, crossing each other at an angle
of about 17°. Against it I would only urge one objection, namely,
that supposing this to be the true solution of the question, we ought
to see the elongated beads forming patterns with regard to each
other either of squares or rhombs; but they do not, as a glance at
any of the scales the structure of which is disputed, will, I think,
convince most observers. Therefore I am unable to accept this
theory as containing the whole truth and its explanation.
Now what analogy is there between the scales of the Thysanura,
_especially Podura scales, and the scales of other insects ?
If we compare the scales of Lepisma Saccharina, the British
species, with the species of Lepzsma lately alluded to m ‘The
Student’ by Dr. Mann (as introduced from the East Indies into
Natal, where its destructiveness is a great nuisance)—some specimens
of which species I believe found their way from Bombay to the
Soe ae lee Royal Microscopical Society. 3
London Docks in a case of furniture last year, and were kindly
given me by R. T. Loy, Esq., [a very pretty insect of speckled
appearance, black, brown, and white ;] and another of silvery-white
lustre from the West Coast of Africa, for which I am indebted to
the same kind friend—a strong family likeness is perceptible, and the
resemblance to the scales of the Lepidoptera is very striking.* (See
Figs. 1 and 2.)
Passing on to the scale of Petrobius Maritimus, an insect
common on the limestone rocks all round our coasts, remarkable
for its activity, whether running or leaping, and known as the
Bristle-tail, there is a variation to be noticed, in the fact that the
corrugations in many of the scales radiate from a line up the centre,
and these corrugations are crossed again by striz at right angles to
them. An apparently beaded structure is often seen, but I believe
it is illusive, and the explanation of the whole of the appearances is
clear to my mind as the result of corrugations (see Fig. 3). So
much for the Lepismidx.
Then, in the second division of the Thysanura, the Poduride,
the first example I shall allude to is Macrotoma. As this scale is
already sufficiently well depicted for the purpose in this Jonrnal,
vol. i., page 208, Fig. 5b, I need only call attention to it to show the
striking similarity between it, the known scales of Lepismidx, and
Lepidopterous scales. There are strong ribs or coste in a longitu-
dinal direction crossed at right angles by minute wrinklings of the
membrane, which under very high powers and certain illumination
present the appearance (an illusive one, I believe) of rows of beads,
as in the scale of Petrobius just alluded to. Some species of Macro-
tome show this feature better than others; Macrotoma major for
instance.
In the scale of the greenhouse Degeeriat the corrugations are
much coarser, fewer in number, slightly curved in direction, and
interrupted in their course (more correctly speaking, perhaps, sup-
pressed), so that they to a certain extent overlap each other. Of
these short cost the ends farthest from the tiny shaft of the scale
‘are considerably the highest. In fact, I take these costa to be the
representatives of the “note of exclamation” markings in Lepido-
cyrtus. (See Fig. 4.)
In Templetonia Nitidat the structure is the same with these
modifications ;—the ridges are closer, and the suppressions or inter-
ruptions are more numerous. ‘The sudden terminations of these
little costee moreover are perceptibly broader and higher in pro-
portion to the length of the coste than in the scale I have just
* These two scales are almost identical. Those from the speckled insect are a
little more opaque than from the silvery-white one, but the shape of the scales and
the other features are much the same. . ;
+ ‘M.M. J. voli., p. 203, Fig. 3b. { Ibid., er b.
B
. Monthly Mi i
4 Transactions of the Bete
spoken of. Hence, if the tops of the corrugations only are in focus,
they appear as bright circular beads at pretty regular distances
upon a number of indistinctly defined bright limes running down
the scale longitudinally, but which sometimes anastomose with each
other. A little deeper focussing dissolves this view, in which I
think “the spherule theory” takes its origin, and converts the
bright dots into “ note of exclamation ” markings nearly consecutive
with each other. The scale then appears to be scored with ridges,
like the exterior of one of the valves of a cockle-shell, but never-
theless it bears considerable likeness to the test scale—the scale of
Lepidocyrtus Curvicollis. (See Fig. 5.)
In the scale of Lepidocyrtus I recognize the same plan of
structure, and would account for the peculiarities of its appearance
by the more frequent anastomosing of the corrugations and the
greater minuteness of the costa, which structure renders it more
difficult to trace the course of the nbs. Microscopists generally
also I think, fascinated by the beauty of the exclamation mark-
ings, have devoted all their efforts to the development of this
appearance, and have neglected to a great extent to read the struc-
ture of this object as interpreted by transmitted light at a very
oblique angle with the stage, and other modes of illumination at
their command, because these modes alter the view to one much
less captivating.
I willsay no more respecting this scale, since I can add nothing
to the accuracy or clearness of Mr. Beck’s observations on the
subject * beyond expressing my belief that the “beads” are only
the most elevated points on the surface of the scale, which can be
focussed alone, the slightest alteration of the focus dissolving them
into the note of exclamation markings.
In the scale of the Speckled Podura, Degeeria domestica of
Nicolet, a scale which I prize very highly for its beauty, I seem to
find support in the opinion of the structure of the scale of Lepzdo-
cyrtus that I have formed. The insect is rare in England, but I
have reason to think its scales are often sold on the Continent, where
it is probably more abundant. The scale claims strong affinities
with the other Podura scales that I have mentioned in the single
characteristics it presents to the view ; but in uniting these features
in itself it is unique. For instance, it has minute cross-striz like
Macrotoma, the cost are interrupted, and tend to overlap each
other as in the Greenhouse Degeeria, while by direct transmitted
light it exhibits the “note of exclamation” markings of Templetonia
and Lepidocyrtus very beautifully ; but in uniting all these features
in itself it presents a perfectly distinctive character.t
* ‘Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.’ ;
+ Occasionally, too, on certain scales the ridges anastomose very distinctly, and
at these points certain illumination will give an appearance not very remote from
the so-called spherules or beads of Lepidocyrtus,
Monthly Microscoe | Loyal Microscopical Society. 5
According to the nature and direction of the illumination so the
view of the markings is greatly changed, and it would be quite
impossible except by the aid of photography satisfactorily to repre-
sent all the appearances it is possible to obtain.* I have chosen one
view for representation (obtained by illuminating from below the
stage at a wide angle), in which some idea of the real structure of
the surface of the scale and the relation of the markings to each
other, according to my opinion, is attempted to be shown. (See
Fig. 6.)
To sum up, then. I do not believe that the Podura scale con-
sists of globular beads placed at pretty regular mtervals between
two membranes. I believe it to be a case of “one apparent excep-
tion proving a rule,” and that rule is, that the markings of the scales
of insects, except where iridescence or the presence of pigment claims
attention, are wholly due to corrugations of the membranes.
So far as I can judge, I believe both sides of a Podura scale are
alike, and I have examined the scales uncovered as opaque objects
with high powers. This proceeding is very difficult, and not wholly
satisfactory, but I think I have seen enough to form an opinion
upon it. I have never been able to separate a Podura scale into
upper and lower laminz ; but there is every reason, I think, to believe
that, as with the scales of other insects, there are two. For instance,
in the scale of the Diamond Beetle (Hupholus), when detached and
viewed by transmitted light, one lamina is seen to possess the
iridescence and the other is transparent; and it has happened to
me in endeavouring to obtain the scales from the wing of a species
of Morpho in my possession, that single scales have been split, one
lamina, the upper one, which readily comes away, being strongly
corrugated and nearly translucent, and the other, which it was not
so easy to detach from the wing, being intensely blue, and possess-
ing extremely minute longitudinal strie.
* This remark is equally true with regard to all the Podura scales, as Mr:
Beck’s figures of the scale of Lepidocyrtus testify.
6 Transactions of the ae eee
II.—Organisms in Mineral Infusions.
By C. Sranmanp Wakz, F.A.S.L.
(Read before the Royat Microscoricat Society, December 8, 1869.)
(Communicated by Dr. Lawson.)
Ar the present time, when so much is being said and written about
“spontaneous generation” and the conditions of life, there is no
wonder that the mind sometimes, almost involuntarily, turns towards
the “inorganic” world, and wonders whether the rocks whose origin
is due to the activity through countless ages of microscopical organic
creatures, may yet be made to restore some part of the vitality they
haye absorbed. ‘The idea that this might be so led me to make the
experiments the results of which I am about to detail.
My first experiments were with coal. The character of this
mineral, and the varied and curious products which have been
derived from it, make coal much more promising than any other of
the organic minerals as a subject of investigation. There are, how-
ever, two conditions absolutely necessary (as will be well under-
stood) to success. Life requires moisture for its development, and
this moisture can be properly applied for the object had in view
only when the coal or other mineral has been disintegrated, and its
particles are made as fine as possible. When a piece of coal has
thus been finely divided and its constituents placed in water, it will
be found, when examined under the microscope, to contain (besides
the larger pieces of black matter) irregularly-shaped black or brown
particles, like portions of fronds, small pieces of crystalline sub-
stance—generally of a greyish hue, but often marked or mottled with
brown—and numerous minute dark bodies, many of which are
apparently of an oval form, the smaller ones having a rapid and
regular vibratory motion. When an infusion of coal presenting
these characters, made with distilled water, had been allowed to
stand about a week, I examined some of the coal powder under the
microscope, and found that a curious form of vegetation was begin-
ning to be developed, sometimes from the larger black pieces of
matter, but generally from the crystalline substance. This vegeta-
tion ultimately formed masses of irregularly-shaped stems, bearing
one or more fronds, and its black colour and curious formation gave
it a very strange appearance. ‘This, however, is not the only form
of vegetable growth to be met with in this infusion. Sometimes I
have found fibres, apparently flattened and perfectly black, which
occasionally attain great length. Other fibres resemble these,
except in colour (which is of a greyish hue), and in their bearing at
intervals, small black fronds. I have several forms of this grey
fibre, in one of which the sides are indented at regular intervals,
sa ae ie Pe ae Royal Microscopical Society. if
giving the appearance of its being composed of a series of cells, and
in another instance two fibres seem to be plaited together. The
latter is very beautiful, and more uncommon than the indented
form. I before remarked that the vegetable growth generally
springs from the crystalline substance. This is not surprising ;
for masses of this substance are often seen attached to the foliage
of the vegetation, as though it were a result of fructification. In
addition to this, there is a considerable quantity of gelatinous-
looking substance, which appears to exude from the coal matter, or
to be in some way connected with its growth, and which, although
sometimes beautifully clear, often has a speckled appearance. The
explanation of the speckled appearance I do not know, but occa-
sionally a number of the small dark bodies above referred to are
collected very near to the substance in question, as though they
have some relation to it. Other phenomena connected with the
coal infusions are the presence of small crystalloid bodies which
float about freely in the water, and the projection of minute moving
protuberances from various parts of the coal-substance and vegeta-
tion. As to the former, there is little to say beyond that they are
not angular, and that one side which is less curved than the other
is usually distinguished by a dark line at the margin. The pro-
tuberances, which sometimes take the form of “ tubes,” and at others
of broad indented limbs, somewhat resembling what I have seen in
other infusions to be mentioned, are of a dark colour. From their
movements they appear to me to have relation to animal rather
than to vegetable life, although they certainly are attached to the
vegetation, often several tubes being together at the end of a frond.
Occasionally a tube is much larger than usual, and then the move-
ment is very perceptible, and on one occasion I observed distinctly
the protrusion of a “tongue,” which moved rapidly from side to
side. These phenomena are not limited to any particular coal. I
have experimented with Cannock deep (Staffordshire), Swaithe
(Barnsley), Glyn Neath, Wigan, and Anthracite, all of which give
analogous results, although, perhaps, the non-bituminous Cannock
deep coal and that from Wigan show a more luxuriant vegetable
- growth.
It will be thought that whatever vitality the vegetation of the -
coal-beds may have retained, there can be no hope of producing life,
vegetable or animal, from chalk. The chalk with which I have
experimented was obtained from a well-boring in the Hertfordshire
hills, and it consists of minute organisms of various forms, some
round, others like straight or curved tubes, and many bodies resem-
bling the ovate coccoliths so distinctive of the mud from the Atlantic
depths. A number of minute moving bodies closely resemble, except
in colour, those found in coal infusions. When this chalk, after it
had keen finely powdered and kept in water for some days, was
* Monthly Mi jeal
8 Transactions of the Searia, Saey, ene,
examined under the microscope, tube-hke protuberances were found
to have been formed from the larger masses, and these had a move-
ment like that of the tubes of the coal infusion. But this is not all.
The particles generally presented the appearance of having a gela-
tinous coating, and in the course of several weeks they showed a
tendency to become agglomerated, the mass having small bud-like
projections at various points, the extremities of which are occasion-
ally seen to move. ‘These projections after a time become larger
and irregular in form, and their movement is then much more per-
ceptible. In fact, at the present moment the chalk of that infusion
is, so far as I can judge, im a state of perfect vitality. It is evident
from mere inspection with the unassisted eye that a change has
taken place in the chalk, as what was at first a fine powder is now
coarsely grained owing to the agglomeration of the particles and the
elaboration, doubtless, of fresh cretaceous matter by its busy in-
habitants. Independently, however, of this, there is other evidence
of life. This evidence is furnished by the numerous small detached
organisms which move freely through the fluid, and by the existence
of very small white bodies, which can be seen rushing about over
the microscopic field, especially after the slip has remained moist for
twenty-four hours. A more curious proof, however, is found in the
presence of what I can only suppose is a vegetable growth. This
vegetation is in the form of long, flat, semi-translucent fibres, not
unlike the grey fibres of the coal, but, judging from the shading,
having sometimes a slight tendency to the spiral form. There does
not appear to be any development of “foliage,” but at various points
there are chalky accretions, and occasionally the fibre is covered with
these throughout its entire length.
If the recovery of organic life from chalk be strange, such a
result in relation to marble must, considering the greater density of
this mineral, be far stranger. When a small piece of this mineral is
finely powdered, it appears to consist of crystals, with numerous
minute particles in active movement. When, however, the marble
has remained infused for some weeks, many of the crystals have the
appearance of being covered with a gelatinous substance, from which
various small “buds” have been produced. Some of these buds are
longer than others, and move to and fro like the tubes in the coal
infusion. Ultimately, however, there is so great a development of
the coating substance as often to quite conceal the form of the
crystal, accompanied by that of numerous small bodies of various
sizes, some of which have much the appearance of the ‘“ buds” at
first observed. These are evidently of the same character as similar
bodies found in the chalk, and they sometimes form irregular moving
projections such as those referred to as being produced in the chalk
infusion. Other larger formations resemble the “ finger” shaped
organisms I shall have again to mention in connection with an
NEE eee Royal Microscopical Society. 9
infusion which has a close general agreement with that of marble.
When a drop of the latter has been kept on a slip for twenty-four
hours, a number of the small white bodies met with in the chalk
infusion may be seen moving rapidly across the field. There are
also great numbers of minute spherical bodies, such as are met with
in the chalk infusion, although of a different colour, and they appear
to have a short fibrous prolongation at one end. In the marble
infusion I have, moreover, on several occasions found small jelly-like
organisms, which progress by a sudden spring or with a spinning
motion, and also minute forms like air-bubbles, which protrude from
larger bodies, and slowly move from side to side. The development
of fibrous growth in chalk prepares us to find this organic phase
even in marble. In fact, I have met with it more plentifully in the
latter than in the former, and generally, moreover, of a more truly
vegetable appearance. While some of the vegetable growth consists,
like that in chalk, of long flat greyish fibres, with small crystal
accretions attached ; at other times there is the same fibrous stem,
but it has what seems to be a true foliage, much resembling that of
the coal fibre, although of a grey colour and of a more crystalline
appearance.
There is another mineral which, notwithstanding the apparent
hopelessness of extracting any phase of vitality from it, 1 have
experimented with, and with much the same curious results as
those already detailed. I refer to the ordinary emery of commerce.
This, when first placed in water and viewed under the microscope,
does not differ much in general appearance from that which it pre-
sents after it has been “infused” for several weeks. When examined
at this subsequent period the infusion will be found to contain nume-
rous small bodies of various shapes, having a rapid vibratory mo-
tion. The greater part of the emery, however, somewhat resembles
peculiar vegetation, of a dark colour by transmitted light, although
by reflected light it is evidently red. Combined with this are
numerous masses of a whitish, gelatinous-looking substance, almost
exactly resembling that which is produced in connection with the
yegetation of the coal infusion. The most curious phenomenon I
have yet noticed is in connection with this emery crystalline sub-
stance. Projections from the black vegetable-looking matter often
move to and fro; portions of it are sometimes protruded and drawn
in again, much like what sometimes occurs in the marble infusion ;
and beautiful little “bubbles” occasionally show themselves. In
the emery infusion alone, however, have I met with the protrusion
of “fleshy” tongues. Indeed, on one occasion only have I seen
it with certainty even in this, and then not until the drop of infu-
sion I was examining had been on the slip for several hours. ‘The
forms of these protrusions were different. Of the two which I
observed most attentively, one was white with black markings, and
10 Transactions of the a ee
in shape broad at the base, but narrowing to a point; while the
other was broad throughout, but much shorter than the first, the
colour of the “tongue” being a beautiful pink. This preparation
remained moist on the slip for several days, and on my then ex-
amining it I was surprised to find a great number of small dark
bodies moving rapidly across the field, and the larger masses
turning rapidly over and over in a most curious manner. These
small dark organisms appear to be of the same character as the
minute white organisms met with in the chalk and marble infu-
sions, and they are of interest, as I have several times seen masses
of the crystalline substance containing small dark moving bodies,
such as those from which it appears to me that they are derived.
Nor, strange as it may appear, is the emery infusion without
fibrous growth. This is not plentiful, but on one occasion I found
a long fibre, totally unlike anything I had met with before in any
of the infusions. It was a slight gelatinous-looking fibre, of a
light olive-green tint by transmitted light, with bluish black mark-
ings, occasionally tinged with pink, and the stem was “contracted ”
at reeular intervals throughout its entire length. I have met with
another specimen of this fibre, although this is not so perfect in
form. Another vegetable growth from the emery is of a totally
different character, it having semi-transparent stems showing a
yellowish colour by transmitted light, and masses of emery bemg
attached to it by way of foliage.
However improbable the above facts may appear, thew truth
can be supported, at all events, by others of an analogous character.
There came into my hands recently a small quantity of sea-weed,
with which was a lump of hard matter, somewhat of the appearance
of very fine sand, the whole having, as I was informed, been picked
up from the Gulf Stream by a passing vessel three or four years ago.
On powdering some of this matter and treating it with distilled
water I was not surprised to find vitality show itself. The crystals
it contains appeared to be coated with the same gelatinous-looking
substance, with its attendant granules, such as I have already men-
tioned in connection with the marble infusion. This substance is
very abundant, and has a very “fleshy” appearance, and it is inti-
mately associated with “finger-like organisms, which are, how-
ever, sometimes aggregated into a considerable erytalline-looking
mass. Altogether there is great resemblance between this infusion
and that of marble. In the former, however, I have several times
met with the amoeba in a most active condition. This is a curious
fact, but it was not so surprising to me as it might have been, as I
had already met with the amoeba under other circumstances equally
strange.
There is certainly a difference between this last-named infusion
and the others experimented with, seeing that the matter of which
Monthly Microsc | Royal Microscopical Society. i
the one was made had not been detached from the living mass
many years, whereas the other substances infused had existed as
rock for countless ages. Another infusion of old mineral matter,
which was obtained from a peculiar sandy deposit found in the
cliffs near Bridlington Quay, furnished like results. This infusion
presents much the same appearance as that of chalk, except in the
absence of the ovate organisms so common in the latter. It con-
tains, moreover, other forms of life of an interesting character, which
want of space prevents me from particularly referring to. The
submerged forest of Holderness has furnished me with another
substance for infusion, and from this I have obtained an abundance
of organic life of the most unequivocal character. Its most curious
forms were small, almost transparent organisms (having a yellow
nucleus), which move rapidly through the fluid, though small in-
fusoria of several kinds were not wanting. My latest experiments
have been with mica; but as these are not yet concluded, I will
say merely that this infusion has produced great numbers of bac-
teria and other low animal forms, and that there is the formation
of fine long fibres, sometimes in bundles, but often detached, and
presenting real vegetable growth.
Before closing this paper I would mention several curious facts
in connection with the above infusions which I cannot satisfactorily
explain. The most curious is the occurrence of amebal life. This
I have met with in three infusions; one of them being of marble,
another of emery, and the third of coal. The most numerous
examples of amoeba were met with in the marble infusion, which pro-
duced the Amcba princeps, another kind which, somewhat slug-like
in form and without visible protrusions, may have been only another
phase of the princeps and the Ameba radiosa. Of this last species
I only met with one example, but the others were very numerous.
The emery provided two splendid specimens of Amoeba radiosa ;
while in a coal infusion I have found several specimens of two other
species. Of these, one, which contained a large number of crystalloid
bodies, is probably a species noticed by Mr. Carter, although I cannot
otherwise identify it. ‘These crystalloids appear to me to resemble
the curious bodies of a similar character already mentioned as exist-
ing in the coal infusion. The other amceba from this infusion was
much larger, and somewhat resembles illustrations of Amaba gut-
tula. The almost transparent ectosare of this amoeba, which it
protruded as a broad lip, was very apparent as it moved from place
to place along the vegetation stems to which it evidently adhered.
On one occasion when the lip was curved, I caught sight for an
instant of what appeared to be very small cilia in a state of intense
vibration. I have not mentioned the presence of these amcebze
earlier in the paper, notwithstanding their undoubted existence in
the chalky sand from the Gulf Stream, because the infusions in which
12 Transactions, &e. eee
they occurred (except that of coal, which was in a covered wine-
glass) were kept in corked bottles. All the other infusions were in
stoppered bottles; and in these I have found neither the amceba
nor any of the other organic forms, which for this reason I
have made no mention of, produced by the other infusions. In
fact, all the corked infusions seemed to have abundance of infu-
sorial life, although the corks had not been before used, and were
therefore free from moisture until they came into contact with the
water of the infusions themselves. How the amebz got into the
coal infusion I do not know ; but I do not believe they were deposited
there by the air or the water. J much rather think that they have
had their origin from the gelatinous-looking substance which is so
abundant in the coal infusions, and which often has much the
appearance of the amceba itself. Moreover, the erystalloids con-
tained in one of these creatures seemed to be not merely foreign
bodies. They had the appearance of being in some manner con-
nected with the organism itself; and I would suggest that the
independent presence of the crystalloids in the infusion is due to
the breaking up of amcebal organisms. I have been more puzzled
by meeting with Rotifer vulgaris in one of the coal infusions, than
by anything else: not so much perhaps by its presence, it having
occurred only once, as by its curious appearance when my attention
was first drawn to it. It looked exactly like a large piece of crystal-
line substance, of a regular oval form, but curiously marked. I
thought I had found an ameeba in an encysted state, but about a
minute afterwards, on again looking at it, I was astonished to find
a rotifer in full activity.
I shall not attempt here to draw any general conclusions from
the phenomena above detailed. I find confirmation of some of my
experiments in the fact, recorded in the ‘Journal of the Chemical
Society,’ of the discovery by Mr. Roberts of a microscopic fungus in
colloid silica obtained by dialysis. I have met with a still stronger
confirmation, however, in the “chalk-mud” obtained from the
Atlantic deep-sea dredgings, some of which, through the courtesy of
Dr. Carpenter, I have been able to examine. In this I at once
recognized forms analogous to the ovate bodies of the chalk infusion,
and also the minute detached particles (evidently independent
organisms) which answer to the granules of Bathybius, and which
are present also in the marble infusions. The “ fleshy” substance
of several of my infusions appears to answer to the protoplasm of
Bathybius. In the “ chalk-mud” there is, moreover, an approach
to the development of “ vegetable” stems, which is still further
confirmatory, although this may, perhaps, show that the fibrous
growth I have met with in the chalk and marble infusions has a
connection with animal rather than with vegetable life.
Monthly Microscopical
Toda dan 1: wae. Markings on the Podura Scale. 13
IlI.—The Markings on the Podura Scale, being a Postscript to
a Paper on High Power Definition. By G. Royston Piaort,
M.D.
Mr. Reaver having kindly furnished me with some slides* of
Podura Scales, vz. Mr. M‘Intyre’s specimens of “ Inner Surface of
Degeria Domestica and Macrotoma Major,’ I find that the upper
beading is so coarse that it may be plainly made out with a good
half-inch objective, a C eye-piece and 16 inches of tube. At Mr.
Reade’s request I exhibited the beading to him very rapidly (very
little adjustment being required) with the half-inch.
They may be seen also on a dark field, by employing oblique
light from the ordinary concave mirror, at a greater obliquity than
the semi-aperture of the half-inch objective. I now see them.
The axis of the scale is inclined at about 30 degrees to the
direction of the light. By this light they appear yellowish green.
I see no under-beads.
Fitting the hydro-objective to the one-eighth Powell and
Lealand, I shall expect a gorgeous field.
A lady, who is now viewing the scale, says “the beads look
just like rows of peas in the pod.” But the water is now insinuating
itself, and bright spots four times the size of the beads arise like
blebs of a light green colour. One vouleau vanished instantly.
The “green peas” are mingled in alternate rows with the
upper deep orange-red beads: and each set can be seen with black
crescentic shadows. The water advances and gradually obliterates
the vivid and lovely prismatic colourings.
But to me, more striking than all those appearances are our
old friends the black markings of the Podura reappearing alongside
of our newer acquaintances, the upper and lower beads. At the
same time the lattice-work of rows of beads is extremely beautiful.
I now examine the other Podura slide from insects bred by
Mr. M‘Intyre. Same arrangement without condenser.
The Macrotoma Major.—The beads now appear in parallel
rows; orange-red above, and between them and below them appear
rows of intensely blue beads. They all gradually diminish as they
go towards the quill end of the scale, appearing beautifully less.
They are very easily seen in any position of the scale with
ordinary oblique mirror iulumination.
These scales come most opportunely, for they render that easy
which is exceedingly difficult in the regular test scale of my plate.
* It is very noteworthy that both the upper and under sides of these scales
appear identical in their physical phenomena—structure and colour. Mr. McIntyre
informs me the insect is here pressed upon the slide, instead of upon the cover, to
show the under surface upwards.
14 Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. a ene
I had the satisfaction of exhibiting several times to Mr. Reade,
the upper and lower beads of the test-scales he brought with him,
and we were both greatly pleased with the beautiful, I might say
exquisite, colouring of the rows of beads or rouleaus, according as
they were in the upper or lower plane. Not less remarkable were
the prominent and enlarged appearance of every fourth or fifth
bead of a vivid azure blue: a phenomenon capable, no doubt, of
good physical demonstration.
The azure blue scales described in the paper are similar in
structure to the Macrotoma Major ; but very finely marked, more
delicate and transparent.
Altogether this new test promises a new field of research.
IV.— Cultivation, &c., of Microscopic Fungi.
By R. L. Mappox, M.D.
Pirate XXXYVIII.
Tue cultivation of Microscopic Fungi offering such a wide and
tempting field for research, and the few experiments conducted in
reference to “ Mucor Mucedo,” as stated in a previous article, p. 140,
vol. ii. of this Journal, beg incomplete, others were set forward
without delay; but unfortunately, from unavoidable absence from
home shortly after, they must for the present be entirely passed
EXPLANATION OF PLATE.
Fic. 1.—a. a. Spores or conidia of Oidium Tuckeriti.
b. The same, germinating.
c. Pedicels with fruit.
d. Older stalks, rough on the outside.
e. Small nucleated spores and bacteria.
,, 2—f. Spores or conidia from brand on orange leaf.
g, h. The same, germinating.
i. Stalk with spores—one—rough on the outside.
j. Small spores nucleated.
k, Part of an old mycelial thread, with minute bodies
enclosed between the septa.
» 3.—J. Spore or conidia from brand on leaf of a climbing plant.
m. The same germinating and producing irregular cells,
n. Terminal cell supposed to have discharged the minute
bodies.
o. Moniliform rows of Penicillium glaucum.
p. Mycelium from the brand on the leaf.
, 4.—Figures of the bodies now found (Dec. 13) in the two large drops
of juice alluded to in pp. 144, 145, vol. ii., of this Journal, repre-
senting the true spores, the small schizonematous bodies and
minute granules or molecules, and which show them to appear
at least as fungoidal elements.
, 9. Cultivating slide.
The Monthly Microscopical Journal, Jan¥1.1870.
. West sc.
Taff
21
D? Maddox
un e1
=
ation of Microscopic F
’
Cultiv
ae eo. Cultivation of Microscopic Fungi. 15
over, being too imperfect for publication, and others only slightly
sketched.
As the subject is likely to oceupy considerable attention at home
and abroad, and different observers employ different plans, I venture
to shortly notice the method adopted by myself, which proved
useful and inexpensive, and allude more particularly to that em-
ployed by Drs. Billings and Curtis, as stated in their portion of the
late “ Report on the Cattle Plague in America.”
The great difficulty, if not almost absolute impossibility, of con-
ducting any series of experiments, which, however free to legitimate
deduction, shall not be open to useless controversy, determined me
to use only such means as might be called simply precautionary, of
easy arrangement and manipulation, one object bemg to determine
some useful form of cultivating-slde with the ordinary 3-inch
microscopic object-slide. Several plans were tried, but the one now
described selected. It was made as follows, to be used with thin
éths of an inch square covering-glass, such as is usually employed
for a ~1,th-objective.
A piece of tin-foil, of the stoutness of ordinary note-paper, was
cut into squares of one inch diameter, a portion was then removed
from a square by cutting it from one side almost to the opposite,
then at right angles and again at right angles, thus leaving a
strip of the shape of the letter [J with a flat base, and limbs
of equal length and width; from the piece removed a narrow slip
was cut from three sides, and then a portion removed from it, as in
the first piece, thus forming a smaller letter L]: the largest was
cemented to the surface of a well-cleaned slide with easily-melting
marine glue, or Bell’s cement thickened with gum-shellac; the
smaller one was then similarly fixed within the larger one, the limbs
being turned to opposite sides of the slide, as seen in the figure,
thus affording a central space for the material under examination
and a narrow channel each side for the admission of air.
The fungi or spores selected were placed on the cover, under the
dissecting or erecting microscope, with a droplet of the medium to
be employed or cultivating solution. This was examined under the
microscope with a power of 150 or 200 diameters, and if satisfactory,
placed at once over the central space of the slide (which, after
cleaning with liquor potassze water and alcohol, if cemented with
marine glue, or diluted alcohol if with Bell’s cement, was kept
turned upside down, one edge resting on a piece of glass until
wanted), and the edges of the thin cover resting on the slip of tin-
foil, were then closed up with wax softened by oil or with Bell’s thin
cement, except at the spots corresponding to the two narrow pas-
sages marked * * in the figure. If thought necessary, a duplicate
slide was similarly prepared, one being left in diffused light, the
other in darkness in the moist chamber.
16 Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. | “pnttis, Microreon
The medium should noé touch the inner edges of the tin-foil at
any part.
To procure a satisfactory moist chamber occupying but little
space, the slides were set in small porous battery cells, previously ~
thoroughly cleansed and moistened with freshly-boiled water, and
set in a basin of the same to the depth of half an inch, the basin,
with levelled edges, being covered by a plate of clean glass. Those
slides intended for diffused light were placed in cleaned damp white
porous cells set in water as the others, and covered with glass, the
face or cover side of the slide leaning towards the inner surface of
the battery-cell ; a small cell would thus hold four slides occupying
little space. The external temperature, if not sufficiently high,
must be raised artificially by a water-bath, or the basin set in a
warm place.
The slides when removed are bedewed with moisture; but if
rested on end, in a clean tumbler (warm if necessary), and covered
with a bell-glass, this soon disappears, and permits examination with
any power up to a ;4,th.
Although the slide and cover were generally fogged with mois-:
ture, I sometimes found the droplet had considerably diminished,
and the slide presented surfaces barely moist, especially if cover and
slide. had not been most carefully cleaned. To meet this difficulty,
‘which was somewhat serious, especially if the slide had to be
watched many days, it occurred to me that if an artificial cultivating
fluid was made, which would be hygrometric, besides containing the
elements of nourishment considered useful for the colour and growth
of the fungi, much of this difficulty might be overcome ; hence, after
several trials, the following was selected and successfully used :-—
Dextrine, 2 grains; phosphate soda and ammonia, 2 grains ;
saturated solution of acetate potash, 12 drops; grape sugar, 16
grains; freshly-distilled water, 1 ounce; boiled in a clean glass vessel
(thin beaker or large test-tube) for 15 minutes, covered whilst boiling
and cooling ; when settled poured into perfectly clean two-drachm
stoppered bottles, and set aside for use. Sometimes with the culti-
vating fluid other media were added on the slide.
To preserve some of the perfect forms of fungi found on plants,
or produced by. cultivation, &., a saturated solution of acetate of
potash was employed with success. There is, however, a little diffi-
culty often from the repellent nature of the heads when beset with
spores, and retaining air in their interstices, in using this medium
for mounting ; but flooding the specimen momentarily with alcohol
diluted to the point when it readily touches or wets all the surfaces,
and draining it from the slide before applying the mounting solution,
readily overcomes this little trouble, and with scarcely any appre-
ciable change in the appearance of the spores or mycelium ; at least
such is my experience. I prefer it to glycerine or any other solution
Monthly | Microscopical! Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. 17
used. The edges of the cover, if wetted by the acetate solution,
attract moisture readily ; so it is best, if the specimen be worth closing
up, to dry the edges by a sable pencil and twist of tissue-paper
before applying Bell’s cement, at first thin, then thickened, as afore-
mentioned.
On the 1st September, a few of the spores (conidia or sporanges)
were removed from the surface of a grape, covered with Ozdiwm
Tuckerii, and sown as described in the cultivating solution, placed
in the porous cell in the moist chamber, and left in diffused light.
On the 4th there was an abundant mycelium from several of the
spores or conidia (Fig. 1b), afterwards becoming of a light-brown
colour, divided by septa, enclosing generally two oil globules or
minute spores. Later, on the 15th, from the mycelium several stalks
had sprouted, and fruited into the air-space beyond the edge of the
liquid; the fruit resembling Penicillium, but the spores in rows on
the pedicels were slightly oval. Some of the older stalks had a cha-
racter which I had not noticed before, and which I have endeavoured
to show in Fig. 1d. They appeared rough outside, or covered with
most minute bodies. I am of opinion that this was not an accidental
character, but from absence was unable to trace this point further,
or whether such stalks might not break up into other bodies.
Lying about amongst the threads were numerous minute bodies
(?)bacteria, also small oval bodies with a central spot or nucleus,
mostly collected into groups (Fig. le). It is possible these may
have been drawn in from some slight shrinking of the fluid, and
have originated, as supposed, from the heads that fruited in the air-
space; but whence they were derived I am uncertain.
On August 30th, a small speck from a brand on an orange-
leaf (from the same greenhouse), which for trial had been set in
fresh gooseberry juice, was removed, as it had not altered, and set
in the cultivating solution, &c., in the light. The spores or conidia
commenced sprouting very shortly after, and soon became filled with
oil globules or spores, as in Fig.2g,h. On the 5th many of the
mycelium threads had formed heads outside the fluid, the spores
bemg very slightly oval (Fig. 22).
In the fluid lyimg by the side of some of the original conidia
or spores which had sprouted were minute oval bodies with a central
nucleus in each (Fig. 27). On the 15th the stems of the older
fruited threads appeared roughened on the exterior, with minute
bodies, as in the former case. The young threads were growing
beautifully, and filled with closely-packed oil globules or spores,
no septa being distinguishable, while in the older mycelial threads,
which were of a brownish colour, septa existed; each division
inclosing about six small bodies (Fig. 2 /).
Another slide was set from a black brand (found on a leaf of a
climbing plant,* * *,in the same greenhouse) with the culti-
VOL. IIL. c
‘ Y 4 : +f Monthly Mi i
18 Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. Jourtal gan eee
vating solution on the 1st September ; on the 5th some of the conidia
or sporanges showed in their interior four distinct spores (Fig. 3 7) ;
some of the loose spores gradually sprouted, forming threads con-
sisting of irregularly-shaped cells, many of them containing from
one to four, either oil globules or spores (Fig. 3m); these, like the
former, were not tested with ether, &., as it was desired to pre-
serve the specimen intact. On the 15th the threads were full of
these, and along their edges thousands of bacteria-like bodies were
present. Iam doubtful if these were not ejected from the spori-
ferous (?) ends of some of the offshoots, as in Fig. 3”. Though
I had not witnessed their ejection, their position and the appearance
of the terminal cells in some parts led to this supposition. The
heads with spores in the air-space resembled Penzcilliwm glaucum
with its moniliform chain of round spores, and were larger than in
the other specimens (Fig. 30). The mycelium from the same
brand is seen in Fig. 3p. At this interesting point of inquiry
they were obliged to be neglected, and are only alluded to here in
this imperfect sketch, rather to show the utility of the cultivating
slide and solution than otherwise; for in the two last experiments
it would be difficult to prove more than that the fruit sprang from
some particular spore of those found in the brand, which possibly
might be of a mixed character.
In the very valuable and suggestive report of experiments by
Drs. Billings and Curtis, of the U.S. army, appended to the com-
prehensive and extended researches furnished by Prof. John
Gamgee, M.D., on the cattle plague in the United States, under
the various titles of “lung disease, or pleuro-pneumonia,’ “the ill
effects of smutty corn on cattle,” and “the Texan, periodic or splenic
fever,” undertaken by the authority of the commissioners of agri-
culture, we find the microscopic examination and the cultivating
experiments handled in a very careful, instructive, and trustworthy
manner. The omission of any experiments carried out in darkness
in reference to the cultivation of fungi from the healthy or patho-
logical tissues or fluids, more especially those relating to the most
serious and difficult question of the cause of Texan or splenic fever,
which destroys life so largely, is to be regretted, as it leaves this
point open for future investigation.
Experiments performed outside the body, if darkness be omitted
as one of the conditions, however carefully temperature and moisture
may have been regarded, may not sufficiently closely imitate the
natural relations, and determine a difference as regards the results
obtained. This is not to say that such differences do exist, nor is
it to be expected that all the circumstances can be rendered similar,
hence there may remain always some degree of questioning, but
this condition adopted would tend to narrow the circle. My object
is not to enter into a review of this most interesting and valuable
te eee Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. 19
Report,* but for the benefit of those who may be engaged in or
undertake such examinations, it may be useful to give a brief
statement of some of the methods employed, and the results arrived
at by those excellent observers.
‘The questions they have endeavoured to answer are :—
Ist. “ Are any forms of cryptogamic growth present during life
in the blood or secretions of diseased animals ?”
2nd. “If so, of what character are they, and what is their
probable source ?”
All relation between the cryptogram and the disease, as cause
or effect, being neglected.
The supposition by some, which they give succinctly, is that
“ disease is produced by the presence in the economy of minute par-
ticles of protoplasm (micrococcus of Hallier), resulting from deve-
lopment and breaking-up of the spores or mycelium of a fungus;
from which granules, they assert, can be developed perfect forms
of fungi, of recognizable genera and species, by proper ‘cultivation’
outside of the body of the animal fluids contaming them.” In the
fresh venous blood from a pleuro-pneumonic cow under 1200’ dia-
meters, they found no unusual appearances to healthy blood as regards
corpuscles, spores, or mycelium, but, “single or in masses,” minute
eranules or molecules were seen in the field as “ glistening points,”
if not at first, at least after exposure to the “air for a few hours.”
These particles have been claimed as the course of disease, pro-
nounced to be vegetable in character, and “as being developed from,
and capable of reproducing certain common fungi popularly known
as rusts, smuts, or molds.”
The fluids were obtained in a state of purity, by using short
glass tubes about 53,ths of an inch in diameter, made by sealing one
end at the flame of a Bunsen burner, holding the tube in it nearly
upright with pincers till it is red hot, rapidly drawing the tube out
to a narrow neck and closing it in the flame; the hermetically
closed tube with a partial vacuum is called a “vacuum tube.” The
insertion of the poimt into a vein, compressed above and below,
when broken off allows the blood to enter, and the tube on with-
drawal is immediately sealed by the flame of a spirit lamp. The
fluid can now be kept for experiment without the entrance of
foreign spores; but to place any portions of this in conditions
necessary for cultivating without risk from their entry, offers a
difficulty, upon which those observers reasoned as follows, and
which so entirely corresponds with my own views as expressed in
another paper, that I venture to quote their words.
“ By no amount of precaution or complexity of apparatus is it
possible to secure such absolute isolation of a fragment of tissue or
* Reports of the diseases of cattle in the United States, made to the Con-
missioners of Agriculture, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1809.
c
20 Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. [Monthly Microscopical
a quantity of blood from possible contact with foreign spores, that
the results obtained from its cultivation can be considered as posi-
tively conclusive. By no means known to us can a piece of lung be
transferred from the body of an animal to the interior of a glass
flask, without contact with the atmosphere and with instruments,
nor even with the more manageable blood can we be absolutely
certain when we see its surface covered with mold, that the possibly
single spore from which that forest sprang must infallibly have
been in the vein of the animal whence the blood was drawn. It
was felt, therefore, that to adopt at the outset extraordinary pre-
cautions against the introduction of foreign spores, would be more
apt to lead to error than even taking none at all. The method of
comparison was therefore resorted to.” Thus healthy and diseased
tissues and fluids were similarly treated, using ordinary precautions.
The “isolation” apparatus they adopted is a thin, flat-bottomed
flask, with a cork dipped in paraffin at the neck, pierced for a
tube bent at right angles, closed at the outer end with a plug of
fine cotton wool.
The culture apparatus used was a large flat glass cell, contain-
ing a porcelain stand, rather higher, which supports a glass shelf
for holding the slides and watch-glasses for daily examination, this
covered by a glass bell jar closed at the neck by a cork dipped in
paraffin, through which is passed a right angle bent tube, the
outer end plugged with cotton, and the interspace between the
outer cell and glass jar filled with a strong solution of permanganate
of potash. These somewhat, as stated, resembling Hallier’s, but no
means were added for drawing fresh air into the vessel.
The growing slide recommended is the ordinary 3 x 1 inch slide,
having ‘a piece of thin, fine, white blotting-paper of the same size,
with an opening in the centre three-fourths of an inch in diameter, or
a little less than that of the thin glass cover used. The edges of the
paper may be cemented to the glass with a little Canada balsam,
although this is not necessary. ‘To use it, put it in strong alcohol
for ten minutes, then in distilled water for the same length of time ;
free the central opening from water; place in it a drop of the fluid
to be cultivated, and cover it with a thin glass cover.” It is to be
kept flat and set in a culture apparatus: when “water alone is
used as the isolating fluid,” a piece of sewing-thread rests on one
end of the slide, the other end dipping into the water. If not to
be set in a moist chamber, the paper is covered with a correspond-
ing “piece of thin sheet rubber or oiled silk,” with a similar cen-
tral aperture. If the fruit is to be developed, “a groove should be
cut in the paper to the edge of the slide” to admit air. A very
ingenious form of development apparatus used was a glass beaker
containing a little water, closed at the top by a thin sheet of rubber
having suspended from its centre, by a thread, “a strip of thin
ae Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. 21
blotting-paper which had been previously soaked in alcohol and
distilled water, and on which the material to be cultivated had been
placed.” Perhaps a similar employment of a few long fibres of
asbestos might be useful, as they could be heated red hot so as to
destroy any germs, and if the object to be cultivated was placed
half-an-inch from the end, this might be allowed to dip into a small
cell having the necessary cultivating solution, and the cell itself
surrounded by water for a moist chamber.
The substrata employed for the nourishment of any fungi
present, were of various kinds, natural liquids, animal and vege-
table, also solutions of sugar, cane, and grape, and solutions of
tartrate. of ammonia, ashes of yeast and water, &c., &c., some boiled,
and if filtered, reboiled.
The experiments are numerous and most interesting, and the
conclusion derived from them is “ that, in the contagious pleuro-
pneumonia of cattle, there is no peculiar fungus-germ present in the
blood or secretions, and that the theory of its cryptogamic origin 1s
untenable.”
With the blood from the splenic disease, “ which was placed im
various substrata, and compared with healthy blood, the results
were in all cases the same, 7. e. production of penicillium, coremium,
and mucor.”
They found in the blood, bile, and urine of animals slaughtered
in Texas, “ apparently healthy while alive, yet after death ” present-
ing characters of splenic fever, “minute bodies corresponding to
the micrococcus of Hallier, which exhibit the same behaviour with
reagents as the spores of fungi.”
These micrococci are undistinguishable from “similar bodies”
found in “any blood in an incipient stage of putrefaction.” More,
over, cultivation, in various ways, of the blood containing them-
failed to invest them with a special and important character. The
growths were “composed of the commonest mold, and instead of
being unique as to species or even genus, comprised various forms
and sizes of cryptococcus, torula, penicillium, coremium, mucor, and
the so-called schyzosporangia of Haller ” “either simultaneously or
successively developed.” Healthy blood they found to yield the
same results, but more slowly.
Ustilago, coniothecium, or tilletia, were not obtained, and as
said, “ probably due to the circumstance that no specimens of these
fungi were ever brought into the room where our experiments were
conducted” (the italics are ours). These cautious observers thus
deduced the hypothesis from their experiments, the cultivation
yielding only the commonest molds, “that the disease rather
destroys the vitality of the blood to such a degree as to render it
capable of supporting and nourishing a low form of these ubiquitous
fungi, which perish when introduced into a healthy subject,” and
22 Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. eS oe ae
suppose these granules, if fungous in their nature, should be con-
sidered rather ‘as an effect of the malady, whether constant and
inherent, or altogether fortuitous,” ‘‘ than imagine a deadly disease
occurring only under certain rigidly prescribed conditions, as
caused by the presence, in the economy of the germs, of fungi
notoriously harmless and of universal occurrence.” They admit
the possibility of these fungi in the fluids of the diseased animals
becoming the “ carriers of contagium.”
The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, to whom we are so largely indebted
for our knowledge of microscopic and other fungi, in his paper,
page 14, vol. i1., of this Journal, thus expresses himself in reference
to these small bodies: “ But, whatever may be the origin of these
minute bodies in question, whether from pre-existent spores or the
fortuitous concourse of chemical and other energetic forces, it is a
matter of immense importance to ascertain whether they have any
real connection with disease, and it is at once obvious that the
question as to their origin becomes eminently essential.” Every-
thing, therefore, which may help forward the difficulty, though it
may not overcome it, has its appreciable value.
It is, perhaps, at this pomt of interest to notice the curious
results marked by Professor Gamgee of cattle driven over the trail
of Texan cattle, which themselves may have shown no signs of the
disease while alive, conferring the disease upon the new comers in a
most fatal manner, yet the survivors of those “animals contami-
nated by feeding on Texan trails have not in a single instance
propagated the disease to other animals,” &c., nor do the originally
infected cattle occasion the disease by actual contact. Professor
Gamgee remarks, it is “not the breath, nor the saliva, nor the
cutaneous emanations which are charged with the poisonous prin-
ciple, but the foeces and the urine.” The conditions, he states, are
modified by weather, season of year, and time. This alone, con-
sidering the sad waste of life and actual loss of property to those
engaged in the produce of stock, or as “packers” for a vast con-
sumption in their own country or in others, where preserved meat
may, under emergency or price, influence the markets, is a field of
research that cannot be too widely investigated. From the obser-
vations of others, speaking of the ill effects of diseased corn in cattle
fed with it, he remarks that pigs “acquire a taste for it, and after
eating it a few days their bristles drop out, there is an awkward-
ness in the movements of the hind legs, and atrophy affects them.
Eating the pigs produces no ill effects on man.” “ Hens lay eggs
without shells ;” monkeys and parrots fall down, “unable to rise
again.” “The indigenous dogs and deer that enter the corn-fields
at night suffer in the same way ;” yet, in an experiment, two cows
were fed with food, somewhat dry in one case and wetted in the
other, and mixed with smut fungi; the only effect observed was,
gainer em Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi. 23
“the cow fed on the dry food lost flesh,” on the “wetted food
gained in condition.” They consumed forty pounds of smut in
three weeks, the appetite being voracious. Thus we find how much
we have to learn amongst the diseases of cattle, and how such
important investigations amongst inferior beings may tend to
unshroud the contagious, endemic, and epidemic maladies that
encircle ourselves. We have paid too little attention to the excreta
in large and small communities, and here we see opened before us,
by vast and devastating results, an inquiry of how far the state-
ment that the Texan or splenic fever, “an enzootic disorder, pro-
bably due to the food on which Southern cattle subsist, whereby
the systems of these animals become charged with deleterious
principles, that are afterwards propagated and dispersed by the
excreta of apparently healthy, as well as obviously sick, stock,”
may prove correct ; and whether, under a constant inquiry relative
to zymotic diseases generally, the importance of experimental
development of fungi might not be more seriously urged in this
and other countries.
Dz. Gamgee says that the spring grasses, after the frosts of
winter have killed the old ones, are healthy, and continue so unless
Texan or Florida cattle are again driven over them. Mr. H. W.
Ravenel, the accomplished botanist of South Carolina, who accom-
panied Dr. Gamgee, found no parasitic fungi on the young grasses
or hay at the time of their visit, that could in any way account
for the disease, nor did he find the coniothecium Stilesianum which
Hallier suggested should be “looked for in the food of the wild
bullocks.”
Besides the foregoing brief notice of the methods employed by
Drs. Billings and Curtis, it is necessary to allude shortly to another
which may yet have very important bearings in the solution of
some points difficult to study ; they carried out a series of experi-
ments in reference to the passage of “bacteria, vibrios, and
molecules, either single or in chains (Monas, Microzymas, Micro-
coccus, Leptothriz, Zooglea, and Schizomycetes of various authors),”
through thoroughly moistened filtering paper, while, as originally
shown by Mitzscherlich, “ yeast cells will not pass,” and that none of
the aforementioned bodies pass through vegetable parchment, though
this is open to the passage of fluids; the apparatus used being
simply a test-tube open at both ends, one end is new closed by doubled
strong filtermg paper, tied by waxed thread, which end is rested on
a glass rod inside a four or six ounce glass beaker, rimmed, and
after certain precautions the fluids for operation were placed, the
one in the beaker, the other, the putrefying or fermenting fluid, in
the tube, and the beaker finally closed by lightly stretching and
fastening sheet rubber over the top: the solutions and slides, pre-
pared with the same fluids, were very numerously varied; putre-
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Jan. 1, 1870.
24 Cultivation of Microscopie Fungi.
factive fluids determining the formation of yeast-cells in the external
fluids which previously contained none; in other cases yeast-cells
being found in the tube and molecules or micrococcus in the beaker.
From these many and varied experiments, they consider it probable
“that some of the bacteria and micrococcus germs are really fungoid
in character, and capable of being developed into higher forms.”
Although they found no fungus germs in the blood of many
healthy and diseased animals, in others, germs existed in the blood
during life, as they developed in the blood in the “ vacuum tubes”
filled from them ; but they question whether those germs would he
developed without some “dead organic matter as a pabulum.”
The common mildews are stated to stand, in point of frequence,
thus: penicillium, then mucor, next aspergillus, these varying as
to growth, colour, size, &c., in many ways.
The conditions under which bacteria and the minute germs of
fungi germinate in the living economy of either vegetable or animal
are very imperfectly known, and probably are at the first very
trivially altered from the normal state; but once permit these
minute bodies a footing, as it were, in the economy, and if retained
at any one point or organ rather than another, from the rapidity
of development, serious effects might be expected—(according to
some botanists, cells in some fungi can be produced at the rate of
96,000,000 per minute, see Peunetier, ‘ L’Origine de la Vie,’ p. 27)
—lead to rapid decay in the cells and tissues, the formed material
supplying the “dead organic matter” for their pabulum; then the
secondary deposits may become deficient, and the catalytic changes
induced by their presence so destroy the relation or balance of
those efforts, at harmonic action, which are present in slight devia-
tions from health, that increased sickness may follow.
That the protoplasm itself is converted into bacteria or fungoid
germs is to me doubtful. In the petals of flowers, especially
Lscholtzia, some of the cells may often be seen filled with these
moving bodies, supplanting the place of the normal plasma, gra-
dually extending their domain into neighbouring cells and hastening
decay ; yet we are not in a position to say such germs were not
introduced from without either by the spongioles of the rootlets or
by the stomata. The duration of their life is also undetermined, .
and, if at all in proportion to the rapidity of their increase, must
be short; but if originally reserved for ulterior uses, this may be
reversed, and their power of resistance to increased temperature, &c.,
reach far beyond the point at which higher organisms perish. The
cumulative evidence at present does not appear to sufficiently
preponderate either way, to settle this controversial and difficult
question.
MOUTH arise. | Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny. 25
V.—Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny.
By Mercatre Jounson, M.R.CS.
Nos EE
Musine on the banks of a rivulet, we naturally ask ourselves the
question, “ Where, whence, and whither?” The stream alone can
tell us, and in its ever-shifting ripples we see the image of the
changing face of science.
The object of these jottings is to develope by record of experi-
ment and observation some of the ripples on the great stream of
scientific research which may tend to show its “ Where, whence,
and whither.”
The observations in the following fresh records have been made
by a power of from 250 to 500 diameters.
Of the existence of Monas Lens as an early form of protoplasm,
whence many of the subsequent developments arise, evidence is
shown in the experiments, March 5th, 1868, and May 25th, 1868;
also in the observations on the birth of Monas in the first page of
“ Jottings,” No. I., page 99, M. M. J., August, 1869 ; and in “ Obser-
vation,’ April 28th, 1868, page 104, M. M. J.
Nov. 1st, 1869.—In Vaucheria Clavata saw a tubule bursting, and
chlorophyll escaping, which consisted of transparent bodies (Monas ?)
having free spontaneous movement.
The single bodies transparent, the larger masses green.
Oct. 11th, 1866.—Six white glass bottles filled with water from an
air-sieve had each three drops of a solution of Potassic Permanganate
put into it, and showed, decolorization (when compared with distilled
water) varying as the quantity of organic matter contained. The same
water examined by the microscope revealed varying quantities of Monas
Lens. Those in which decolorization was greatest showing the largest
number of monads.
The following experiment, commenced July 21st, 1869, may be
of interest :—
A piece of lint, placed in a Woulfe’s bottle, long enough to syphon
* out the water, which was frequently renewed. Exposed to air. A drop
of the water was subjected to the microscope with the following
results :—
July 22nd—A few minute oblong bodies, visible only by reflected
light.
: July 23rd—One or two starch cells. One Gonidium, and numerous
small spots, some of which seem to change position very slightly.
July 26th. No moving life.
», 28th—Large numbers of minute dots visible only by reflected
light. Spontaneous movement evident (not currents).
Aug. 6th.—Undoubted monads.
», 12th —Monads undoubted. Syphon has been dry some time.
» 22nd.—No movements in monads. Several round and oval,
green Gonidia.
26 Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny. [youn yan er.
Aug. 27th.—No moving life.
» 29th.—Small patch of Chlorocoecus. Cut it off, and found
more than 100 cells of Chlorococcus. There are other green patches on
the lint. Passed water from Woulfe’s bottle through lint syphon to
a wide-mouthed bottle, marked B.
Sept. 2nd.—No moving life in B.
» 5th.—Monads rotating.
» 10¢h.—Numerous monads. Motions in straight lines, in
cycles, and rotating on their axis.
Put lint syphon into a small beaker filled with rain outside window
marked G. No moving life.
Sept. 14th.—Surface of B. Thousands of oval cells.
,, 17th.—Monads. Some active, others still inclining to green
colour.
Sept. 18th.—F ewer active monads, rather greenish. Side to light,
small green Gonidia, Bottom larger oval, green Gonidia.
Oct. 8th.—Bottom—a large deposit of green chlorococcus.
93
Sept. 14th.—C. No monads; one piece of amorphous matter mov-
ing in a cyclical manner.
Sept. 17th.—Surface, very minute monads, as pin points; distinct
movement.
Oct. 10th.—A large number of still transparent cells, granulated. A
few oval green Gonidia; innumerable monads (as pin points); one
transparent moving body (Paramcecium?); one oval cell, with septum
in middle. Side to light. Green Gonidia.
Of Chlorococcus, see “ Jottings,” Exp., March 5, 1868; d. April 2;
jf. April 6 and 7; g. April 17, 23; and notes, May 20th.
January 30th, 1869.—Observed white Chlorococcus (Soridial) on a
wall; passing to Thallus, one small Apothecium of Cladonia Pixid. ;
also, passing to Lecanora, subfusca, very evident.
July 27th.—Green Chlorococcus from wall, with small soridial
tubes. Grey Chlorococcus; larger Gonidia ; Soridial tubes larger, and
in greater proportion.
Sept. 11th—Green Soridium, passing to Thallus.
Sept. 24th.—Green Chlorococcus from wall, as if passing to Par-
melia, some double, some quadruple cells.
Oct. 21st.— Yellow and green Chlorococcus from wall; no apparent
difference in Gonidia, or in the mode in which they are arranged.
Both in the Soridium stage.
Oct. 25th.— Yellow green Chlorococcus on pig-stye ; distinct Apo-
thecia. No Thallus.
Oct. 29th.— Green Chlorococcus passing to Lyngbya, on door of
pig-stye.
Oct. 5th.—Chlorococcus and moss growing together on wall, single,
double, and quadruple cells. Tubules, containing single rows of
Gonidia (Lyngbya?). Larger tubules, containing many Gonidia in
each vacuole. Single oval cells, containing many Gonidia. Branched
filaments.
space Rig gel a Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny. yi
Oct. 6th.—Wall in my garden, Chlorococcus with Lyngbya; large
single oval cells, with terminal vacuole like large Euglena (see
Feb. 5, 1869—Moss-cells).
June Tth.—On the edge of a tumbler containing Mosses and Con-
ferve in water (one month) a green rim of distinct Chlorococcus.
June 12th—Chlorococcus in tumbler containing Conferve.
June 19th.—Water containing Conferve, resting spores (Chloro-
coccus ?).
July 28th.—On side next light of a bottle marked A, into which
some Conferva rivularis was put (Nov. 9, 1868) are masses of round,
green Chlorococcus. A floating film or frond near the bottom consists
of smaller oval, green cells; no moving life. The bottle has a ground
stopper in, and contains three-fourths water.
July 31st.—Green film on side (A); Chlorococcus, mixed with a
few Mucedo filaments.
Sept. 2nd.—Each cell of Chlorococcus (side A) has a centre nucleus.
Sept. 5th.—The same.
Nov. 15th.—Cells from side A nearly all oval, and nucleated. A
few straight, small-beaded filaments, as if still vibrions.
The following observations refer to Palmella cruenta. (See
“ Jottings,” Aug. 20th, April 21st and 27th, and May 11th.)
June 18th.—On a damp wall, with every variety of green and red
patches intermixed. Palmella cruenta and Oscillatoria containing
red cells, monads, green, round, oval, and binucleated cells, congre-
gated round cells as Chlorococcus, rudimentary and perfect tubules
of Oscillatoria, larger green cells as of mosses inextricably intermixed
with red Palmella cells, branched moss cells and moss tubules with
vacuoles, containing numerous chlorophyll cells.
July 23rd—Palmella cruenta, red and green cells inextricably
intermixed, single, double, multiple cells of Chlorococcus, tubules of
Lyngbya, with separate chlorophyll cells, larger moss cells, round,
oval, and oblong.
Aug. 12th.—In stagnant water containing Conferve is a red film,
very small red globules in patches.
Sept. 3rd.—Similar observations. There are flat green Parameecia,
green Gonidia, all sizes; distinct Euglena.
Oct. 14th.—Palmella cruenta. Green and red patches inextri-
cably mixed, in red part mostly red cells, a few green Gonidia, round
and multiple; some oval, oblong, and perfect Oscillatoria. In green
part larger Chlorococcus with oval cells; close to this is a perfect
patch of Oscillatoria in all stages, from round to oval, oval to oblong,
oblong to perfect tubules.
In observations on Oscillatoria, see “ Jottings,” May 10th and
11th, and April 21st.
Jan. 31st.—Green slime from canal bank, on moist mud, Euglena,
common, and with vacuole; oval, elongated, and perfect tubes of
Oscillatoria.
Jan. 31st.—Oscillatoria formerly Palmella cruenta, every stage
28 Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny. [Joatna, Sant. isto.
from round green cells to perfect Oscillatoria. Tubules with separate
chlorophyll (Lyngbya ?).
May 21st.—Oscillatoria attached to moss.
June 3rd.—Oscillatoria from horse trough. On an iron tube
adjoining, tubes with chlorophyll more distinct. ©
June 7th.—Oscillatoria from a running tap, Gleocapsoid double
cells enclosed in transparent utricle.
June 22nd.—Green slime on a leaking tank, round, oval, and
nucleated cells. Gleocapsoid double cells, Oscillatoria and tubules
containing separated chlorophyll (Lyngbya ?).
June 24th.—Surface of a stagnant pool which in a recent state
would contain Euglena. A film of Oscillatoria filaments of every size
from smaller to full-sized Lyngbya.
June 29th.—Oscillatoria from a dripping tap, with evident Lyngbya.
Lyngbya containing moss tubules.
Sept. 5th.—On surface of green slime Euglena Oscillatoria and
chlorococcus.
Sept. 25th.—Oscillatoria containing Lyngbya, moss tubules and
branched tubes.
June 18th.—Oscillatoria and Lyngbya in the same patches at
bottom of a wall.
Aug. 27th.—lLyugbya of every size, containing branched tubes of
moss.
Of Euglena, see “ Jottings,” Exp., March 5th, 1868, and April 20th,
April 15th, April 28th, Aug. 20th, May 4th, May 6th, May 10th,
May 11th, 1868.
March 26th, 1869.—Euglena of all shapes and with vacuole, some
becoming transparent, as if to pass to Convallaria.
April 11th.—In Conferva rivularis (April 9th) Monas freely floating
in water, and very small Euglena with vacuole; after a few minutes
saw from 50 to 100 perfect but small Euglena pass through a hole in
the tube of Conferva rivularis, whose vacuole contained many more.
Oct. 25th.— A bottle containing 15 drachm of citric acid, in 6-o0z.
water (14 days), contains Mucedo granules outside tube. Filaments
small.
A bottle containing potassic nitrate and antimonic tartrate in 6-oz.
water (10 days) contains Mucedo granules inside and outside tube.
Larger filaments
3 inch air in each bottle, corked and tied over.
A bottle containing plumbic acetate one month. No Mucedo.
A bottle containing hydrargyric bichloride six months. No Mucedo.
A bottle containing Liq. Bismuth six months. Round plants of
Mucedo.
Of Vibrio, see “ Jottings,’ Part I., Exp., March 5th, 1868;
g. April 18th, 15th, 17th, 21st.
Sept. 17th, 1869.—Water containing green slime from a stone
pavement near a running tap (Sept. 15th). Masses of germinal matter,
composed entirely of Vibrions. Central Vibrio still; free at edges,
UE Ian no, | Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny. 29
moving at intervals. When the water evaporates the Vibrions appear
like beads.
Sept. 19th.—Another observation of Vibrions from same source,
counted 40 links in one chain. Vibrions bead-like when dry.
Oct. 25th.— Observed the mucilaginous exudation from Palmella
cruenta (Oct. 15th). Found no Vibrions; only still granular matter.
Aug. 23rd.—Put up some Puly. Tragce co., with warm water in
the following states :—
.@ 0Z. 4 in bottle a bubble of air. In darkened room.
B oz. 4 in 1 oz. bottle. Half air.
ok oz. in 2 oz. bottle. No cork. In light.
Aug. 24th.—No change in y.
» 2ith—A scum on surface of y. Small bodies. Movement
uncertain.
Aug. 29th.—Filaments of Mucedo on surface of B.
», olst—No moving life in y.
Sept. 18th.—No moving life in y or 8.
Of Paramecium, see “ Jottings,” Exp., March 5,6. April 17th, 20th ;
d. March 10th, 17th, 20th, 26th. Exp., May 25th. E June Ist, 3rd,
9th; May 30th. Observations, April 15th; May 6th, 11th, 20th,
23rd; April 17th, 21st.
May 9th, 1869.—Observed several globular and oval Paramecia
with projecting globular cells, which, when knocked about by other
Parameecia, were liberated ; no spontaneous movements.
Saw the vacuole in a Paramcecium change its situation, and then
slowly change to a form as if about to separate bilaterally.
Watched a Paramcecium divide into halves.
Saw a Paramcecium with bifurcated tails (?).
Watched the change in position of the vacuole, and afterwards a
side view, by which I could decide that the change of vacuole is due
decidedly to. contraction of cell-wall. See April 15th, “Jottings,”
No. I.
July 25th.—Saw two globular Parameecia from the surface of a
liquid containing mosses and conifervz conjugated for about a minute,
and then separate.
Saw the contracted cell-wall again from a side view.
Watched Paramecium globular, oval, and squamous so associated
with Convallaria of all shapes and forms, that they seem to be the
same in different stages of development.
August 9th.—Put some grass seeds in an open tumbler of water.
Aug. 10th, 2 p.-m.—Evident Monads, Vibrions, and Mucedo.
Aug. 12th.—Surface full of Monads and Vibrions.
Aug. 27th_—Parameecia of all sizes; Convallaria innumerable.
September 13th.—Put up two patches of green slime from a pave-
ment —one near a running tap, where the stone was rough, marked T ;
the other from near a sink where the stone was smooth, marked § ;
each in two drachms of water. T contains Chlorococcus patches—
round, oval; links of two or three, and Oscillatoria tubes ; no moving
30 Jottings by a Student of Heterogeny. [Mgnthly, Microscopical
life. § contains Chlorococcus patches, round, and separate soridial
tubules; no moving life.
Sept. 17th.—T contains yellow Diatoms and green Chlorococcus.
S contains single granulated monads, double and multiple, all
moving. Paramcecium and Convallaria. Watched a round, trans-
parent cell containing about ten green globules, throws out a pro-
jecting ciliary apparatus, and becomes a Convallarium. Watched a
globular Paramcecium gradually separate into two, which finally were
attached by a tubular link before separating ; when they separated, one
retained the globular shape, the other became oval; each then floated
away as an independent plant.
Examined the filament, or stalk, of a Convallarium which had a
motion from side to side, independent of the body.
Examined the main contents of the drop of liquid 8, and found.
monads of every size, free and in clusters, all moving over the others,
some in masses of about ten oval cells; cells rotating on their own
axis. Oval cells, large Paramcecium of every shape and stage, conju-
gating, separating, ciliated, and non-ciliated ; in fact, every variety
intermixed with Convallaria.
Sept. 18th.—Parameecium is only a stage of growth of Convallarium.
Saw a distinct Convallarium, with filament attached, swim off,
exactly as a Paramcecium.
Saw Paramcecium change to Convallarium, protrude a tail, filament
or stalk, and throw out cilia in front.
Watched a Paramcecium for five or six minutes, saw the whole
change of fissation from one oval individual to two globular.
Watched several Paramcecia with Convallaria arrangement of
cilia under the influence of opium, changing the situation of the
vacuole, and protruding a globular film of transparent membrane,
like a bubble of air half its own size, above the cilia.
Sept. 19th.— There is no longer any doubt that Paramcoecium and
Convallarium are stages of the same thing. I have seen the same object
assume four distinct forms—three distinct Convallaria and one
equally distinct Paramcecium.
These observations were all made in the liquid marked 8.
Of the cells observed in mosses.
Feb. Tth, 1869.—A number of round green cells, each having a
prolongation consisting of a vacuole, generally containing one or
more green masses. The cells presented a great variety of very
beautiful shapes.
June 18th.—Found some branching moss-cells in a patch of
Palmella cruenta.
June 22nd.—EKvery variety of Moss-cells, from round and oval
to elongated filaments, found under a board at a boat landing-stage
on the river Lune.
Of Diatoms.
June 10th —Examined some specimens of Marine Alge, in which
the vacuole varied in size, from filaments containing globular masses
Outi, Jan tee | Méeroscopie Structure of Plants. 31
of chlorophyll to those containing elongated and paler masses ; others
containing two rows more closely arranged, and containing from five
to ten or more rows of chlorophyll; smaller fronds branching, of a
similar arrangement of chlorophyll cells.
August 10th.—Similar Algze from the side of a boat taken out of
a tidal part of river Lune.
October 21st.—Specimens of Alge with innumerable diatoms of
various kinds, in which the green cells gradually pass from the square
to an elongated shape. Other tubules from the same plant are full
of diatoms, having brown cell contents. Tubules in which the
diatoms have some green and some brown cell-contents, evidently
stages of the same plant.
Nov. 4th, 1869.—Examined the Alga containing diatoms, various
forms of the same plant, single tubules containing rounded masses
of chlorophyll, elongated vacuoles containing irregular masses of
chlorophyll, double rows of small chlorophyll cells. Single rows
throwing out branches; multiple rows throwing out branches ; tubules
in which one part contains masses of chlorophyll, and a contiguous
broken end containing single diatoms, or double cells; green tubules
composed of evident double cells; crushed portion composed of
double cells (green), isolated double cells (green), aggregated trans-
parent cell-walls, without chlorophyll.
The double cells (green) have the same movements as diatoms
containing yellow and brown contents. Crushed a portion of one of
the larger tubes and found it composed of double cells, having green
and light-brown contents, evidently stages of growth of diatoms;
watched the movements of diatoms green and yellow in the currents
of evaporating water, and found the various forms due to different
facets being presented to the view.
Nov. 8th—Further examined the diatoms, and found transitional
forms from green to brown. Their source in this case is evidently in
the cell-walls of the Alga; some are free within the vacuole, while
others appear to form the mass of the Alga, bound together with
transparent soridial membranes.
VI.—The Mode of Examining the Microscopic Structure of
Plants. By W. BR. M‘Nas, M.D. Edin.
Tue description of the modes of examining the microscopic struc-
ture of plants can best be given by considering each tissue sepa-
rately. Let us, therefore, first give a few brief remarks on the
tissues themselves; then proceed to mention the plants best
adapted for demonstrating the different tissues, and describe the
methods suited to the display of the peculiarities of each tissue.
The division of the tissues of plants into the two great divisions
of cellular and vascular can hardly be considered sufficient for our
purpose, and much confusion results in considering all the tissues
of plants as referable to these two divisions. For example, Latici-
32 The Mode of Examining the Be ip
ferous vessels and Resin canals are best considered by themselves.
Again, the whole of the external or Limitary Tissues of plants can best
be considered as forming a great group, including Cuticle, Epidermis,
Hairs, Scales, Cork, Subepidermal tissue, &c. The group of tissues
found in the Fibro-vascular bundles of plants can also be advan-
tageously studied as a whole. In the Arrangement of the Tissues
we shall follow, to a certain extent, Sachs,* as he enters very fully
into the subject. We shall first consider Cells and Cellular tissue ;
then the Limitary tissues of plants, including Cuticle, Epidermis,
Hairs, &c., the Fibro-vascular bundles, and, lastly, the Laticiferous
tissues and glands. Ifwe begin by examining a young root, such
as that of the white mustard, we can at once see the relationships
of the various groups of tissues. If we take a transverse section of
a young root, and place it under the microscope, we see three
separate tissues. Externally, we have the Limitary tissues, con-
sisting of small epidermal cells, giving rise to numerous fine hairs.
Within the limitary tissues we have a great mass of cellular tissue, and
in the centre we have the fibro-vascular bundle more or less developed.
In many plants we have the Laticiterous tissues developed, but they
are in general altered portions of one or other of the tissues, and
not a separate group; but as they are easily distinguished physio-
logically, it is perhaps best to keep them separate. If we examine
the growing part of the root, we find that the tissue presents a
uniform appearance, all the cells being similar, and it 1s only as
growth goes on that the cells become variously modified to sub-
serve various physiological purposes. Some of the cells became
modified to form a protecting covering; others to give support to
the softer parts, to form a skeleton, or a series of conducting tubes
for the conveyance of the sap and juices of the plant, while others
may contain stores of nutriment for the future use of the organism.
I. The Cell_—If we examine the cells of the growing point of
a root, as seen, for example, in a longitudinal section of the young
root of the white mustard, after tinting with carmine solution,
we see a number of small cells, consisting of a very delicate cell-
wall, containing a mass of granular protoplasm, and a very large
brightly-stained nucleus. In the youngest stage the cell thus
consists of three parts :—Ist. A very delicate cell-wall; 2nd. A mass
of granular protoplasm; and 3rd. A very large central nucleus.
If we examine the cells at a short distance from the growing part
of the root, we find that the cell-wall has enlarged, in general
growing more in length than in breadth, but consisting of the same
parts as those at the apex. Further away still we find that drops
of fluid are forming in the protoplasm ; that the cell-wall is no
longer filled up by the protoplasm and nucleus alone, but there
are also drops of cell-sap beginning to form. If the cell in this
* ¢Tehrbuch der Botanik. Engelmann, Leipzig, 1868.
Momitnal gan Liew. | Microscopie Structure of Plants. 33
condition be treated with a dilute solution of Iodine and Todide of
Potassium the protoplasm is coloured brown, and the drops of
cell-sap can be very distinctly seen. In making observations on
the young cells of plants, it is of great importance to select plants
which contain little or no starch. All the observations above men-
tioned can be made in the roots of the garden pea, but the quan-
tity of starch in the cells greatly obscures the clearness of the
demonstration. At the stage now reached, the cell consists of the
thin outer cell-wall, the protoplasm with the nucleus, and a few
central drops of cell-sap. The nucleus is soon pushed aside, but
always remains imbedded in the protoplasm. As the cell grows,
the cell-sap occupies more and more space until at length the
whole central cavity of the cell becomes filled with cell-sap, the
protoplasm forming a layer in close relation to the cell-wall.
The nucleus has now been so pushed out of its place that it is
apparently adherent to the cell-wall. This can be well seen in the
roots andstems of many Monocotyledons. By means of dilute
acid you can separate the thin layer of Protoplasm and the nucleus
from the cell-wall. This condition of the protoplasm was described
by H. Von Mohl as the Primordial Utricle. The next stage in
the life of the cell consists in the almost total disappearance of the
protoplasm nucleus and cell-sap. The last stage of all is charac-
terized by the entire disappearance of cell-sap, only a series of
dry cell-walls being left, which can be well seen in the pith of
many plants. The Histological Characters of the cell are thus
seen to differ at the various stages of its growth. We may con-
sider the perfect cell as consisting of a cell-wall, protoplasm and
the nucleus, and the cell-sap. It 1s, however, only at those places
where growth is actively going on that we find cells presenting
these characters; the great mass of a plant consists of cells, with
the primordial utricle and nucleus, or merely of dry cell-walls.
Haying thus considered the cell as being made up of three
distinct parts, we must now examine each part a little more in
detail. The examination of the cell-wall would lead us to con-
sider the various forms which cells assume during the process of
growth; these modifications suiting them to their several posi-
tions in the structure of the plant, or adapting them to the per-
- formance of some definite and special function. Besides variations
in the form of the cell-wall, the most important change which
occurs during the process of growth is thickening. This thickening
may be regular or irregular, external or internal. In most cases
the thickening is internal to the primary cell-wall, but in a few
cases the thickening is external. In the case of pollen grains and
spores the inner layer, the Intine or Endosporium, seems to cor-
respond to the primary cell-wall, while the Extine or Exosporium
is an external thickening layer. Almost every variety of external
VoL. IIL. D
34 Microscopic Structure of Plants. (yy ee
thickening is to be met with in pollen grains, some of them present-
ing very remarkable appearances. In others the external thickening
may be undeveloped, as for example in the pollen grains of Zostera,
in which the outer covering, the Extine is wanting. By far the
most familiar examples of thickening are to be found in the interior
of cell-walls. Take, for example, wood cells. Here we have a very
good example of thickening, or in the hard cells of certain fruits.
This thickening in the interior of cells may be either regular or
irregular, but in by far the most numerous cases the thickening is
irregular. Certain parts of the primary cell-wall become more or
less thickened, while at other parts the cell-walls remain unchanged.
The familiar examples of spiral deposits and annular rings of
thickened matter are well known to most observers. In some parts
we have more or less marked spiral fibres apparently coiled up in
the cell. This is a thickening deposit, but it 1s so loosely attached
to the primary cell-wall that in many cases it can be very easily
detached from the cell-wall. The same may be seen in cells con-
taining annular rings. ‘These may be in some cases quite easily
detached, and may even be found loose in the cell by which they
are formed. Often we have these different forms of thickening
combined, thus forming cells the walls of which may be partly
annular, partly spiral, or reticulated in various ways. ‘These
varieties of cells can be very easily obtained, and many plants, such
as balsam, asparagus, rhubarb, Indian corn, &c., may be used to
demonstrate them. ‘The cells containing thickening deposits can
often be isolated by boiling in nitric acid. Boiling in nitric acid
has, however, the disadvantage of rendering the parts yellow, and
often exercising a very considerable solvent action where it is not
wanted. Many beautiful preparations can be got by boiling thin
slices or even thin parts of plants in caustic potash. ‘This renders
the tissue more transparent, without destroying the clearness of the
thickening deposit. In this way beautiful demonstrations of the
elongated spiral cells of certain plants can be made, the spiral cells
standing clearly out among the transparent tissues in which they
lie.
Many of the examples of irregular thickening occurring in the
inside of cell-walls are very curious and interesting. In the epi-
dermal and sub-epidermal tissues of plants we have some very
remarkable examples of thickening. In many of these cells the
thickening only occurs at those parts where neighbouring cells
meet. These angles or corners seem to be strengthened by the
addition of a sort of buttress of thickening matter. In the petiole of
Begonia this thickening can be well seen in patches at the corners.
In the petiole of the Ivy the same thing 1s observable, but the
thickening has gone on to such an extent that it requires some
little care to show that the deposit is not uniform, and that it
Monthly, Microscom’'| Microscopie Structure of Plants. 35
really has had its origin at the corners of the cell, and extended to
each side. Porous and pitted cells are also familiar examples of
partial thickenmg. In some cases the cell-wall becomes absorbed,
and a channel of communication between the cells is formed. If
we have thickening occurring at certain parts of the cell-wall,
resembling a porous or pitted cell, and if the primary cell-wall,
which is not covered by thickening matter, becomes absorbed, then
we have the peculiar cribriform cells formed, such as are to be seen
in the stem of the white gourd (Cucurbita Pepo). These cribri-
form cells form a connecting link with the punctated tissue of the
conifers and ordinary porous or pitted cells. In the Coniferze we
have the thickening deposit leaving rounded patches of the primary
cell-wall uncovered. As the thickening goes on the thickening
matter extends in and in, until a cavity, shaped like a plano-convex
lens, is formed, and leaving a small round centre-spot free from
thickening matter. The same thing takes place on the other side
of the cell-wall; so that, when the small portion of the primary
cell-wall becomes absorbed, we have a cavity, shaped like a double-
convex lens, formed, and the cavities of the two cells freely com-
municate with each other. We see examples of a very similar
process in the tuber of the Dahlia, and still better in the scalari-
form tissue of Ferns. In ferns we have a tissue formed in the
same way as the punctated tissue of the pines, with this difference,
that in the pines the dots are circular, while in the ferns the
portion of primary cell-wall left uncovered is elongated, the thick-
ening occurring in bars, resembling the steps of a ladder: hence the
name scalariform given to the tissue.
In some cases the thickening deposit in the interior of cells may
be made up of layers of different appearance. This is to be seen,
for example, in certain cells in the stem of the Common Bracken,
where we have the primary cell-wall and two differently coloured
layers of thickening matter inside. Besides differences in appear-
ance, we may have chemically different substances deposited in the
thickening layers of the cell-wall. Take, for example, the Charas
and Diatoms. In these we have mineral matter, as carbonate of
‘ lime and silica, deposited in the cell-wall. There are many other
examples of silicious matter deposited in cells besides the diatoms.
The silicious matter deposited in the cells of the cuticle of the
Equisetums, and in the cells of grasses, &c., is familiar to most
microscopists. In general the primary cell-wall remains very thin,
but in certain instances—as, for example, in the cells of certain sea-
weeds—the primary cell-wall becomes greatly thickened, a sort of
gelatinous degeneration occurring in it. We see the same thing
in a few cells of the endosperm of the Locust-Bean. In these
cases the primary cell-wall has been described as intercellular sub-
stance. ‘This intercellular substance has given rise to a great deal
DZ
36 On the Microscopical Examination [syria yan eo
of dispute, and much has been written on the subject. Many
authors have held that this substance which joined the cell-walls
together formed on the free surface of the plant what we call the
cuticle, and therefore considered that the cuticle and intercel-
lular substance were identical. There does not, however, seem to
be any intercellular substance, what has been described as inter-
cellular substance being an altered condition of the primary cell-
wall. The cuticle, on the other hand, is a thickening layer found
on the outside of the cell-wall, and in this respect similar to the
Extine of the pollen grain and the Exosporium. The use of the
carmine staining solution shows this very conclusively, as the cuticle
can be very easily stained, while the so-called intercellular substance
remains intact. Having thus briefly discussed a few of the more
important points to be attended to in the examination of the cell
and cell-wall, we shall in our next proceed to the examination of
the Protoplasm, Nucleus, and Cell-sap.
(To be continued.)
VII.—On the Microscopical Examination of Milk under certain
Conditions. By J. B. Dancur, F.R.A.S.
In August and September last an account appeared in one of the
newspapers (and also in other periodicals), which had been copied
from the ‘Journal des Connaissances Médicales,’ of some micro-
scopical observations made by M. V. Essling on Milk, in which the
author stated that “if the surface of fresh cream be examined under
the lens, one perceives, amid myriads of milky and fatty globules,
a number of either round or oblong corpuscles, sometimes accom-
panied with finely dotted matter, being neither more nor less than
germinative masses of vibrios—just what is seen in most substances
in a state of putrefaction, In summer these corpuscles make their
appearance within fifteen or twenty-four hours after milking; in
winter they will be perceptible after the lapse of two or three days.
If the observation be continued until the moment of coagulation we
see these corpuscles increase in number, bud, form ramified chains,
and at length be transformed into regular mushrooms or filaments
composed of cells placed end to end in simple series, and supporting
at their extremities a spherical knob filled with granulous matter.
M. V. Essling thinks that they may be classified among the Asco-
phora. But the important point is, that the first appearance of
these spores occurs before the nulk gets sowr, and as this substance is
almost the exclusive aliment of children, there is reason to suppose
that many of the gastric affections to which they are subject are-
M. ; ° e oye
So er eel) of Milk under certain Conditions. 37
owing to this state of the milk. To prevent these evil consequences,
M. Y. Kssling recommends the milk to be drunk as soon as possible
after extraction, and at all events to keep it closely bottled during
the interval, so as to keep out the smallest particle of air. More-
over, the temperature should be kept as nearly as possible the same
as that which the milk had in the teats.”
Having for many years been familiar with the microscopical
appearance presented by milk and cream, and not having seen the
changes as described by M. Y. Essling, I was desirous of satisfying
myself on this point, more especially as it affected a very important
article of food. The composition of ordinary milk, as stated by
Fownes, is as follows :— ;
Water, 873°00; butter, 30°30; casein, 48°20; milk sugar,
43°90; phosphate of lime, 2°31; phosphate of magnesia, 0°42 ;
phosphate of iron, 0°07; chloride of potassium, 1°44 ; chloride of
sodium, 0°24; soda in combination with casein, 0°42: total,
1000-09.
Composition of casein in 100 parts :—Carbon, 53°83; hydrogen,
7°15; nitrogen, 15-64; oxygen and sulphur, 23°37: total, 100-00.
Composition of albumen in 100 parts :—Carbon, 53°5 ; hydrogen,
7°0; nitrogen, 15:5; oxygen, 22:0; phosphorus, 0°4; sulphur,
1:6: total, 100-00.
Casein and animal albumen are remarkably similar in compo-
position ; casein differs in not being coagulated by heat, and is
precipitated by acetic acid. Certain animal substances cause its
coagulation, such as the dried stomach of the calf, known as rennet,
used in the manufacture of cheese.
When a thin film of milk is examined with the microscope, it is
found to be a transparent fluid, in which are floating numerous
transparent globules of fat; these are surrounded by a thin pellicle,
and when this pellicle is broken mechanically, as by churning, the
fat is liberated and forms butter. The fiuid part consists of casein,
saccharine matter, and salts in solution. The proportion of these
organic principles varies in different animals, and also in the same
animal when well fed under different conditions. Human milk
usually contains a larger proportion of sugar than cow milk, and is
coagulated with greater difficulty. It is well known that the secre-
tion and quality of milk is influenced by the mental emotions.
Milk as obtained in towns is frequently adulterated, and as foreign
matter would alter its microscopical characteristics, it was neces-
sary to procure pure milk. One of the members of the Literary
and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Mr. Kipping, kindly
supplied me with a bottle of fresh-drawn milk. The cow had
calved about three months previously, and had been fed on grass,
bran, and bean flour. This milk was examined soon after I
received it, and was found to be very rich in oleaginous globules,
38 On the Microscopical Examination — [Mynthis, Microseapicat
forming a plentiful supply of cream. There was no appearance
of dotted matter or any fungoid growth when examined by powers
varying from 200 to 1500. The smallest oil globules exhibited
(as usual) great molecular activity. A bottle was filled with
some of this milk and securely corked, other portions of the milk
were placed in open cups, one cup was kept in a cabinet which
was closed during the day, the milk of the second cup was placed
in a closet the atmosphere of which I knew to be favourable to
the growth of fungi, the Mucor Mucedo being the most abundant
and of the same family as that mentioned as having been found in
cream by M. VY. Essling. The milk in the bottle and that in the
cups was examined daily, precautions being taken to close the
bottle speedily after a portion was removed. On the third day
the milk im the open cups was sour to the smell, but no change
appeared visible under the microscope; the upper portion of the
milk in the bottle had become very rich in oil globules by the
formation of cream. On the fourth day the casein had coagulated
in the milk in the open cups, and the flaky precipitate was visible
under the microscope; the pellicle surrounding the oil globules
now appeared to be very easily ruptured, and with the slightest
pressure some of the globules could be joined together—sometimes
a number of globules which had been ranged in line by a current
would coalesce by a slight movement of the fluid, and form an
elongated mass. Fifth day, no appreciable alteration. Sixth day,
the milk which had been placed in the closet had patches of mould
visible on its surface; a microscopical examination of this mould
showed it to be the Mucor Mucedo, such as I had frequently found
on fruit which had been left in this closet. The fungi appeared
on the surface only, no trace of it could be found in the milk taken
from various depths. The milk in the cup kept in the cabinet
exhibited no appearance of the Mucor Mucedo or any other vege-
table or animal organism ; it had become thickened into a pasty
mass with an intensely sour odour. These observations were con-
tinued for eleven days, and the only difference observable was in
the oil globules—they began to lose their spherical form, as if the
investing pellicle had been weakened in parts and had become
expanded.
These experiments were repeated with a second supply of milk
which Mr. Kipping kindly supplied, and the results were alike in
both cases. The range of temperature during the experiments was
from 45° to 63° F. These experiments would lead me to believe
that vegetable organisms do not as a rule make their appearance
in pure unadulterated milk unless it is exposed for some time to
atmospheric influences ; most probably the spores are supplied by
the atmosphere. Further experiments are wanting to decide the
question. The microscopical examinations should be continued in
Monthly | Microscopical) of Milk: under certain Conditions. 39
hot weather. I hope to be able to resume the inquiry next summer
under different conditions, which have suggested themselves during
the examinations I have detailed. In any case M. Y. Essling’s
suggestion to bottle the milk is very good, and in my opinion
cream pans with covers would be a very great improvement on
the open ones as at present employed, at the same time having due
regard to the cleanliness of the apartment and vessels in which the
milk is kept.
In a microscopical examination such as I have recorded it is
quite necessary to have pure materials. The milk as supplied by
vendors we know to be very frequently adulterated, and the most
simple and easy method is by the addition of water. We know
also that in towns where the water has a high character for purity,
it sometimes happens in dry hot weather the reservoirs are charged
with vegetable and animal organisms. Milk may not always have
town’s water added to it; in this case there may be an extra
quantity of vitalized matter introduced. What a surprising ac-
count a microscopist might furnish from the examinatien of milk
containing such an importation! In the cold weather, such as we
have at present, animal organisms are not so abundant, and this
may account for their absence from a sample of milk obtained in
this town, in which I found alge, but not belonging to the pure
milk. One curious circumstance was noticed in this milk, no Mucor
Mucedo appeared in or on it, although exposed in the closet for
the same length of time as Mr. Kipping’s milk, which showed signs
of this growth on the sixth day, and on the twelfth day the town
milk had none visible. I may mention that pure milk in a bottle
securely corked remained fresh twelve days; possibly the low tem-
perature favoured its preservation—A Paper read before the
Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Nov. 30th.
40 ) Monthly Microscopical
( Journal, Jan. 1, 1870.
NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT NOTICES.
el
The Anatomy and Physiology of the Blow-fly (Musca Vomitoria). A
Monograph by B. T. Lowne, M.R.C.S. London: Van Voorst, 1870.
—It would be impossible for us to give too high praise to this
excellent work, which, as the author styles it, is indeed a mono-
graph on the blow-fly. Microscopists generally are disposed to
look upon a blow-fly as an insect which contains a proboscis that
makes a handsome object for exhibition under low powers. But
Mr. Lowne does not belong to that category: he is one much
more akin to those German histologists who devote themselves so
assiduously to describing all that is known on a certain subject.
In this path Mr. Lowne has followed, and in the 120 pages of this
work, and the ten well-executed plates which accompany them, he
has told us nearly everything that is to be told of the anatomy of
the familiar insect on which he has written.
It is hardly necessary to remind our readers that Mr. Lowne’s
work is not simply a compilation from other works: it is a book
in which the author sets down all his own careful observations
conducted during a series of years, and in which he also describes
the work of other students, and analyzes the current doctrines on
the subject of dipterous histology. As an indication of the elabo-
rate character of the book, we will quote the headings of the dif-
ferent sections into which it is divided, these being grouped under
the two divisions of general and minute anatomy. ‘These are as
follow :—Development, Integument, Nervous System, Wings and
Legs, Digestive System, Respiratory System, Fat Bodies and
Ductless Glands, Organs of Special Sense, Generative Organs.
The foregoing are the sections which deal with the general
Anatomy and Physiology. These are the headings under which the
special anatomy is treated upon :—Integument of Head, Proboscis,
Salivary Glands, Alimentary Canal and Appendages, Rectal Papille,
Integument of Thorax, Thoracic Appendages, Abdominal Seg-
ments, Respiratory Organs, Dorsal Vessel, the Nervous System, the
Compound Eyes, the Ocelli, the Antenne, the Maxillary Palpi,
the Frontal Sac, the Cephalo-Sternum, the Halteres and Wing
Organs, the Folliculate Glands, the Male and Female Generative
Organs, the Development of the Ovum, and the Formation of the
Pupa. It would be impossible, in the mere space of a notice, to
criticize any of the author's views, but we may express a belief that
from the very decided tone in which certain views are laid down,
that Mr. Lowne will draw upon him the controversial pens of other
workers. We see this sort of thing illustrated here and there
throughout his admirable book. In the case of the so-called
ductless glands, for instance, it is well exemplified. The author
having described one of the glands, says, “ From the great similarity
of the contents of these follicles to those of the spleen and other
our yenoscapical| NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT NOTICES. 4]
Unt
ductless glands in the Vertebrata, I have not the slightest doubt
as to the similarity of their functions, which is the elaboration
of the circulating fluid.” This is dogmatic. Without pausing
to consider what is meant by the vague expression elaboration
of the blood, we would just remind Mr. Lowne: firstly, that the
follicular glands he describes bear a very remote resemblance to
either the spleen or the thyroid ; and secondly, that physiologists
are by no means decided as to what the office of such bodies as the
lymphatics, Peyers glands, the tonsils, the supra-renals, thyroid
and thymus may really be. Absolutely we know nothing at all of
their functions.
Mr. Lowne’s account of the integument is full of interest; and
though he would assume that it is developed in a manner different
to that of the ecderonic and enderonic layers of other invertebrates,
we fancy his facts lead to an opposite conclusion. We would raise
our voice against his introduction of a new terminology simply
applicable to one insect. We wish we had more space to explain
to our readers the many excellences of this work; but we must
now conclude with hearty thanks to the author, and with our advice
to all who have a microscope to make the acquaintance of this
volume without delay.
ersuchungen zur normalen und Pathologischen Anatomie der Froschaut.
Von Herrn D. Eberth. Leipzig: Engelmann.—This is more a
work for the physician than the ordinary microscopist. It is an
effort on the part of the author to describe a series of microsco-
pical pathological researches. He has selected the skin of the
frog,and has recorded some interesting results as to the origin
of morbid growths.
Handbuch der Lehre von den Geweben des Menschen und der Thiere
Herausgegeben. Von Prof, Stricker. Leipzig: Engelmann.—
The first part of this work was briefly noticed in one of the early
numbers of our first volume. The second is now issued, and is
chiefly interesting from a paper of Herr von Recklinghausen on
the Lymphatics.
Das Mikroskop und Seine Anwendung. Von Herrn H. Hager. Berlin:
Springer, 1859.—This volume is, we believe, thought a good deal
of in Germany. We cannot, however, give it much praise. It is
> too small, and its accounts of important matters too desultory to
admit of our recommending it to English readers, who have such
excellent treatises at their disposal.
“Der Bau des Menschlichen Kérpers, etc. Von Dr. OC. Aeby. Leipzig :
Vogel, 1869.—The first and second parts of this work have been
been issued. The book is chiefly an anatomical one; its plan
being somewhat like that of the excellent treatise of Quatin and
Sharpey. Like the latter it includes an account of microscopic
structure ; but, unlike it, this account is of a very elementary and
unsatisfactory nature.
Monthly Mi ical
( 42 ) Journal, Jan. 1, 1870.
PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
The Microscopical Structure of Meteorites——A paper to which we
some time since referred, “ On the Structure of Meteorites,” by Pro-
fessor A. Kenngott, of Zurich, and which was read in May last before
the Vienna Academy, has been reproduced in the ‘ Philosophical
Magazine’ for December, and is accompanied by a handsome plate,
representing the appearance of different sections of the Knyahynia
meteorite. The structure, says the author, reminds one of the globu-
lar diorite of Corsica, and may therefore be supposed to be the result
of a process of crystallization within its own substance rather than
the aggregation of separately-formed corpuscles. The opaque com-
ponents are light-grey’ metallic iron, greyish-yellow magnetic iron
pyrites, and a black substance. These three may best be seen by
incident light when placed under the microscope. If the light from
above is stopped, they all appear black by transmitted light. If
light from above be admitted, only the black substance appears opaque,
the iron appearing dark-grey and translucent, and the pyrites blackish
yellow and faintly diaphanous by the effect of reflected light. In
some parts a peculiar network of the transparentmineral substance
presents itself. On the whole, the paper gives us the idea that there
is in meteorites a field of microscopical research not at all exhausted
by the author.
The Structure of certain Hailstones, though not exactly micro-
scopical, is nearly so. It is a paper by M. Abich, illustrated by a plate,
in the same number of the ‘ Philosophical Magazine’ as the above.
Foraminifera of the genus Trochammina. — Messrs. Rupert Jones
Parker and Kirkby continue their papers “ On the Nomenclature of the
Foraminifera,” and in their last paper they give an account—with
figures—of the Permian T’. pusilla and its allies. The descriptions are
too detailed for abstract. The authors do ample justice to the labours
of Professor W. King, whose memoirs on Permian fossils are familiar
to geologists. The history of the genus, from the time when it was
first noticed twenty years ago, and when it was considered—by all
save King, who recognized its relation to Rhizopoda—to be an
annelid organism, to the time when its true affinities were established,
is clearly stated.— Annals of Natural History,’ December.
The Development of Sorastrum, and on a new species of Protococcus is
the title of a most valuable paper by Mr. Henry-J. Carter, to the Decem-
ber number of the ‘Annals.’ The paper is a long one and deserves
the careful attention of those interested in the study of the lower
vegetable organisms. The author thus summarizes his observations
in the first part of his paper. (1) The development of Sorastrum
spinulosum commences by a division of the sporangium into sixteen
portions or family groups of eight individuals each. (2) After
elimination, these groups increase in size but not in number of in-
dividuals, so far as my observation extends. - (3) Certain individuals
produce one or more family groups, of eight, sixteen, or thirty-two
.
MOTEL, Jani wo | PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 43
individuals each, in cells respectively provided by the parent, which are
deciduous (that is, subsequently soon disappear). (4) Those indi-
viduals of the parent group which do not produce new families, retain
their gonimic contents, increase in size, become globular, and lose their
spines by atrophy. (5) A spherical or slightly elliptical sporangium,
about twice the diameter of the largest individual of a group of Soras-
trum, makes its appearance, presenting a deep, dark sea-green colour,
precisely like that of Sorastrum, composed of a tough transparent coat,
filled with the usual contents of a sporangium, and surrounded by a
thick, soft, transparent, gelatinous envelope. Since writing this
summary Mr. Carter has established that fissiparity exists. The new
species of Protococcus was found by the author in one of the tanks of
Bombay before he left India. He has figured, it and calls it Conococcus
elongatus.
Alge enclosed in Diamonds.—Herr Dr. Gippert alleges that certain
diamonds contain alge enclosed in them. He has examined specimens
in the Berlin Museum and in the British Museum. In both he has
detected greenish, round corpuscles, which he regards as unicellular
alge. In one case he considered the species to be like Protococcus
pluvialis, and in another to resemble Palmoglea macrococca. He has
given distinct specific names to the two, however. An account is
given in the Report of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna
for August 51.
The Muscular Fibres of the Ventricles—Dr. P. J. Hensley makes
some interesting remarks on this subject a propos of both Henle’s and
Pettigrew’s researches, The paper, however, is more physiological
than histological.‘ Journal of Anatomy, November.
The Chemical Constitution of the Nuclei of the Blood-Corpuscles is a
minute (!) chemico-histological inquiry by Dr. Brunton, reported in
the same journal.
The Spectroscopic Examination of Coloured Fluids is an admirable
paper by Mr. E. Ray Lankester. It is an abstract of his voluminous
report to the British Association, and has a woodcut showing the
absorption of various substances, and also the lines of the scale
formed by using the nitric oxide gas——‘ Journal of Anatomy, November.
A Diaplasmatic System of Vessels—Dr. T. A. Carter publishes in
the ‘ Journal of Anatomy’ a paper which he sent to the Royal Society
in 1864, and which that body considered worthy only of a short
abstract in its Proceedings. Dr. Carter has attempted to prove what
all experienced histologists surmise, viz. that the capillaries com-
municate with a fine reticulation of vessels, which are not large enough
to admit the blood globules. Anyone who has ever measured the
diameter of some of the fine German transparent injections of the
brain must admit the existence of these channels, which it may be
suspected are occasionally mistaken for lymphatics.
The Structure of the Siliceo-fibrous Sponges. — Dr. Bowerbank
has published a splendid memoir on this subject, in Part I. of the
‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for the present year. This
Dd
44 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. [ Montly Mictoscoya
is illustrated by a number of beautifully executed plates by Lens
Aldous, and occupies about forty pages. The whole anatomy, both
microscopic and general, and the zoology of the group are dealt with
minutely, and the paper will be well worth reading even by those
who do not make sponges a study. The subject is especially in-
teresting just now, because so many curious forms of sponge have
been taken up in the Atlantic expedition. The author strongly con-
demns the nomenclature proposed by Professor Wyville Thomson, and
makes the following remarks on the subject :—“ Dr. Thomson, in his
highly imaginative paper ‘On the Vitreous Sponges, has not only
proposed a new and very impracticable order for their reception, but
he has also, contrary to all the established canons of nomenclature,
proposed to abrogate the established generic names of the working
naturalists, who have preceded him in writing on the Siliceo-fibrous
sponges; and after contrasting the differences of opinion very freely,
he at once proposes that they shall be all abolished, and his newly
concocted name Habrodictyon be established in their stead. If the
new name were illustrative of new ideas or of new facts, it might be
entitled to consideration, but as we find neither the one nor the other
in the learned Professor’s paper, I do not think he can reasonably
expect that it will be adopted.”
The Investigation of the Lymphatics.—Dr. G. Schwalbe has a long
and important paper on this subject in Schultze’s Archiv. He deals
especially with the Lymphatics of the eye. His remarks are especially
of import, because they show that Von Recklinghausen’s method of
using nitrate of silver has certain disadvantages as well as advantages.
His illustrations show how the staining process may lead us some-
times to incorrect inference. The paper occupies over sixty pages.—
Schultze’s Archiv, Band 6, Heft 1.
The Lateral Line in Fishes—Herr Franz Schultz has published a
very elaborate memoir on this subject. He gives numerous excellent
illustrations, and traces out the connection between the organs of
the lateral line and the fine terminations of the nerves. He refers
to the Jabours of Dr. Robert MacDonnel, whose first paper in the
‘Transactions’ of the Royal Irish Academy our readers are perhaps
already familiar with.—Schultze’s Archiv, Band 7, Heft 1. Among
other papers in this journal, we may mention one by Herr J. Dogiel
“On the Dilator Pupille of Mammals and Birds ;” and by Dr. Mayer,
“On the Termination of the Nerves in the Salivary Glands,” a propos
of Pfliiger’s views.
The Larval State of Euphausia is a paper of interest in Siebold and
Kolliker’s Zeitschrift, by M. Metschnikow, of St. Petersburg.— Vide
S. and K., Zeitschrift, Band 19, Heft 4.
Observations on the Rotifera.—In the above-mentioned journal will
be found a paper of great interest to microscopists “On the Wheel-
animalcules,” by Dr. H. Grenacher, of Wiirzburg. It is accompanied
by some handsome figures, and deals with Triarthra lungiseta,
Floscularia proboscidea, Microcodon clavus, and Brachionus rubens.
The Anatomy of the Earth-worm.—M. Hd. Claparéde communicates
MOLTEN, Jan i. wo. | PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 45
a most extensive memoir on the anatomy of the earth-worm to Siebold
and Kolliker’s Zeztschrift, Band 19, Heft 1. This extends over more
than sixty pages, and is illustrated by five large and handsomely
coloured plates, in which all the structural details are dealt with.
We are glad to see that our countryman, Mr. E. R. Lankester, meets
with an appreciative analysis of his researches on the Lumbricus
terrestris.
Rhythmical Contractions of Lymphatics.—Dr. A. Heller alleges that
he has witnessed this phenomenon in the lymphatics of mammals,
especially of guinea-pigs.— Vide ‘ Archives de Physiologie,’ December.
The Development of Insects.—This is a full and good memoir, by
Professor Melnikow, of Kasan. It is well illustrated, and treats of
the different phases undergone in the development of the ovum.—
Vide Troschel’s Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte, Heft 2, 1869.
New Minute Bones in Fishes.—In the December number (1869) of
the ‘Ann. Nat. Hist.,) Professor Gulliver gives an account, with an
engraving, of undescribed bones or pieces in the skull of osseous fishes.
These ossicles occur in pairs, and in pits of the post-frontals, mastoids,
and paroccipitals. The development and microscopic structure of
these new ossicles, compared with the connected bones, might afford
an interesting inquiry, and probably prove as instructive as the mor-
phological question. It was while confirming, by dissection, the
accuracy of Mr. Gulliver’s discovery of the new bones connected with
the post-frontals, that Mr. James Flower discovered the other two new
bones ; and we presume they may be all seen at the College of Sur-
geons. Mr. Gulliver remarks that, “a correct understanding of the
bones which enter into the composition of the skull of the fish is said
to be the key to the composition of the skull of all vertebrata. But
now it seems that all these bones or pieces in fishes have not yet been
recognized, much less understood; while it is obvious that, until
every part of the skull has been estimated at its true value sepa-
rately, as well as with its connections in the species and homologies
as regards other vertebrata, no complete view can be given of this
important part of osteology.”
Terminations of the Nerves in the Skin.—The recent researches of
M. Podcopaew on the relation of the nerves to the Malpighian layers
of the skin of the rabbit lead him to believe that he can trace the
nerves, in specimens acted on with gold chloride into the Malpighian
layer. It is to be questioned, however, whether the structure described
beneath are not purely artificial. Branched lines come into view lying
between the cells of the rete, continuous with easily demonstrable
nets lying beneath the rete. From the former, very delicate darkly-
tinted lines may be traced, which run up between the epithelial cells,
and near the surface again form fine plexuses. The subepithelial
plexus of nerves consists of non-medullated fibres, on the sides of
which a few nuclei are attached.
The Blood-corpuscles as diagnostic of Species—We see from a
report of a lecture by Professor Gulliver* given to the East Kent
* ‘Scientific Opinion,’ December.
46 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. [ournay yarcsogpical
Natural History Society that the Professor still holds to his views
on the above point. About a quarter of a century has elapsed
since the lecturer proved that certain mammalia or birds in the
Zoological Gardens could be distinguished merely by their blood-
corpuscles from every other animal in that great menagerie; and
that the form and size of the corpuscles is so characteristic that,
whenever an aberration in these points occurs in the red corpus-
cles of any species, that will most likely be an aberrant species—
Basaris, Cercoleptes, Hyrax, &c., e.g. Again, the very marked uni-
formity in the red corpuscles of birds corresponds to the comparative
uniformity of the general organization in the class; and the greatest
differences of the red corpuscles will be found in those species of a
class or order having the greatest divergences in its general structure
or organization. Nay, even in mammalia that appear to be closely
allied, should any marked difference exist between the red corpuscles
of any two or more species, it may be at once inferred that the one
in which the divergence is found will prove to be an aberrant member
in its general organization. The lecturer had long since given proofs
of these views; and, very recently, had discovered another most
interesting one, the details of which he has not yet published, but
would soon do so in a distinct memoir. Briefly, the point is as
follows :—An eminent anatomist, well acquainted with the lecturer’s
discovery of the singular minuteness of the red corpuscles of the blood
of the Musk Deer (Zragulus), of which the different species have long
been known in this country under the generic name of “ Moschus,”
sent him some dried blood of another or true Musk Deer; which, after
careful examination and measurements, Professor Gulliver declared
could not belong to any species closely allied to those three which he
had formerly examined, since the red corpuscles of this Moschus
moschiferus were so much larger that their average diameter was no
less than =!;;th of an English inch, And then he was assured, b
the eminent professor and conservator of the museum at the College of
Surgeons, that this true Musk Deer (Moschus) would really prove to
belong to a different genus from that which included the old Musk
Deer (Tragulus), and, in short, that the difference between the
structure of the two species or genera was no less than the lecturer’s
examination merely of the red corpuscles had led him to believe.
The Structure of the Muscles in various Animals. — This has been
recently submitted to investigation by Herr Dr. Hensen, who has
published his results in the last number of the ‘Arbeiten, of the
Physiological Institute of Keil, and of which the ‘ Lancet’ (Dee. 4)
gives an excellent summary. Dr. Hensen has made careful micro-
scopic investigations of the muscles in various mammals, crustacea,
and insects, and advances the following theory of the structure of
striated muscle. Leaving out of consideration the sarcolemma, the
nuclei, and the investing mass of protoplasm around the nuclei, muscle,
he believes, is composed of four distinct substances, so intimately
united or blended with one another as to constitute a soft solid mass.
Three of these are arranged in a laminated manner, and form columelli ;
the fourth separates the columelli from one another. The columelli
we
ou ea NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 47
do not, in Dr. Hensen’s view, appear to be precisely identified with
fibrille, since he considers the fibrils of ordinary microscopical
description as being capable of further cleavage in a longitudinal
direction to an indefinite extent. He admits the correctness of the
usual statement, that when a fibril is examined it presents dark striae
and an intervening substance; but he maintains that this last is
traversed by a fine line, which he thinks is a discovery, though it was
long ago observed and described in this country by Carpenter and
others; and he also divides the dark striz themselves into two halves,
between which is interposed a dull, finely granular disc, which he
calls the median disc. Thus the fibril would be composed of the
following lamine: first, one-half of a dark stria; secondly, the median
disc ; thirdly, the other half of the dark stria; fourthly, the inter-
mediate substance, which is itself divided by a dark line.
The Auditory Organs of Fresh-water Mollusks.— Some interesting
points in the microscopy of these structures are to be found in a paper
by Professor Gulliver in the ‘Journal of Anatomy,’ vol. iv. The
paper has been forwarded to us by the author.
The Gregarina gigantea of the Lobster. —In the number of the
‘Bulletins of the Royal Academy of Belgium,’ just issued (No. 11,
1869), M. Edouard Van Beneden gives a long account, with a plate,
of the anatomy and development of the above Gregarina. M. Schwann,
who reported on the paper, speaks of it in the very highest terms, and
in accordance with the theory which he originated, and to which he
still adheres, regards the animal as a monster cell. The species is a
new one and has been given the above name by the author, who agrees
with K6élliker and Schwann in looking on it as a unicellular animal.
The author does not add many histological facts to those already
pointed out by Mr. Ray Lankester and Mr. Leidy, but he gives a very
interesting description of the movements of the animal. He found
twenty-five of these parasites in the intestines of a single lobster. He
points out that the relation of the amcebiform bodies to the encysted
psorosperms is yet undetermined.
NOTES AND MEMORANDA.
Improved Spring Clip. — Mr. W. P. Marshall sends us the fol-
lowing account of a clip which he has devised. We have seen a spe-
cimen, and consider it useful. In this form of wire clip for holding
down the cover glass during the preparation of an object, my inten-
tion has been to admit of readily examining an object in the micro-
scope with the clip on, without risk of the clip getting .shifted and
displacing the cover glass. The clip is put on at one end of the slide,
and confined to a straight line along the middle of the slide; the
lower half that clips on the slide reaches half-way to centre, and the
wire is then bent back again to the end; and the upper half of the
clip is carried up in a bow, the end being curved down to press upon
48 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. _ [ Monthly: Microscopteal
the centre of the slide. The lower half of the clip holds firmly upon
the glass slide, being a strong short spring; and the upper half being
a weak long spring, gives the required delicate pressure on the cover
glass independently of the other spring. The point of the clip is
turned down sufficiently to prevent any risk of touching the wet
varnish round the cover, glass, and applies the pressure only on tho
centre; and the clip is curved away sideways so as to allow of an
objective of short focus being used in examining the object whilst the
clip is on. The lower end of the clip ends in a flat ring, that is kept
clear of the field ; and the bottom edge of the slide being left free, the
object can be safely placed on the stage of the microscope for examin-
ation during mounting, without any risk of the clip getting accidentally
displaced. In putting on the clip, it is held by the upper bow with the
finger and thumb, and first slipped on to the slide, and then adjusted to
its position, holding up the point clear of the cover glass until in its
right place. The same clip, with the point not turned down, is more
convenient often for examining flowers, &c., in the microscope, than
‘ using the ordinary stage forceps; the petals or other parts of a flower
being held down firmly and flat upon the glass slide during examina-
tion. These clips can be readily made by any one, and adjusted as
required to different degrees of pressure by slightly bending; they
are also supplied by Messrs. Field, of Birmingham, neatly made of
light steel wire.
The Son of a late Fellow.—An effort is bemg made by some of
the Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Society and other charitable
persons to obtain votes and other support in behalf of the child of a
late Fellow of the Society (Mr. Hall). 'The case is one deserving the
sympathy of those who belong to the Society ; and, as charity begins
at home, we trust that those who have any power in the matter will
exert it for the benefit of the little fellow, who is a candidate at the
present election (January) of the London Orphan Asylum, Clapton.
The case is strongly recommended by Stanley Vickers, Esq., M.P.,
Victoria Street ; D. De Berdt Hovell, Esq., F.R.C.S.E., Five Houses,
Clapton ; *P. Gowlland, Esq., F.R.C.S., 34, Finsbury Square; H. N.
Nissen, Esq., 43, Mark Lane, London; H. Hughes, Esq., Southcote
Lodge, Reading ; C. A. Aylmer, Esq., Peel River Company, London ;
*C. Wellborne, Esq., Duke Street, Southwark; F. Nash, Esq., Lower
Norwood; *H. P. Wellborne, Esq. Adelaide Villa, Brunswick Road,
Camberwell ; *Thos. Kesterton, Esq., Sutton, Surrey ; *A. H. Billing,
Esq., 9, Carlton Villas, Angell Park, s.w. Proxies will be thankfully
received by those marked*.
New Microscopical Societies. — Three new Societies have been
founded in the Provinces, two of which are exclusively microscopical
and one partly so. The two first are those of Leamington and Tun-
bridge Wells. The third is the “ Winchester and Hampshire Scien-
tific and Literary Society.” The officers of the Tunbridge Wells
Society, the prospectus of which we have seen, are :—President, Dr.
Deakin ; Treasurer, John Stone Wigg, Esq. ; Secretary, Rev. Benjamin
Whitelock.
oie Ce eg es NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 49
Stricker’s Handbook of Histology.—The first part of this work,
which is to be issued in English to the members of the Sydenham
Society, has been translated by Mr. Henry Power, F.R.C.S. It is not,
however, yet in the press; but, as the MS. is complete, we may hope
for the publication of the volume early in the spring.
Mounting Brain Sections.— Dr. Bastian informs us that the reason
why Stieda’s process of mounting sections was not more fully given in
his (Dr. Bastian’s) paper before the Royal Microscopical Society, was
that it had before been dealt with at length in his paper in the
‘Journal of Anatomy and Physiology.’
How to choose a Microscope is the title of a paper by Dr. J.
Baker Edwards, in the last number of the ‘ Canadian Naturalist.’
An Italian Prize for Chemical Microscopists.—A prize of nearly
nine hundred lire will be given next month by the Royal Institution
of Lombardy for the best Essay on the Chemico-microscopical Exa-
mination of Milk, to demonstrate the nature of the substance which
sets fermentation going, 7. e. whether an organized or chemical sub-
stance.
The Journal of the Quekett Club. We believe we are correct in
stating that the Quekett Club will not in future issue a Journal, but
will be content with an annual volume of Proceedings. Papers, read
before the meetings, may, we believe, appear in our pages.
Photography and the Microscope.—A contemporary states that
Dr. Moitessier’s work, entitled ‘Photography as an Aid to Micro-
scopical Research,’ has been translated into German by Dr. Benecke,
of Kénigsberg, who has re-edited and enlarged its contents.
Tolles’ New Method of Illuminating Opaque Objects under
High Powers.—The ‘ Boston Journal of Chemistry,’ quoted by the
American ‘ Dental Cosmos’ of December, gives a long account of this
method. A description is given of Professor Smith’s plan and others,
but the writer thinks that none of these methods have come into general
use; the great difficulty with them has been that most of the light is
reflected to the eye of the observer by the lenses, before reaching the
object, thus producing a glare, which renders the object indistinct.
By very careful and tedious manipulation, the writer has sometimes
obtained a pretty good effect with Professor Smith’s illuminator, but
more often, after working a long time, has failed. “Soon after Pro-
fessor Smith’s instrument was described, Mr. Tolles, then in Canastota,
produced an instrument varying materially from the others. In this
‘a prism is inserted in the side of the objective, between the front and
middle combinations, of such a shape that a beam of light, received
at the side of the objective, is thrown by a totally reflecting surface
through one side of the front lens, at such an angle that none of it is
reflected, but all passes through and is condensed on the object, and
from that reflected back to the eye. Only one of these instruments
(now owned by a physician of Boston) was then made. Recently
Mr. Tolles has made two more of them, and their performance is such
as to promise that little, if any, improvement can be expected in this
VOL. Ill. KE
50 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. ee ei oy
direction. Opaque objects are seen with 4-10ths and 1-4th inch
objectives (from 200 to 500 diameters), brilliantly illuminated on a
black background. The appearance of diatoms is similar to that
obtained with the parabola, but the details of surface are shown with
a distinctness never before seen. Of how much utility this is to
prove, and what discoveries are to be made in the works of nature
with it, are among the problems that the microscopists are called on
to solve.
Dr. Woodward's Article in No. XII. of this Journal. An
Explanation.— Some apology is due to Dr. Woodward for the
omission of the diagram from his paper, as published in our last. The
omission was caused by inadvertence or forgetfulness on the part of
the Secretary, Mr. Jabez Hogg. On noticing that the printer had left
space for a diagram we sent to Mr. Hogg—who had, of course (as
Col. Woodward’s representative), compared the manuscript and
proof before sending it to us—to ask him whether there was a sketch
of a diagram for Dr. Woodward’s paper. To this Mr. Hogg replied,
that he knew of nothing of the kind! The only course open to us,
therefore, was that expressed in our foot-note to Dr. Woodward’s paper,
and it remains for Mr. Hogg to explain how he compared Dr. Wood-
Hi i proof with the MS., and yet failed to see the diagram in the
atter.
Professor Huxley’s Classification of Animals. — A very severe
and long critique on this book appears in the ‘ American Naturalist’
for December.
A New Treatise on Microscopie Objects. — Mr. Van Voorst is
about to issue a very comprehensive treatise on Microscopic Objects.
The Author is Mr. J. H. Martin, Secretary to the Maidstone and
Mid-Kent Natural History Society. The first part was to have been
issued on the 1st of this month. Each part will contain eight plates and
eight pages of text. The whole number of figures will be 200, and we
cannot help thinking that Mr. Van Voorst will have to exert more than
his ordinary skill as a scientific publisher, if he contrives to include
the whole range of histology in these. The figures will be faithful
drawings of the structures as they appear when as nearly as possible
filling the ordinary field of the microscope. It is proposed to com-
mence with the primary forms of Vegetable life, and to proceed on-
wards through the tissues to the woody structures of the Exogens and
Endogens, next descending to the Acrogens, and so passing to the
extreme limits of vegetable life, as the Desmidex, &c.; hence to the
lower forms of Animal life, the Infusoria, and on through the Radiata
to the Insects, which will be drawn and described in their various
orders, and the minute organs figured separately. In the concluding
Plates will be represented interesting and characteristic geological
structures, with some of the more curious forms and groupings of
crystals. The description of the objects will be brief, and, as far as
possible, void of technicalities ; and no attempt will be made to enter
into details relating to their physiological action.
Blankley’s revolving Mica-Selenite Stage. — This stage, which
~
Te ee NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 51
was recently exhibited to the Society by Mr. Slack, consists of two
brass plates, 834in. long by 1}in. wide, between which is placed a
brass disk with an aperture in the centre, in which is placed a thin
film of Mica. By placing the Selenite under this stage and the object
upon it, and revolving the milled edge of the rotating disc, a very
great variety of colour will be obtained. The Mica appears to have
the power of developing or drawing out the colour in the Selenite.
It will be observed that by using this piece of apparatus the
polarizer is not touched, but by altering the angles of the polarizing
prisms the variety of tints and colours will be still further increased.
The stage can be used with an ordinary selenite or with any sliding
and compound selenite stages. It is made by Mr. Swift, of Kings-
land Road, London.
Vegetable Hairs.—These structures offer our readers an excellent
field for easy and interesting work, and as an introduction to the
subject we commend to their notice an illustrative and good paper,
“ Vegetable Hairs,” in ‘Science Gossip’ for December.
Brass Cells. — Mr. T. W. Wonfor, the well-known secretary of
the Brighton and Sussex Natural History Society, considers that
cells made of india-rubber bands and such-like materials are use-
less if required to last. He recommends brass cells.* These, he
says, which are cheap and easy to fix, he makes from brass rings;
he used to employ different sized curtain-rings, until he became
acquainted with those referred to. They are used by tailors as button
moulds, and can be purchased in three sizes, at a woollen-draper’s or
tailor’s trimming warehouse, at from 10d. to 1s. 4d. per gross; and
therefore as regards cheapness can compete with the endless bands.
As to the mode of fixing: this is done by marine glue, or one of the
many cements used for fixing glass and brass, or repairing glass or
china. He prefers the marine glue, because when properly manipu-
lated it never fails, and the slide will sooner break than the cell
come off. His modus operandi is as follows: first, centre a batch of
slides, and cut some marine glue into pieces the size of a pin’s head ;
then, with wooden forceps, seize one end of the slide, drop a ring
on centrally, place three or four pieces of glue at intervals outside,
and touch the brass ring; hold the slide over a spirit-lamp, until the
glue by capillary attraction runs under (care must be taken not to
bake too much); then drop the slide on wood to cool, when the super-
fluous glue may be removed with a knife. To fix the glass cover,
paint the ring with gold-size, and when tacky, drop on the cover ;
when dry, give it a coat of gold-size, and finish it off with asphalte or
coachmaker’s varnish. If required for fluid, he either paints the
inside with gold-size or with electroplate before fixing. If a deeper
cell is required, he cements two rings together.
* ‘Science Gossip.’
E 2
Mi ieal
52 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. eT Le
CORRESPONDENCE.
Cottins’s Erectina Dissectina Microscope.
To the Editor of the ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal.’
New York CoLueGe or VETERINARY SURGEONS,
205, Lexington Avenue, Nov. 22, 1869.
Dear Srr,—In the October number of the ‘Monthly Microscopical
Journal’ you mention, under the head of “Notes and Memoranda,”
what you call a new dissecting microscope.
Allow me to say that for the last five years I have been using an
instrument invented by Dr. John Busteed, of this city, and made by
Mr. Grunow, one of our best opticians, which has exactly the same
advantages and is similarly made in every respect, having a revolving
stage and compound body with prism erector.
If this instrument possesses any advantages over others, the
originality of the idea is due to Dr. John Busteed.
Respectfully yours,
A. Swintarp,* M.D., V.S.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.+
Royaut MicroscoprcaL Society.
Krne’s Cotiece, December 8, 1869.
The Rev. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
The President said that the vote of thanks to Dr. Pigott, recorded
in the minutes, had been well earned, for the paper which he had
communicated to the Society was an exceedingly valuable one, not-
withstanding the doubts which had been expressed as to the correct-
ness of the conclusions it contained. He (the President) had, in
company with Dr. Millar, had had two or three interviews with
Dr. Pigott, and had witnessed the exhibition of the true Podura
test-scale, viz. that of Lepidocyrtus curvicollis ; and he felt bound to
say that Dr. Pigott had brought out appearances which are very
naturally described as rows of beads, whatever their real character
might ultimately be proved to be. It was very clear to him, that
Dr. Pigott’s peculiar optical arrangements led to the correction of
* We cannot vouch for the correctness of our correspondent’s name, his
signature is so fearfully unintelligible—Ep. M. M. J.
+ Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: H ydra—and by “ underlining ”
words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics, They will thus
ensure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings.—Ep, M. M. J.
[eae PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 53
the small residuary aberrations which exist in the best object-glasses
by an equal and opposite amount of aberrations, as spoken of in the
paper; and in this respect he (the President) thought that the leading
opticians would do well to avail themselves of Dr. Pigott’s sugges-
tions. In addition to this he would mention that the stage itself is
one of peculiar interest, having been made by Dr. Pigott himself, to
whose practical skill as a worker on the lathe many could testify.
The peculiarity of the stage consisted in the secondary stage being
brought up to the primary one, the whole being about a 1 of an inch
in thickness, and even under a ;), the circular motion is so perfectly
concentric that the minutest object remains, as it were, fixed on the
field of view. There are two screws which regulate the condenser,
and also two which regulate the rectangular motion of the stage, that
motion being produced by the moving of one circle within another.
The abstruse mathematical calculations employed in the correction
of the residuary aberration are to be communicated to the Royal
Society, and a further communication would be made also to the
Royal Microscopical Society. These remarks he (the President) had
made in justice to Dr. Pigott. The President added, that Dr. Pigott
was precluded from attending the meetings of the Society by the
state of his health, but that he was willing to show the Podura mark-
ings at his own residence to any of the Fellows who would favour
him with a visit.*
The list of donations was then read.
Mr. Slack announced that the Society had received two presents
from Dr. Millar: the one, consisting of an original form of the para-
bola, devised by Mr. Wenham ; and the other, of the original “ finder,”
devised by the Committee of the Society. Dr. Millar stated that the
finder had been obtained from the collection of Mr. Jackson.
A vote of thanks was then passed to Dr. Millar and the other
donors whose names had been mentioned.
Mr. Slack briefly explained the nature of a communication from
Mr. C. Staniland Wake “On Organisms in Mineral Infusions,” which
will appear in the ‘ Transactions.’
Mr. Wake made infusions of coal and other mineral substances,
and then examined the organisms which grew from or upon particles
they contained. Mr. Wake spoke of these organisms as if they had
retained their vitality from the formation of the mineral ; and though
this is rather a startling statement, he is not alone in this view, for a
similar opinion had been enunciated before the French Academy by
M. Béchamp, who had discovered certain bodies in chalk, which he
found were capable of acting as ferments, which he named Micro-
zymas. He presumed these bodies to have preserved their vitality in
the fossil state.
* Mr. Hogg desires us to insert the following note :—“I regret to find in the
report of my observations on Dr. Pigott’s paper (Dec. 1, p. 333) that the last
sentence assumes the form of a personal comment. Press of engagements un-
fortunately prevented me from making an intended and necessary addition and
correction, and I now gladly take the opportunity of adding to the above obser-
vations of the President my own present opinion of the value of Dr. Pigott’s
paper.’—JABEz Hoge, :
Month i
54 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. So one
Dr. Murie then, at the request of the President, gave a short sum-
mary of a paper communicated by Dr. Macintosh “On the Stylet
Region of the Ommontoplean Proboscis.”
These papers were then taken as read, and a vote of thanks passed
to the authors.
The President then called on Professor T. Rymer Jones, F.R.S.,
to read a paper “On Deep-sea Dredgings, from the Vicinity of China
and Japan.”
Mr. Brooke said that he would make only one remark in con-
firmation of the statement of Professor Jones in referenee to the
abundance of life which existed at the bottom of the sea. At the
late meeting of the Royal Society Dr. Carpenter had mentioned the
fact that in his recent expedition a cable, composed of rope, the end
of which was so arranged as to form a loose tangle, was let down to
a depth of 2000 fathoms, and was brought up covered with certain
kinds of Echinus, in such numbers that, after furnishing specimens
sufficient to supply all the Museums in Europe, they were obliged to
stamp them out in order to get rid of them.
Mr. Slack said it was evident that the physical problems of deep-
sea life had not been understood. If pressure on living creatures
at the bottom of the sea is equal in all directions, from their being
permeated with fluid pressing from within as well as from without,
there was no reason why they should not bear it as easily as we bear
the pressure of the atmosphere. But the chemical conditions of the
depths of the sea must differ considerably from those which existed
on the earth’s surface. It might be supposed that the ultimate mole-
cules of matter would have to bear the whole pressure external to
them, and adjacent molecules might be so closely compressed as to
2zause chemical action to vary materially from that which goes on on
the surface of the earth. Composition and decomposition might be
presumed to take place with much greater or much less facility
according to circumstances.
Mr. Hogg was glad to find that the discoveries of Dr. Wallich had
received from Professor Jones the recognition which they merited.
The President said, with reference to the chemical conditions at
the bottom of the sea, which were alluded to by Mr. Slack, he had
been much interested in the statement as to the large amount of car-
bonic acid gas existing there, as was clearly the case from the report
of Professor Jones. ‘The creatures described by him must supply an
enormous quantity of this noxious gas, so as to render it a matter
of surprise as to how it was possible for them to live surrounded by
it. He could only suppose that the balance of vital conditions was
maintained, by the effect which the violent commotions to which the
sea was subject was produced, in causing the gas to rise.
A vote of thanks was then passed to Professor Jones.
The meeting was then adjourned to January 12th, when papers
will be read by W.S. Kent, F.Z.S., F.R.MLS., “ On the Calcareous
Spicula of the Goronacez: their modification of form, and the impor-
tance of their characters as a basis for generic and specific diagnosis.”
By John Browning, F.R.A.S., &c., “On a new mode of Measuring
See ennai PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, 55
Journal, Jan. 1, 1870.
Spectra Bands.” By Alfred Sanders, M.R.C.S., F.R.M.S., “On an
Undescribed Stage of Development of Tetrarhynchus Corallatus.”
Donations to the Library and Cabinet from November 10th to
December 8th, 1869 :—
From
Land and Water. Weekly G0 woe! wD! Ad yk wc <incl! Witton Ue coe
Scientific Opinions Weeklys 97s "me ss 6 ee ss, se =. eLdutore
Society of Arts Journal. Weekly .: .. .. «2 «+ «. Society.
Nature. Weekly . Soo) on eee
Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers. "Vol. Ty 2s, Society:
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-
delphia. Iisletsr | oa Abo. ad ac co od eo ok on | LaF.
The Chemical News: “S:Paris: %. 4.8 Vt 0 8 WE Saffolhs Bagh
A Reade’s Prism... ma) not eco toe ep oy) eevee
A Brewster's Hemispherical Prism. The President.
The “ Finder,” recommended by a Committee of this Society,
described in vol. v. »P; 95, of the ‘ Quarterly Journal of
Microscopical Science? 1868. .. Dr, Millar.
Mr. Wenhawm’s original Silvered Parabola,1 made > by Smith and
Beck in 1850... Dr, Millar,
The follotriing sentient were bioaiel Fellows of the Society :—
tzra Thomas Downes, Esq.
F. G. Mountford, Esq.
William Rutherford, M.D., Professor of Physiology in
King’s College, London.
F. H. Ward, Esq., M.R.C.S.
Water W. Reeves,
Assist.-Secretary, §c.
QurEKEeTT Microscorican CiLus.*
At the ordinary meeting held at University College, October 22,
P. Le Neve Foster, Esq., M.A., President, in the chair,—five new
members were elected ; four gentlemen were proposed for member-
ship ; several presents to the library were announced, and fifty-three
slides were presented to the cabinet, for which the thanks of the
club were returned. Mr. B. T. Lowne, M.R.C.S., read a paper “On
the Aid derivable from the Microscope in the Classification of
Animals,” observing in his introductory remarks that although the
microscope had been of great advantage to the naturalist in cases
where the animals were too small for unaided vision, and had been
of still greater service in determining observations upon embryology,
showing to us the distinctive modes of segmentation in vertebrate and
invertebrate animals, he should not touch upon these points, but
should rather treat of the ultimate histological structure of animals
as an aid to classification. After briefly noticing the Amceba as the
simplest form of animal, consisting merely of a mass of sarcode
without histological structure, the author observed that rising in the
scale we next found the integument hardened and becoming the first
form of acell. Of this the Gregarina was taken as an example, its
appearance was described and illustrated, and its resemblance to an
* Report supplied by Mr. R. T. Lewis.
56 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. [ee ero
ovum after segmentation was pointed out. The Gregarina might be
considered as consisting of a single cell, from which, rising still in
the scale, other animals were found to consist of cell upon cell, a fact
which gave rise to the celebrated cell theory of Schwann. The forma-
tion of muscular tissue by the fibrillation of the plasma was next
referred to, and the difference in the appearance of striated and non-
striated muscular fibre pointed out, it being explained that in the
human body the involuntary muscles consisted of non-striated, and
the voluntary muscles of striated fibre. The author then proceeded
to show that throughout the mollusca, both in the voluntary and
involuntary muscle non-striated tissue alone was to be found, whereas
in insects nothing but striped tissue existed. Two most important
exceptions, however, existed to these rules—the Serapis, one of the
lowest of the mollusca, was said to possess striped muscular tissue,
whilst the Annelida, which lead up to the type of insects, exhibit
nothing but unstriped tissue. It had been stated that the muscles of
insects were of far larger formation than those of the vertebrata, but
this he was able to contradict, having demonstrated that although in
the larval state they were larger, in the higher forms of insects they
were either smaller or of the same size ; there was in fact no difference
between the striped muscular tissue in the highest and the lowest
forms, except in point of quantity. Dwelling at some length upon
these facts, the author pointed out their bearing upon the great
question of the Origin of Species, and concluded by expressing his
belief that the microscope would one day be the means of demonstra-
ting whether Darwin’s theory were right or wrong. The paper elicited
the loud applause of a large and most attentive audience, and a well-
merited tribute to its value was paid by Dr. Braithwaite; after which
Mr. Hailes called attention to a small portion of skin from the door
of the Pyx Chamber in Westminster Abbey, which he exhibited under
the microscope, and unanimous votes of thanks were passed to Messrs.
Lowne and Hailes for their communications. The usual conversazione
concluded the proceedings.
Erratum.—Page 286, line 6, for Biology read Bryology.
At the ordinary meeting held at University College, November
26th, P. le Neve Foster, Esq., M.A., President, in the chair, four
new members were elected, six gentlemen were proposed for member-
ship, and a number of donations to the club were announced. Mr. A.
E. Durham exhibited a new portable dissecting and mounting micro-
scope, designed by Mr. Marshall and manufactured by Messrs. Field,
which was justly described as multum in parvo. Mr. Durham also
read a communication from Professor Tomlinson, suggesting microsco-
pical observations on the movements of small pieces of camphor placed
upon solid surfaces, and requesting information as to the results. Mr.
W. Hislop read a paper upon “ A New Selenite Stage,’ in which a
plate of mica was so fitted as to be rotated above the plate of selenite,
producing a variety of colours; a diagram of the contrivance was
exhibited. Mr, M. C. Cooke read a translation of a paper by Count
Castracane, “ Upon the Italian Methods of Micrometry,” and an inter-
Monthly Microscopical] © PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 57
esting discussion followed, in which Dr. Matthews, Messrs. Lowne,
Breese, Golding, and Groves took part. The Secretary read a paper
“On the Albertype Process of Photographic Printing,” suggesting its
application to the illustration of microscopical subjects ; specimens of
a portrait printed by the process were distributed in the room, and a
discussion upon its merits ensued. The conclusion of the ordinary
business of the club was made the occasion of an interesting presenta-
tion to Mr. W. M. Bywater, who for four years had so ably filled the
office of honorary secretary. Arthur E. Durham, Esq., F.L.S., late
President of the club, having been called to the chair, referred in an
able and highly complimentary speech to the valuable services rendered
by Mr. Bywater during his period of office, and paid a well-merited
tribute to the courteous and efficient manner in which his arduous
duties had ever been performed. Myr. Durham then, amidst great
applause, presented, in the name of the members, a handsome silver
salver and tea and cofiee service; the salver bearing the following
inscription : —“ Presented, together with a silver tea-service, to Witham
Matthew Bywater, by members of the Quekett Microscopical Club, as
a token of appreciation of his indefatigable exertions both as a founder
of the club and as the honorary secretary during four years.—1869.”
Mr. Bywater, in a brief but very suitable manner, acknowledged the
valuable gift, expressing his deep sense of the honour conferred upon
him by those with whom he had so long been associated, and cordially
thanking them for the very handsome testimonial presented to him.
The proceedings terminated as usual by a conversazione.
LITERARY AND PuInosopHicAL Society OF MANCHESTER.
Ordinary Meeting, October 19th, 1869. J. P. Joule, LL.D.,
F.R.S., &c., President, in the chair. “On a New Form of Calamitean
Strobilus,” by Professor W. C. Williamson, F.R.S.
The author referred to the labours of Mr. Binney and Mr. Car-
ruthers in elucidating the structure of the ordinary type of Calamitean
Strobili as affording a standard of comparison, and then proceeded
to describe his specimen, which was from the cabinet of Mr. J. Butter-
worth, of High Crompton. It had been a strobilus approaching
nearer to Aphyllostachys than to Volkmannia, only the three lower-
most verticils or joints were preserved. Externally the central axis
had been fluted longitudinally like the stems of Calamites. It con-
sisted of a medullary cavity surrounded by a cylinder consisting
‘largely of cellular and prosenchymatous tissues, but also containing,
in the prominent external ridges, bundles of reticulated vessels.
Where these vessels crossed the nodes they described a series of
arches of which the concavities were directed towards the medulla, as
the author had, in a previous memoir, pointed out to be the case in
Calamopitus. Immediately above and below each node the ten ex-
ternal ridges of the axis gradually became more prominent until, at
the node, they coalesced, converting the external grooves of the axis
into short canals, of which the transverse section was pyriform, and
forming a continuous foliar disk, chiefly of cellular tissue, in which
Monthly Micros ical
58 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. Journal, dans aen
were an outer series of twenty smaller pyriform apertures diverging
obliquely in pairs from each of the ten larger ones. At the outer
angle of each smaller aperture a sporangiophore ascended almost
vertically into the cavity of the strobilus, being nearly parallel with
the central axis. This sporangiophore supported three or four
sporangia grouped around it in a horizontal verticil, the horizontal
section of the entire strobilus consisting of a circle of these smaller
sporangial verticils, which were so densely packed together as to
disturb and mask the regularity of their arrangement. Having given
off these sporangiophores with the reproductive organs which they
supported, the verticillate foliar disk dipped suddenly downwards,
and, describing a circular curve, as suddenly outwards and upwards,
where it terminated in a verticil of numerous ovato-lanceolate bracts,
which enclosed the exterior of the segment to which they belonged
and protected the contained sporangia. The author pointed out
where the strobilus differed from those described by Binney and
Carruthers. In the former each node gave off a horizontal verticil of
coalesced bracts, from the centre of which a series of sporangiophores
ascended as vertical divergent branches, whilst in the latter there was
an alternating arrangement, one node giving off the disk of coalesced
bracts, and the next a verticil of sporangiophores springing at right
angles from the central axis, and having their respective sporangio-
phores clustered round them in perpendicular verticils. In the
author’s example the sporangiophores were densely filled with spores,
each consisting of an outer cell-wall, an inner cell-membrane or
primordial utricle, and cell contents which were often aggregated into
a distinctly defined mass in the centre of the cell. There were no
traces of elaters connected with the spores.
The author pointed out that in its general aspect and in the type
of its structure the strobilus was unmistakably Calamitean—the pecu-
liarity in the position of its sporangiophores being merely generic.
Tis Calamitean character was further established by the peculiar
arched arrangement of the vascular bundles where they cross the
nodes—an arrangement which the author has never seen except in
Calamites. All the detailed features of the strobilus distinguish it
from those described by Binney and Carruthers, and especially the
fact that, whilst in all the latter the vascular structures are scalari-
form as in the stems to which they are supposed to belong, in this
example the vessels are reticulated. But the only Calamitean ex-
ample hitherto discovered containing such vessels is that described by
the author under the name of Calamopitus, to which, or to some near
ally of it, he believes the strobilus to have belonged. If this be a
correct conclusion, the plant furnishes an instance derived from the
carboniferous vegetation of a highly-organized axis, exogenous in its
growth and furnished with medullary rays, but which nevertheless
sustained a cryptogamic strobilus. Such a combination, however, is
but a primeval illustration of a combination still existing amongst
the living Marsileacez, with which Calamites present some affinities,
The specimen described was found by Mr. Butterworth in one of the
lower beds of the Lancashire coal-measures.
”
Monthly Microscopical) © PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 59
Microscopical and Natural History Section.
October 11th, 1869. John Watson, Hsq., President of the Section,
in the chair.
The President delivered a long and interesting address, of which,
however, the following is the only passage relating to microscopy :—
“Some of our botanical members occasionally meet together for
excursions in pursuit of their favourite study, and it might be of
advantage if the microscopical members would do the same. There
are many districts which would yield reward in working, and I may
mention that I have been very fortunate during the past summer in
obtaining a large number of infusoria, many of them scarce and some
new to me: these were found in the succession of ponds lying in the
fields between Castle Mill and Mobberly, nearly every pool possessing
its own genera and species, differing from the others. The finest
kinds were in the ponds containing water-lilies, and particularly in
two where Utricularia vulgaris was abundant. On the stems of this
latter plant I found that finest of all the infusoria, Stephanoceros Hich-
hornii, in great beauty—a species I had never previously met with in
this district; there were also Floscularia ornata and cornuta, and in
addition to abundance of the more common kinds I obtained Mega-
lotrocha albo-flavicans, Scaridium longicaudum, Noteus quadricornis,
Brachionus polyacanthus, Limnias ceratophylli, &c., whilst among the
decayed sedge-leaves there were abundance of Oscillatorie.”
Dr. Henry Simpson exhibited specimens of Statice spathulata,
gathered by himself this autumn on Hilbree Island, Cheshire.
Mr. Tait sent a portion of the beach from near Alexandria, Egypt,
consisting almost entirely of shells. He stated that for miles along
the coast the shore was of a similar character.
Mr. Joseph Sidebotham read a long paper on “ Varieties in Lepi-
doptera.”
November 8th, 1869. Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S., Vice-President
of the Section, in the chair.—Mr. W. J. Rideout presented the Section
with one of the “ Diotamaceen Typenplatte,” prepared by J. D. Moller,
of Holstein, and containing 408 separate types of Diatoms, beautifully
arranged within an area of an eighth of an inch. The other papers
were of no microscopical interest.
- Brmurncuam Naturaut History anp Microscorican Society.
November 9.—The President (Mr. W. P. Marshall) read a paper,
supplementary to a former one, “On the Transformations of the
Gnat.” He traced the several stages of the development of this
insect from the egg, through the larva and pupa states, to the perfect
animal, and the mode in which these transformations are effected,
dwelling especially upon the interesting changes which take place
in the manner of respiration, and the special arrangements by which
the great alterations in the requirements of the animal in its different
states are provided for. He then proceeded to describe in detail
certain recent observations he has made upon this subject, which appear
60 PROCEEDINGS OF sociETIES. [Mp Nant ieo
to give a clue to a distinct connection between the breathing appa-
ratus in the three different stages of development, which makes it in
essential structure identical in all of these, differing only in respect
of the external organs. The paper was illustrated by a series of
beautiful drawings, and by numerous microscopic preparations, show-
ing the successive stages of development from the egg to the imago.
Owing to the several meetings of the summer session, a great
variety of objects have been exhibited in all branches of Natural
History. Our space permits us only to notice a few of the principal
microscopic ones. These include, among others, the following :—
Mr. T. Bolton, collection of Rotifera, including Melicerta ringens,
Tubicolaria ringens, Limnias ceratophylli, Monocerca rattus, Syncheta
pectinata, Euchlanis triquetra, Rotifer inflatus, Actinurus neptunius,
Philodina macrostyla, Cheetonotus larus, and others.
Mr. W. R. Hughes, Bugula avicularis, B. plumosa, Bowerbankia
imbricata, and other Marine polyzoa, living ;—Pedicillarie of Echinus
Sphera.
Mr. W. Madely, Vorticella nebulifera, Epistylis grandis, Carchesium
polypinum, Trichodina pediculi, Vaginicola valvata, Euplotes patella,
and other Rotifera ;—Statoblasts of fresh-water -Polyzoa, showing
adherence of the valves to the young polyzoon, until germination had
been several times repeated (mounted).
Mr. W. P. Marshall, Caprella linearis, Lucernaria campanulata,
Phoxichilidium coccineum. Larva of Ephemeree and slides, illustrative
of the development of the common gnat, from the egg to the imago,
all mounted in glycerine jelly.
Mr. C. T. Parsons, Atcidium epilobii, Larva and pupa of Corethra
plumicornis, very fine objects for the polariscope and dark-ground
illumination.
Mr. C. Pumphrey, Pedicillarie and Ambulacral dises of Hchini.
Living specimens of several species of Flustra and Aleyonidium.
Mr. J. Shoebotham, the Entomostracon, Diaptomus castor, male and
female, showing the spermatic sac, &c.
Mr. E. Simpson, Hydra viridis; Stentor Milleri and other rotifers.
Mr. G. S. Tye, Statoblasts of Plumatella repens and Cristatella
mucedo, mounted ; Plumatella repens, mounted with tentacles expanded.
Mr. A. W. Wills, Batrachosperonum confusum, B. stagnale; Choeto-
phora endivicefolia ; "Raphidia angulosa, &c.; Pedicillarie of Uraster
rubens and Echinus milearis. Stephanoceros eichornii — Cristatella
mucedo and Plumatella repens, living — Marine polyzoa, mounted,
including Anguinaria spatulata, Bugula avicularia, Cellularia reptans,
Flustra foliacea, F. membranacea, F. papyracea, Membranipora pilosa,
Scruparia chelata, Valperia postulata, Salicornaria farciminoides, and
others.
Rrapinc Microscoricat Socirtry.*
October 19th, 1869.—Captain Lang, President, in the chair.
This being the first meeting of the session, the President made a
few remarks upon the desirability of keeping up the interest of the
* Report furnished by Mr. B, J. Austin.
ls i
Eee PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 61
meetings by a regular succession of papers; and in response, several
members undertook to provide for the coming monthly meetings.
He then read a paper (prepared by Mr. Tatem) “ On Collecting and
Mounting Entomostraca ;” in which the late Mr. Clayton’s method of
collecting, cleaning, and mounting (as well as the medium), was fully
described. [This appeared in our November number. Ep. M.M.J.|
Mr. Tatem exhibited drawings of Clathrulina elegans (Cienkowski),
first obtained in 1864, and repeatedly since, from a ditch near the
Cattle-market, Reading. In all instances these organisms were per-
fectly colourless, the reticulation more polygonal, and the pseudo-
podia shorter and weaker than in the figure recently given in the
‘Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science. Mr. Tatem considered
the brown tinge of Mr. Archer’s specimen due to bog-water, from
which, possibly, it may have been procured; and further remarked
that if the definition of Podophrya as “a stalked Actinophryan ” is to
be maintained, he could see no good reason for its removal from that
enus.
: He also exhibited Notommata parasita in Volvox globator, and a
series of mounts of ovipositors of saw-flies.
Captain Lang exhibited the gizzard of Elater nigra; stomach,
pylorus, rectal papille, ovary, &c., of blow-fly ; head, cesophagus, and
gizzard of Corethra plumicornis; Arcella vulgaris, mounted in a
mixture of Rimington’s jelly and glycerine; tongue of Trochus,
mounted in the same medium ; and Bacillaria paradoxa, dry.
Mr. Amner exhibited embryo mussels.
November 16th.—At this the Annual Meeting of the Society,
after the report and balance-sheet had been considered, and the usual
business transacted, Captain Lang read a paper “On Diatomacee,”
having for its object the discussion of different plans of arrangement
proposed by the most noted Diatomists. These he considered to be
two: Professor William Smith’s, based upon the mode of growth,
leading to a division into three principal families, the free, the adhe-
rent, and the frondose, subdivided into tribes, sub-tribes, and genera ;.
according to the existence or non-existence of gelatinous envelope, &e. ;
and the system adopted by Kiitzing, Grunow, Ralfs, Heiberg, and others,
based upon the form and structure of the individual frustules. He
also entered into the merits of Reade’s prism and of immersion lenses,
as aids in the study of diatoms, and incidentally referred to Dr.
Macdonald’s views of diatom development, and to Mr. Stoddart’s
theory of the two-layered structure of the diatom-valve.
The paper was illustrated by a series of slides, showing types of
‘genera as arranged by Professor William Smith, and by Méller’s
No. 1 type slide.
BricgHTon AND Sussex Naturat History Socrety.*
November 11th.—The President, Mr. T. H. Hennah, in the chair.
A rare grass, Gastridium Lendigerum, obtained October, 1869, in the
Weald of Sussex, by Mr. Davies, was presented by that gentleman.
A paper “On Mosses” was read by Mr. Smith, in which the
* Report supplied by Mr. Wonfor.
62 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. _ [Mpnthly, Microscopical
development, growth, mode of reproduction, and the several parts
of mosses were described and illustrated by enlarged drawings and
microscopic preparations, the most notable among the latter being
Ephemerum serratum, showing vaginicola and pro-thallus ; Orthotrichum
Lyellii, exhibiting gemme on leaves; and Leucoboyum vulgare, showing
section of leaf. It was also pointed out that to the microscopist the
mosses opened out fields of research and questions to be settled un-
surpassed by any other branch of natural history.
Prior to reading the paper Mr. Smith handed in a complete
Bryological Flora of the county of Sussex, comprising 298 species
and sub-species, a brief account of the soils in which the rarer species
grow, together with an enumeration of those which at present, as re-
gards Britain, have been found only in Sussex. This list will be
published in the Society’s next annual report.
Dec. 9th. The President, Mr. T. H. Hennah, in the chair.—A
paper was read by Mr. C. P. Smith “On the Gemme of Mosses.” In
flowering plants the seed is an embryo plant provided with a stem, root,
and leaves, which only require developing to produce a perfect plant.
In mosses, the spore is but a simple cell, without any germ or embryo
of the future plant, which gives rise to an intermediate state, so that
mosses are plants of two, or rather alternating, generations; in the
first the spore gives rise to the pro-thallus, and the first generation
is completed, when the different sexual organs are formed, by the co-
operation of which the primary mother-cell of the second generation is
produced ; this afterwards becomes the fruit-rudiment and eventually
the capsule, thus completing the second generation. In addition to this
mode of generation, there is another by means of gemme or sprouts.
In all known British, none of the side-fruiting (Pleurocarpi) as yet
are known to show gemmze, which are defined as loose granular bodies,
capable of becoming plants. The situation in different mosses varies ;
thus in Tortula papillus, which grows on trees in Sussex and else-
where, and has a thick spongy nerve, the gemme are found on the
upper part of the inside of the leaf; the fruit of this moss is unknown
except in Australia; in Didymodon gemmasceus, having the nerve
excurrent, the tip is crowded with gemma; Tetraphis pellucida has
them in pedicellate clusters at the ends of separate stems; in Webera
annotina they assume the form of beds in the axils of barren branches ;
Bryum Atropurpwreum has tubercles or bulbs in the axils of leaves.
On the leaves of Orthotriche Lyellii grow little strings of cells, which
being thought to be of confervoid nature, were named Conferva cas-
tanea. It has since been demonstrated that these conferve gradually
develop into young plants of mosses. Oncophorus glaucus has a great
number of cells, forming a dense mass at the tip of the leaf; these, in
the damp season, give rise to numbers of young plants; hence this
plant is common in countries where it does not produce a true fruit.
The subject of the growth of gemme has not been thoroughly inves-
tigated ; he purposed investigating the phenomena, when he hoped to
lay before the Society some new facts. After a discussion, a number
of very interesting specimens prepared by Mr. Smith was exhibited
a ts =. —— a |
eee no. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 63
under the microscope by the following gentlemen; the most striking
were by—
Mr. Hennah, Mnium cuspidatum, hermaphrodite flowers, showing
archegonia, anthridea, and paraphytes; Mnium Hornum and Polytri-
chum communed showing ¢ flowers; Neckera oligocarpa, 2 flowers,
consisting of archegonia and paraphytes.
Mr. Smith, Cinclidiwm stygium, with cupiliform peristome ; Cerato-
don purpureus, peristome with divided teeth; section of leaf of Poly-
trichum formosum, covered with papille; Hphemerum servatum, with
pro-thallus and young buds.
Mr. Sewell, Pottia cavifolia, section of leaf exhibiting layers;
Orthotrichum Lyellii, with confervoid gemme on the leaves; this is
the Conferva castanea of the early botanists.
Mr. Wonfor, Aulacomnion androgyum, showing gemme in pseudo-
podia; Ullota phyllantha, with gemme on the tips of the leaves, and
forming aggregated cells; and Tetraphis pellucida, in which the gemme
were enclosed in a lenticular bud.
Tue State Microscorican Society or Inxrors.
October Meetings.
Regular meeting, Friday, the lst. James V. Z. Blaney, Esq., M.D.,
Vice-President, in the chair.—Twelve members present. Visitors:
A. A. Starr, of New York; Aldrich, of Marshallton, Iowa ; Dr. Boyd.
Correspondence : From Christopher Johnston, Esq., M.D., University
of Maryland; Wm. B. Carpenter, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., University of
London; J. B. Dancer, Esq., Manchester, England; Thomas Ross,
Esq., Messrs. R. and J. Beck, and Messrs. Powell and Lealand,
London ; and Messrs. Field and Co., Birmingham, England. Dona-
tions: From Samuel Highley, Esq., F.G.S., London ; Lieut.-Colonel
Woodward, M.D., Army Medical Museum, War Department, Wash-
ington, D.C.; W. H. Walmsley, Hsq., Philadelphia. Five new mem-
bers proposed. Exhibited—By Starr: Living Animalcule. Blaney :
Crystals of Citric, tartaric, and oxalic acid. Boerlin: Field’s Society
of Arts Prize School and Student’s Microscopes; also, the Child’s
Microscope, by the same maker.
Regular meeting, Friday, the 8th. James V. Z. Blaney, Esq.,
M.D., Vice-President, in the chair.—Nineteen members present. Five
new members elected. Thirteen new members proposed. Dr. Blaney
gave a brief and interesting account of the Spectroscope, its construc-
tion, uses, and importance to science, illustrating the several topics by
exhibiting the instrument in working order.
Regular meeting, Friday, the 15th. Joseph T. Ryerson, Esq., in
the chair.—Seventeen members present. Visitor: Mr. George Cook,
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Thirteen new members elected.
Walter Hay, Esq., M.D., read a paper “On the Adulteration of
Coffee,’ showing the enormous extent and character of the frauds
practised upon the public in this department of trade.
Regular meeting, Friday, the 22nd. Chas. G. Smith, Esq., M.D.,
in the chair.—Fifteen members present. One new member proposed,
y ; Monthly Microscopical
64 BIBLIOGRAPHY. if Seams Jan. 1, 1370.
Mr. Hankey read a paper “On a Microscope combining Excellence
with Cheapness,” introducing a Field’s Society of Arts Prize Student's
or Educational Microscope.
Regular meeting, Friday, the 29th. Samuel J. Jones, Esq., M.D.,
in the chair.—Twenty-five members present. Visitor: 0. Le Fuller,
Esq. New member elected: William M. Scudder. Mr. George M.
Higginson gave a brief and interesting description of a fine Binocular
Microscope made expressly for Albert A. Munger, Esq. 5 by sie A.
Baker, 243 and 244, High Holborn, London. Mr. Munger also exhi-
bited a well-selected series of microscopical objects, prepared chiefly
by Topping. The handsome cabinet, of polished mahogany, with
plate-glass door, containing twenty-four drawers, in which ee objects
lay flat, was much admired by the members present.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Untersuchungen aus dem physiologischen Laboratorium in Wiirz-
burg. Herausgegeben von R. Gschleiden. Leipzig: Engelmann.
Untersuchungen iiber Bau und Entwicklung der Arthropoden.
Von Dr. A. Dohrn. Iltes Heft. Leipzig: Engelmann.
Recherches expérimentales sur la Présence des Infusoires et Etat
du Sang dans les Maladies infectieuses. 4e Mémoire. Par M. L.
Coze. Strasbourg: Silbermann.
Bibliotheca Historico-Naturalis, 17ter Jahrgang. Ites Heft.
Januar-Juni 1869. Von Dr. Miildener.
Handbuch der Histologie und Histochemie des Menschen. Von
Prof. Dr. H. Frey. Leipzig: Engelmann.
Archiv fiir mikroskopische Anatomie. Herausgegeben von Prof.
Max Schiiltze. 6ter Band. ltes Heft. Bonn: Cohen und Sohn.
Compendium der Physiologie des Menschen. Von Prof. Jul
Budge. Leipzig: Giinther.
Ueber die Nerven der Conjunctiva und Sclera. Von Dr. F.
Helfreich. Wiirzburg: Stuber.
Recherches sur les Pédicellaires et les Ambulaires des Astérées et
des Oursins. Par M. J. E. Perrier. Paris: Victor Masson.
Monthly Microscopical Journal Keb 1. 1870
“4 es ORE fe) ;
ae aie Fea
r y 1 =. 5
ag
W.C.MiIntoskh del. Bevjean ith.
Stylet region Proboscis
OMMATOPLEA ALBA.
THE
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.
FEBRUARY 1, 1870.
I.—On the Stylet-Region of the Ommatoplean Proboscis.
By W. C. McIntosu, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.LS.
(Read before the Royau Microscorica Socirty, December 8, 1869.)
(Communicated by Dr. Murin.)
PLATE XX XIX,
THE proboscis, which various authors have burdened with functions
so diverse in the economy of these curious worms—as an organ of
touch, a penis, and an alimentary organ, or with bolder fancy have
reckoned respectively a parasite and a young Nemertean—fortunately
possesses, in the intricacy of its minute structure, sufficient interest
to atone for this obscurity of action inthe animal system. It forms
a long and extremely mobile muscular tube, which has a special
opening in front, and is attached by one or more muscular ribbons to
the wall of its special sheath, which occupies the median line of the
dorsum—quite above the alimentary canal—in all the Nemerteans.
On the present occasion the abbreviated description will be confined
to the central or proper stylet-region (B, Plate XXXIX.); the
anterior and posterior regions (A and C) being for the moment
overlooked.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXIX.
Magnified View (as a transparent object) of the Stylet-Region of the Proboscis
in Ommatoplea alba,
A, Anterior region. 6, Muscular setting of basal granular
B, Middle or stylet-region. | sac.
C, Posterior region. | A, Basal granular sac.
a, Opening in the floor ofthe anterior | 4, Ejaculatory duct.
chamber. v, Lateral stylet-sac.
B, Stylets. . p, Chamber of the reservoir.
, Fluid vesicle. z, Looping muscles of reservoir.
5, Duct of stylet-sac. +o, Longitudinal muscular layer of
e, Chamber behind floor. reservoir.
7, Doubling of the floor of the anterior | $, Posterior channel of communica-
chamber. | tion.
VOL. IIL. FE
, % ni Monthly Microscopical
68 Transactions of the soy oe
Il.—On a Method of Measuring the Position of Absorption
Bands with a Micro-spectroscope.
By Joun Brownine, F.R.AS., F.R.MS.
(Read before the Rovau MicroscoricaL Society, January 12, 1870.)
As the micro-spectroscope is constantly receiving new applications,
both practical and scientific, thanks to the untiring ingenuity of
Mr. Sorby, it is daily becoming more desirable that we should have
a simple and accurate method of measuring the position of lines, or
bands, in absorption spectra. It is true that Mr. Sorby has con-
trived an arrangement founded on strictly scientific principles, a
method which overcomes the great optical difficulty arising from
the irrationality of dispersion, and which enables observations and
measurements made with different imstruments and by different
observers, to be compared successfully with each other.
But Mr. Sorby’s ingenious and accurate method of measurement
does not find that favour with manipulators to which it appears to be
entitled. There are various causes for this. It will be recollected that
Mr. Sorby’s plan consists in employing a thin plate of quartz placed
between two Nicol’s prisms. On bringing this arrangement in
front of the slit of the micro-spectroscope, bands are produced in
the spectrum by the interference of light, and the apparatus is con-
trived to give a number of bands that will divide the visible spectrum
into twelve parts. The principal objections to this beautiful con-
trivance are, that it is an artificial scale, that it is very difficult of
construction, and that if the quartz plate gets injured it cannot be
repaired or replaced by any but a specially-traimed workman, who
understands the whole arrangement, and how it has to be used with
the instrument.
Beyond this, as no figures, pointers, or other distinguishing marks,
can be made to appear in the field of view by the side of the spec-
trum, frequent mistakes are made in counting the lines, particularly
those near the middle of the spectrum. Urged repeatedly by many
persons, and especially by Mr. Hogg, to undertake the task, I have
contrived an arrangement which seems to avoid all the objections
just enumerated, though it may be open to others which I have not
foreseen.
I will now describe the apparatus, and then conclude with a brief
account of the simple plan which I propose should be adopted to
make all measurements taken with instruments of this kind com-
parable with each other. ;
Fig. 1 represents the upper part of the micro-spectroscope.
Attached to the side is a small tube, A, A. At the outer part of
this tube is a glass plate, blackened with a fine clear white line
persis ae oreaplca Royal Microscopical Society. 69
across the centre at right angles to the tube. This line can perhaps
be most neatly produced by photography. I shall be glad to fall
FIG.I
back on Mr. Davies for assistance in this respect. The lens C,
which is focussed by turning the milled ring M, produces an image
of the bright line in the field of view by reflexion from the
surface of the, prism nearest the eye. On turning the micro-
meter M, the slide which holds the glass plate is made to travel in
grooves, and the fine line is made to traverse the whole length of
the spectrum.
I have described the micrometer as showing a single bright line,
because it is thus shown in the engraving ; but in practice it will be
found better to employ two bright lines crossed at an angle of 45°,
like a letter X.
It might at first sight appear as if an ordinary spider’s web or
parallel wire micrometer might be used instead of this contrivance. |
But on closer attention it will be seen that as the spectrum will not
permit of magnification by the use of lenses, the line of such an
ancl micrometer could not be brought to focus and rendered
visible.
The bright line of the new arrangement possesses this great ad~
vantage —that it does not illuminate the whole field of view.
If a dark wire were used, the bright diffused light would almost
70 Transactions of the DS ee eae
obscure the faint light of the spectra, and entirely prevent the pos-
sibility of seeing, let alone measuring, the position of lines or bands
in the most refrangible part of the spectrum.
To produce good effects with this apparatus the upper surface
of the compound prism P must make an angle of exactly 45° with
the sides of the tube. Under these circumstances the limits of
correction for the path of the rays in their passage through the
dispersing prisms are very limited and must be strictly observed.
The usual method of correcting by the outer surface is inadmissible.
For the sake of simplicity, some of the work of the lower part of
the micro-spectroscope is omitted in the engraving. As to the
method of using this contrivance: with the apparatus just de-
scribed measure the position of the principal Fratnhofer’s lines in
the solar spectrum. Let this be done carefully, m bright day-
light. A little time given to this measurement will not be thrown
away, as it will not require to be done again. Note down the
numbers corresponding to the position of the lines, and draw a
spectrum from a scale of equal parts. About three inches will be
found long enough for this spectrum ; but it may be made as much
longer as is thought desirable, as the measurements will not depend
in any way on the distance of these lines apart, but only on the
micrometric numbers attached to them. Let this scale be done on
cardboard and preserved for reference. Now measure the position
of the dark bands in any absorption spectra, taking care for this
purpose to use lamplight, as daylight will give, of course, the
Fratinhofer lines, which will tend to confuse your spectrum. If
the few lines occurring in most absorption spectra be now drawn to
the same scale as the solar spectrum, on placing the scales side by
side, a glance will show the exact position of the bands in the
spectrum relatively to the Fratinhoter lines, which thus treated
form a natural and unchangeable scale (see diagram). But for
|
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two lists of numbers representing the micrometric measures,
simply exchanging copies of the scale of Fratinhofer lines, or the
NUE, Fee i | Royal Microscopical Society. al!
numbers representing them will enable observers at a distance from
each other to compare their results, or even to work simultaneously
on the same subject. The apparatus is here in operation this
evening.
Dr. Lawson has suggested that it is a great advantage of this
contrivance that it does not monopolize one of the two spectra, as
is the case with the use of the quartz scale: for in describing two
spectra, only slightly differmg from each other, it may be used at
once to determine the difference between them. Many substances
give two different spectra when examined by transmitted or reflected
light, though there is a generally close resemblance between them.
This was the case in the instance of the dichroic fiuid, kindly given
me some time since for examination by our President, the Rev. J. B.
Reade.
At the time I described the two spectra of this strange fluid
before the Society, I felt a want of some simple method of indi-
cating the differences between them. I hope to exhibit very soon
before the Society coloured forms of blank spectra, that is, free from
lines, as I think publishing these at a low price will facilitate the
adoption of the plan and the use of the instrument.
2 Transactions of the ["Soumnai, Feb. isv0.
I1l.—On an Undeseribed Stage of Development of Tetrarhynchus
Corollatus.
By Atrrep Sanvers, M.R.C.S8., F.R.MS.
(Read before the Roya Microscopica Sociery, January 12, 1870.)
Pruate XL.
Brine engaged in the course of the autumn before last in researches
which necessitated the dissection of a great number of the common
Hermit Crab (Pagurus Bernhardus), ‘T found in the tubules of the
liver of one specimen numerous cestode worms which appeared to
be remarkable ; not having at the time leisure to pay attention to
them, they were put aside in a solution of glycerine in water until
a favourable opportunity should occur for investigating them more
minutely. Before entering on an examination of the relations of
this animal, I will give a description of its anatomy. Its total
length is about 14". It is divisible into a head, neck and body ;
the head and neck measure rather more than gmm, the body occu-
pying the remainder ; the head is provided with two regularly oval
flaps approaching each other obliquely towards the anterior extre-
mity, there leaving between them a space slightly convex, in which
are situated the openings of four proboscides arranged in a quad-
rangular manner ; the neck is long and slender, and tapers slightly
towards the head; it contains the above-mentioned proboscides,
which are the distinctive features in the anatomy of this animal.
Each proboscis consists of three parts: the anterior contains a
protrusile tube, whose parietes are separate and distinct from those
of the proboscis itself, but which are continuous anteriorly ; this
tube is provided with numerous hooks, arranged in oblique rows ;
their bases are inserted into the inner surface ‘of its walls, and their
points are directed towards the centre, the whole arranged in such a
manner that when the tube is exserted, it is turned inside out, so
that the ner surface of the wall becomes the outer, and the points
of the hooks are then directed outwards. The hooks vary greatly
in size and shape, some being long and narrow, others short and
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XL.
Fic. 1.—Larva of Tetrarhynchus Corollatus.
2.—One of the proboscides seen as a whole.
3.—Hooks of various sizes and shapes.
4.—Smooth fibres embracing the end of the dentigerous tube, the external
envelope having been removed.
5.—Smooth fibres entering muscular part of the tube, showing projection of wall.
6,—Transverse section of muscular part, showing position of smooth fibres in
tube.
7.—Part of longitudinal section of same, showing direction and arrangement
of fibres.
8.—Separated portions of muscular fibre more highly magnified: in the
lower row is the bevelled-off end of one fibre, otlicrs are scen breaking
up into fibrillee and disks.
The Monthly Microscopical Journal Feb | 1870.
A. Senders Photo. Tuffen West sc.
Development of Tetrarhynehus - corollatus.
(Wustrating MT Sanders’ paper )
W. West imp.
ee
a
oi
OR Gea oe Royal Microscopical Society. 73
broad. In a general way the smaller ones are placed anteriorly, and
the larger posteriorly ; but if a transverse section be made, various
sizes are found on the same level. In the substance of the wall of
the tube are found longitudinal smooth fibres, which are collected
into a bundle at its posterior extremity, and proceed, backward for
a short distance covered only by the general parietes of the pro-
boscis. This forms the second portion. The smooth fibres after a
short course enter the third part, which is the longest. Ifa trans-
verse section be made of this part, it is found to consist of six layers
of striated muscular fibres, enclosing the smooth fibres above men-
tioned. Hach layer consists of a single fibre, forming as it were a
complete muscle in itself. There are no tendons. ‘The three outer
layers do not make the whole circuit of the proboscis, but are
bevelled off and inserted into the outer covering. The three inner
are much smaller in diameter, and complete the circle, which their
extremities touch. The consequence of this arrangement is that
the smooth fibres are not in the centre, but rather on one side.
Longitudinally the striated fibres are arranged in close juxta-
position and are directed diagonally, their origin and insertion being
at points anterior and posterior to each other ; the layers cross each
other at right angles, the first going from right to left, the next
from left to right, and so on, the individual fibres varying in size
from 0°005™™ to 0:°032™, the smallest forming the internal
layers; they have a tendency to break up into disks and fibrille ;
their shape is either round, square, or with a sinuous contour; they
recall to mind the muscular fibres of insects, but the elements are
much larger; the smooth fibres extend quite to the posterior
extremity of this portion. There is an external covering for the
whole proboscis; over this part it is thin and membranous, and
is only seen on a transverse section, but anteriorly it is very thick,
and at the point where the smooth fibres enter, the third portion
develops a round solid knob projecting internally, whose use is
not apparent. Ifthe whole structure were divided into 115 parts,
the first part would occupy about 38 of those parts, the second
part would take 7, and the third part 70. The body is tongue-
shaped, and marked by minute transverse rugee, and contains the
. usual elements of this class of animal. There are no traces what-
ever of any digestive or generative organs; the specimens were not
enclosed in any cyst, but were found free, doubled up in the tubules
of the liver, which being distended performed the office of cyst for
the parasites, the position in which they were found having pre-
cluded all movement.
On looking over the literature of the subject, I found that the
figure which most nearly resembled my specimen in the shape of
the head was that of Bothriocephalus Corollatus of Rudolphi ;*
* «Historia Entozoorum,’ Table ix., Fig. 12.
74 Transactions of the eee
this species is also figured under the same name by Bremser,* with
four fine lines running down from the anterior extremity; the
specimen of Rudolphi was taken from Raya Batis, that of Bremser
from the intestines of Squalus Galleus. F. 8. Leuckart{ figured
the same animal and called it B. Planiceps; the tentacles are re-
presented protruding, and he mentions four fine lines or tubes,
continuations of the tentacles, each ending in a little knob.
J. Miiller,t in speaking of these knobs and lines in another species,
T. Attennatus from the Sword Fish, suggested that they might
be the digestive organs. Von Siebold§ named this species T, Co-
yollatus, and Blanchard || called it Rhynchobothrius Corollatus.
Leblond{ had before thought that he had found a Tetrarhynchus
parasitic in a trematode worm, and Professor Miescher** considered
that it was derived from a Filaria, which developed itself into a
Trematode and then into a Tetrarhynchus; but Von Siebold{j
clearly showed that both the supposed Filaria and the Trematode
were stages in the development of one and the same animal, viz.
T. OCorollatus. Van Beneden {{ also described this stage, which he
called scolex in much the same manner as Von Siebold. Desir §§
also gave a description of a very similar animal, which he called
Anthocephalus Scombri; the figures slightly differ from those of
the others, but his description evidently applies to the same. species.
None of these authors mention any animal exactly like my speci-
men ; and although Van Beneden and Von Siebold, in speaking of a
T. Longicollis from intestines of Nurstelus Vulgaris, describe very
evident muscular fibres which cross each other diagonally, they say
nothing of striated fibres, neither do their figures show any. On
this pomt Rud Leuckart ||| remarks that “the muscular system
of cestodes consists of smooth fibres grouped together in bundles
more or less thick.” In conclusion, I would remark that I consider
my specimen to be an undescribed larva of Tetrarhynchus Corol-
latus, the head closely resembling in shape the head of that species
when mature, as figured by Rudolphi, the fine lines and little knobs
being the above-described proboscides atrophied from bemg no
longer required for use when the animal had reached its ultimate
habitat in the intestines of the Rays or Sharks; the scolex of Von
Siebold and Van Beneden, being much smaller than mine, had not
advanced so far in development.
* ¢Teones Entozoorum,’ Table x., Fig. 13.
+ ‘Bruchstiicke Zoologisches, Part I., s. 21.
t ‘Miiller’s Archiv.,’ p. cvi.
§ ‘Z. W. Z.,’ 1850, Bd. 2, p. 246; and‘ A.8. N.,’ 51.
|| ‘A. S. N.. 49, tom. x., 3rd Series.
q <A.S. N., 36, tom. vi.
** « Bericht iiber verhandlungen der nat. forsch. Gesellschaftin Basel, tom. iv., 40.
++ Loc. cit.
tt ‘Nouv. Mém. Acad. Roy. Belg.,’ tom. xxiv., 50, p. 78.
S$ ‘ Archives de Médecine Comparée,’ tom. 1.
\|\| * Die Mensehlichen Parasiten,’ p. 168.
sie lesa ali cing Royal Microscopical Society. 75
IV.—On a New Instrument for Cutting Thin Sections of Wood.
By M. Movcuer, Hon. F.R.MS.
(Read before the Royau MicroscopicaL Society, Janwary 12, 1870.)
(Communicated by the PRESIDENT.)
I HAveE remarked often that thin sections of wood, when submitted
to microscopic investigation, exhibited on one of their sides beards,
owing to the wood offering a very slight resistance to the knife
after having been cut through $rds or #ths of its diameter. I
have been therefore induced to look for a remedy against this
inconvenience, and I think I have found it. I am confident that
the question consists in being able to cut the wood out the whole
of its circumference.
The only difference between the former machine and the one which
[have now made hes in this, that the knife cuts the wood circularly.
This knife has a very strong and semicircular blade, and is
fixed by means of screws to a handle that is long enough to form
a lever, the fastening-pomt lymg in the upper part of the knife
5 centimetres distant from the centre of a copper-plate 19 centi-
métres in diameter. The surface of this plate is perfectly even,
and the knife is, as it were, adherent to it.
This knife is sloped underneath in order to avoid rubbing, and
kept in its place by a large-headed screw.
In the centre of the plate may be fixed, when and as one
pleases, small tubes of different diameters, which tubes are to
receive the stalks of wood that are to be cut. Underneath the
plate there is a finely-notched wheel which, through a pinion and
handle, causes the tube to be moved, and the wood contained in
it, and destined to be cut in thin sections, to turn round.
The whole system previous to the operation is maintained in
a press-vice, or fixed on the border of a table by a clamping-screw.
In this way both hands are free, and while the right hand is
acting on the knife-lever, the left manceuvres the pinion stalk-
handle, and the wood is attacked circularly and easily cut to its
centre. Complication is the only defect of the system; but it
cannot be avoided where catchings are used. I hardly need say
. that im this little machine, as well as in all those of the same kind
that are carefully made, the wood is brought forward by a micro-
metric screw, the head of which is divided in order to get the thin
sections to have the thickness required.
In this too summary note I intend nothing else but to indicate
the way in which wood is to be cut when wishing to avoid the
beards which I have spoken of, and which many a one must have
remarked in certain microscopic preparations.
Notr.—At the President’s request, M. Mouchet communicated this brief
notice of his Cutting Machine, for which he received the “Gold Medal of
Honour” at the late Paris Exposition.—Ep. M. M. J.
lee Microscopical
Transactions of the Toure Feb Lio.
~I
ior)
V.—On the Calcareous Spicula of the Gorgonacee: their Mo-
dification of Form, and the Importance of their Characters
as a Basis for Generic and Specific Diagnosis. By Wm. 8.
Kent, F.Z.S., F.R.MLS., of the Geological Department, British
Museum.
(Read before the Roya MicroscoricaL Society, January 12, 1870.)
Tue subject of the present communication may be considered as
one of peculiar interest to workers with the microscope, embracmg
as it does forms of exquisite outline only to be appreciated with the
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLI.
Fics. 1-3.—Squamose spicula of Prinnoa lepadifera x 50.
yy l= ” ” ” monilis ”
5 8, 9— * verticillaris ,,
(The last closely assimilating the form of scale peculiar to the
Ctenoid fishes.)
10-12.—Squamose spicula of Primnoa plumatilis x 50.
13.—Unsymmetrical irregular fusiform spiculum of Muricea echinata x 50.
14, 15.— 53 i spicula of Mur. lima.
» 16, 17.— ¥ arcuate, and echinato-clavate spicula of Lunicea plan-
taginea, Val. (Muricea), x 50.
18, 19.—Laminato-proliferous and echinato-arcuate spicula of Rhipidiy gor ia
stricta, M. Edw. (Echinogorgia), x 100.
20, 21,—Laminato-proliferous and bi-aliform spicula of Muricea fungifera,
M. Edw. (Zchinogorgia), x 100.
22, 23.—Laminato-proliferous and bi-rotulate spicula of hip. coarctata,
M. Edw. (Zchinogorgia), x 100,
24,.—Laminato-frondose spiculum of Gorgonia granifera, Lamk. (Zchino-
gorgia), x 100.
25.—Inflato-proliferous spiculum of ZLeptogorgia aurantiaca, M. Edw. (Gorg.
Danaidis, Val.) (Echinogorgia?), x 100.
26, 27.—Trregular laminato-proliferous spicula of Paramuricea placomus, var.
a, Kk. (Acanthogorgia), x 50.
28-31. —Laminato- -proliferous, attenuato-arcuate, and irregular fasciculate
fusiform spicula of Paramuricea placomus, var. b, Kk. (Acantho-
gorgia), x 50.
32, 33.—Lrregular proliferous fusiform spicula of Acanthogorgia Grayi, John-
son, the first one exhibiting a tendency to become fasciculate
at one extremity, x 50.
34, 35.—Symmetrical tuberculate fusiform, and echinato-clavate spicula of
Lunicea laxispina, M. Edw. Fig. 34 x 50, and 35 x 100.
36, 37.—Symmetrical tuberculate fusiform, and echinato-clavate spicula of
Lunicea muricata, M. Edw. Fig. 36 x 50, Fig. 37 x 100.
38.—Laminato-clavate spiculum of Plexaura pendula, Val. (Zunicea), x 100.
39,_Symmetrically tubereulate spiculum of an unknown species, probably
belonging to the genus Lunicea, x 50.
40-43.—Proliferous fusiform, and attenuato-stellate spicula of Plexauru
porosa, M. Edw., x 100.
44.—Bi-stellate spiculum of the same species x 100.
45-46.—Proliferous fusiform, and bi-stellate spicula of Plexaura fucosa,
M. Edw., x 100.
47-50.—Bi, tri, and quadri-partite tuberculate spicula of Plexawrella
dichotoma, Kak, < 00:
51.—Attenuato-quadrangular spiculum from the same species, almost devoid
of tubercles, x 100.
The Monthly Microscopical Journal Feb 1.1870.
MURICEA.
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assistance of that instrument. ‘There are, I may safely presume,
but few microscopists laying claim to the most modest collection of
mounted slides who do not possess, in some form or other, prepared
either as an opaque or transparent object, specimens labelled “ Spi-
cules of Gorgonia.”
Now, considering there are several hundred species of so-called
Gorgonias belonging to some score or more of distinct genera, such
vague nomenclature as the above is unsatisfactory and indefinite in
the extreme, and to the scientific mind simply painful.
The slides of Gorgonia spicules usually offered for sale by the
dealers contain for the most part neatly fusiform or more or less
irregularly tuberculate spicula of a brilliant crimson lake, or trans-
parent and colourless, with all the intermediate tints, and suggestive,
for the want of a happier simile, of the brilliant sticks of pink
and white sugar-candy, the admiration of our bygone, and perhaps
lamented childhood.
Enticed, partly by the resolve to determine to which species the
form just alluded to might be referred, but more especially by
the desire of ascertaining to what extent the modifications in form
of the various spicula might be made subservient as a basis for a
natural system of classification of the whole group, and also to
ascertain how far these modifications harmonized with the existing
generic arrangement of species, | have recently devoted a short
interval to the study of the Gorgonacex, both with regard to the
structure of the spicula, and also to that of the entire organisms
from whence they are derived.
The caleareous bodies or spicula of the Gorgonidx have long
been familiar to the naturalist, and as far back as 1786 our distin-
guished countryman, John Ellis, figured and described as “little
purple glassy needles, irregularly but closely put together length-
ways,” the symmetrical fusiform bodies of which the entire axis of
Gorgonia briareus, Ell. et Sol. (Briarewin gorgonideum, M. Edw.),
is composed. Another name, still more familiar to every microsco-
pist, and whose numerous and exquisite preparations in the Museum
‘of the Royal College of Surgeons bear ample testimony to the fervent
zeal which animated him, is that of Professor Quekett. This gentle-
man devoted much time and attention to the study of the Gorgonide,
and has figured and described numerous forms of spicula both in his
‘Lectures on Histology’ and in the ‘ Illustrated Catalogue’ of the
histological series contained in the museum referred to. But though
different forms of these spicula have from time to time been referred
to, it is only very recently that they have been studied with a view
of making their characters available as a basis for a natural system
of classification, and even then the majority of naturalists have
arrived at the conclusion that though these characters might be
made highly subservient as an aid to specific diagnosis, yet beyond
. , Monthly Microscopical
78 Transactions of the pre Ae anes
this they were valueless. Such was the verdict of the eminent French
naturalist Valenciennes, who, in the ‘Comptes Rendus’ for 1855,
gave an abridged synopsis of the whole family, and described under
five heads the leading types of spicula which had fallen under his
notice, but unfortunately he was not spared to carry out to their
completion the researches he had entered upon with so much zeal.
A few years later (1857) the first volume of Milne Edwards’ ‘ Histoire
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLII.
Fic. 1.—Lagenate spiculum of Gorgonia sp. x 300.
3 2 ey 3 papillifera, M. Edw., x 300.
>» a > _ crinita, Val., x 300.
e 4— “. : sp., probably allied to G. papillosa, Esp.,
x 300. This drawing is enlarged from a figure given in ‘ Quekett’s
Lectures on Histology;’ the remaining ones are, without exception,
drawn from the original specimens.
5 5.—Lagenate spiculum of Gorgonia racemosa (Plexaura do., Val.) x 300.
.. 6.—Attenuato-fusiform spiculum of the same species x 100.
» 7, %—Arcuate and tri-radiate echinate spicula of Gorgonia vatricosa, M. Edw.,
x 100.
., 9—Echinato-arcuate spiculum of @. discolor, M. Edw., x 100.
,, 10.—Attenuato-echinate spiculum of G. exserta, M. Edw., x 100.
., 11, 12, 13.—Bi-stellate, quadri-partite, and nodular spicula of the same species,
x 100.
., 14.—Echinato-arcuate spiculum of G. arida, M. Edw., x 100.
15.—Short tuberculate fusiform spiculum of Lophogorgia palma, M. Edw., x 190.
This form is described in the text as the Leptogorgian type, it being
predominant throughout Leptogorgia and many allied genera.
16.—The same spiculum x 400.
17.—_lrregular fusiform spiculum of Xiphigorgia setacea, M. Edw., x 200.
18, 19.—Irregular fusiform spicula of Leptogorgia viminea, M. Edw., x 200.
20.—Ovato-tuberculate spiculum of Pterogorgia suberosa, M. Edw., x 200.
., 21—Modified Leptogorgian type spiculum of Hymenogorgia quercifolia, M. Edw.,
x 300.
22, 23.—Lateral and front view of scaphoid spicula of Pterogorgia setosa,
M. Edw., x 200.
,, 24, 25._Scaphoid spicula of Rhipidigorgia flabellum, M. Edw., x 200.
,, 26.—Spiculum of the same species approaching the bi-rotulate form x 200.
27.—Lagenate spiculum of Verrucella gemmacea, M. Edw., x 300.
,, 28.—A modification of the same form x 150.
,> 29.—Spiked dumb-bell spiculum of the same species x 300.
,, 30, 31.—Acutely and obtusely fusiform echinate spicula of Gorgonia nodulifera,
Lamk. (Verrucella?), x 150.
,, 32.—Spiculum of the same species assuming a quadri-partite outline x 150.
33, 34.—Tuberculato-fusiform spicula of Verrucella violacea, M. Edw., x 150.
.. 35, 36.—Explanato-dentate spicula from the same species x 150.
.. 37.—Tuberculato-fusiform spiculum of Gorgonia sanguinolenta, Val., x 150.
38, 39.—Mammillated dumb-bell and nodular spicula of Juncella juncea,
M. Edw., x 150.
40,—Bi-partite echinate spiculum of Pterogorgia betulina, M. Edw., x 150.
41, 42.—Bi-stellate and quadri-partite spicula of Juncella elongata, M. Edw.,
x 150.
43,—Mammillated dumb-bell type spiculum of Leptogorgia boryana, M. Edw.
(Juncella), x 150.
44,—Attenuate modification of the same type belonging to the same species
x 150. ‘
45.— zs s of Juncella caliculata, Val.,
x 150. With these latter modifications the typical form, Fig. 38, is
always associated.
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ec Royal Microscopical Society. 19
Naturelle des Corallaires’ made its appearance, giving, in addition
to an introduction to the organization of the Actinozoa, a systematic
classification and description of the Alcyonaria, Actinaria, and
Antipathide. In treating of the Alcyonaria, however, it is a
matter of extreme regret that, except for a passing reference to the
results arrived at by Valenciennes, no attention was paid by Milne
Edwards, nor any value attached to the important histological cha-
racters afforded by the structure of the calcareous spicula which
so abound in the sclerenchyma of this group.
For the latest, and without question the most important work
that has yet appeared on the subject, Science is indebted to Pro-
fessor A. Kolliker, who in a monograph entitled “ Die Bindersub-
stanz der Ccelenteraten,”’ in his ‘ Icones Histiologicee’ for 1866,
enters fully into the modifications of the hard structures which
obtain throughout the sub-kingdom, and devotes upwards of two
magnificent quarto plates to the representation of the calcareous
spicula of the Aleyonaria alone. He modifies to a considerable
extent the plan of grouping into genera pursued by Milne Edwards,
adopting in a great measure, as his foundation for doing so, the
variation of form of the respective spicula. The results arrived at
by Kolliker are principally based upon his examination of the type
specimens of Esper and Duchassiang and Michelotti.
The study of a large series of spicula in my own possession, pre-
pared from the type specimens of Valenciennes contained in the
Paris Museum, the comparison of these with a similar collection in
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, together with the
examination of a fine series in the same museum derived from other
sources, and lastly, the consultation of the collections of dried spe-
cimens both in the College Museum and in the British Museum,
has enabled me, in addition to corroborating to a great extent the
results arrived at by Professor Kolliker, to add testimony of my own
regarding a number of species not referred to in his very excellent
monograph, as likewise to refer to their true zoological position
numerous species of Valenciennes of whose affinities Milne Edwards
‘stood in doubt.
Before proceeding to further details, a brief outline of the system
of classification of this order now most generally accepted, including
the organisms which form the subject of this present communication,
will obviate the necessity of future repetition.
This order, the Aleyonaria, belongs to a sub-kingdom, the Coelen-
terata, of which the Sea-anemone, the Fresh-water Hydra, and the
Jelly-fish are the most familiar and instructive types.
The Alcyonaria are Anemone-like Coelenterates, which, in their
normal condition, invariably possess neither more nor fewer than
eight tentacles, which are without exception to a greater or lesser
extent pinnate.
“Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Feb, 1, 1870.
80 Transactions of the
For the formation of this very natural order we are indebted to
the labours of MM. Audouin and Milne Edwards, as also for its
sub-division into the three equally natural families of the Aleyonide,
the Gorgonide, and the Pennatulide. The types of these three
families in consecutive order would be the Alcyoniwm, or “Dead
Man’s Fingers ;” Coralliwm rubrum, or the ‘‘ Red Coral” of com-
merce, and the Pennatula, or “ Sea-Pen.”
The family of the Gorgonidz, or rather a limited section of it,
being the one to which it is my intention to confine my present
observations, further reference to the two remaining groups would
be superfluous. The following is an abstract of the division of the
Gorgonide into sub-families, sections, and genera adopted by Milne
Edwards in his ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Corallaires.
Fam. GORGONIDA. M. Epw.
Alcyonaria, possessing a compound, adherent polypary; provided with a
sclerenchyma of a suberose consistence, disposed after the manner of bark
around a sclerobasic axis, which axis assumes the form of a simple stem or
ramifying branch.
Sub-Fam. I. Goreoninz.
Gorgonide, whose common sclerobasic axis is for the most part or entirely
flexible, and is either of the consistence of horn or suberose.
Sec. I. Primnoacece.
Gorgonine, whose sclerobasic axis is complete and tree-like, and whose
sclerenchyma is armed with spines or squamiform spicula.
Gen. I. Primnoa.
Sp. 1. lepadifera. Sp. 5. plumatilis.
2. antarctica, 6. gracilis.
3. verticillaris, 7. myura.
4. flabellum.
Gen. II. Muricea.
Sp. 1. spicifera. Sp. 4. echinata.
2. lima. 5. fungifera.
3. elongata. 6. placomus.
Doubtful species :
Esp.
Sclerobasic axis complete, dendroid, corneous ;
or smooth.
Gorgonia scabra, Val.; G.cerea, Esp.; G. furfuracea,
Sec. II. Gorgonacee,
sclerenchyma, suberose
Gen. III. Hunicea,
Sp. 1. laxispina. Sp. 7. humilis.
2. muricata, 8. asperula.
3. intermedia. 9. Tourneforti.
4, Castelnandi. 10, Rousseau.
5. multicauda. 11. plantaginea.
6. crassa,
Doubtful species: Gorgonia pseudo-antipathes, Lamk.; G. madrepora,
Dana.; G. succinea, Esp.; Hunicea clavaria, Lamx.; Hu. quincunualis, Ehr.
en Cee Royal Microscopical Society. 81
Gen. IV. Plexaura.
Sp. 1. racemosa. Sp. 7. rhipidalis.
2. flavida. 8. homomalla.
3. salicornoides. 9. friabilis.
4. flexuosa. 10. porosa.
5. fucosa. 11. vermiculata.
6. suffruticosa.
Doubtful species: Gorgonia trichostemma, Dana.; G. nodulifera, Lamk. ;
G. alba, Lamk.; G. anguicula, Dana.; Plexawra olivacea, Lamx.; Pla.
arbusculum, Duchass. et Mich. ; Pla. brevis, D. et Mich.
Gen. V. Gorgonia.
Sp. 1. vatricosa. Sp. 8. pumicea.
2. arida. 9, ramulus.
3. venosa. 10. discolor.
4. verrucosa. 11. papillifera.
5. subtilis. 12. amaranthoides.
6. exserta. 13. graminea,
7. miniata. 14. citrina.
Doubtful species: G. Bertholoni, Lamx.; G. Rissoana, Delle Chiaje ;
G. Gallardi, Duchass.; G. fusco-purpureo, Ehr.; G. lewcostoma, Ehr.
Gen. VI. Leptogorgia.
Sp. 1. viminalis. Sp. 8. viminea.
2. cauliculus. 9. aurantiaca.
3. miniacea. 10. sanguinea.
4. rosea. 11. virgulata.
5. purpuracea, 12. Boryana.
6. porosissima. 13. virgea.
7. Webbiana.
Doubtful species: Gorgonia purpurea, Pall.; G. Sasappo, Pall.
Gen. VII. Lophogorgia.
Sp. palma (Gorgonia flammea, Ell. et Sol.).
Gen. VIII. Pterogorgia.
Sp. 1. setosa. Sp. 5. suberosa.
2. pinnata, 6. petechizans.
3. Sloanei. 7. laxa.
4, Ellisiana. 8. betulina.
Doubtful species: P#. stricta, Ehr.; Pt. sancti-Thome, Ehr.; Gorgonia
patula, Ell.; G. citrina, Esp. ; Pt. fasciolaris, Ehr.
Gen. IX. Xiphigorgia.
Sp. 1. anceps. | Sp. 2. setacea.
Doubtful species: Pterogorgia Guadalupensis, Duchass. et Mich.
VOL. III. G
. Monthly Mi ical
82 Transactions of the pia tpt ty
Gen. X. Rhipidigorgia.
Sp. 1. flabellum. Sp. 10. elegans.
2. reticulum. 11. lacuens.
3. cribrum. 12. plagalis.
‘4. occatoria. 13. umbraculum.
* 5. umbella. 14. stricta.
6. arenata. 15. coarctata.
7. verriculata. 16. cancellata.
‘ 8. stenobrachis. 17. retellum.
9. ventalina. 18. venusta,
Doubtful species: Hunicea apiculata, Ehr.; Eu. arbuscula, Ebr. ;
Gorgonia umbratica, Esp.; G. paradoxa, Esp. ; Eunicea granulata, Ebr.
Gen. XI. Phyllogorgia.
Sp. 1. dilitata. | Sp. 2. foliata.
Gen. XII. Hymenogorgia.
Sp. quercifolia.
Gen. XIII. Phycogorgia.
Sp. fucata.
Sec. III. Gorgonellacee.
Sclerobasic axis complete, dendroid, cerato-calcareous; sclerenchyma
suberose or smooth.
Gen. XIV. Gorgonella.
Sp. 1. sarmentosa. | Sp. 2. verriculata.
Doubtful species: Gorgonella cauliculus, Val.
Gen. XV. Verrucella.
Sp. 1. violacea. Sp. 3. furcata.
2. flexuosa. 4. gemmacea.
Gen. XVI. Ctenoeella.
Sp. pectinata.
Gen. XVII. Juncella.
Sp. 1. juncea. Sp. 3. hystrix.
2. vimen. 4. elongata.
Doubtful species: Juncella surculus, Val.; J. caliculata, Val.
Sec. IV. Briaracee.
Sclerobasic axis incomplete, represented by a deposit of suberose tissue, or
by an aggregation of spicula.
Gen. XVIII. Briareum.
Sp. gorgonideum.
Gen. XIX. Solanderia.
Sp. gracilis.
a
ee Royal Microscopical Society. 838
Sub-Fam. II. Istprnz.
Sclerobasic axis articulate, presenting segments whose composition is
alternately dissimilar.
Gen. XX. Isis.
Sp. 1. hippuris. | Sp. 5. elongata.
2. polyacantha. | 6. melitensis.
3. moniliformis. | 7. spiralis.
4. coralloides. | 8. corallina.
Gen. XXI. Mopsea.
Sp. 1. dichotoma. Sp. 3. gracilis.
2. encrinula. 4, erythrea.
Gen. XXII. Melithea.
Sp. 1. ochracea. Sp. 4. textiformis.
2. coccinea. 5. tenella.
3. retifera.
Sub-Fam. III. Coranine.
Sclerobasic axis entirely stony.
Gen, XXIII. Corallium.
Sp. 1. rubrum. Sp. 8. Beckii.
2. secundum. 4. pallidum.
The section of the Gorgonide# to which it is my intention to
confine my present observations corresponds to the first three sec-
tions of the sub-family Gorgoninw in the foregoing schedule of
classification. This group appears to me to be a very natural one,
comprising as it does all those Gorgonias which share in common an
inarticulate sclerobasic axis, and into which horny matter known
as corneine enters to a greater or less extent.
For convenience sake I have provisionally applied to this group
the term Gorgonacex, although it does not find its exact equivalent
in the rendering of the same word as made use of either by Milne
Edwards or Professor Kolliker.
Commencing at the head of the appended list, I shall now proceed
to describe, seriatim, the various modifications in external contour
and internal histological structure which are found to obtain in the
respective genera.
Primnoa.—This genus, the most elegant perhaps of the whole
family, is at once recognized by its pedunculated calices, which are
armed with imbricated scales: the principal forms these scales or
modified spicula assume are shown at Plate XLI., Figs. 1-12: the
corneous sclerobasic axis in this genus contains, in addition, a large
amount of carbonate of lime. The ccenenchyma or intercalicinal cor-
tical matter is very little developed. Of the seven species alluded to
by Milne Edwards (leaving out P. gracilis, which I have not yet had
G 2
ee er ae Monthly_ Microscopical
84 Transactions of the SEM Hepa tei
an opportunity of examining) all possess modifications of the same
typical squamose spicula with the exception of P. mywra, The
polypary in this species is described as assuming the form of a
simple rod, and having the calices disposed in two rows on each
side of a median furrow; this external contour of the polypary
corresponds to what obtains in the genus Juncella and its allies, and
the spicula harmonizing exactly with the type-form peculiar to that
genus, it seems highly probable that it ought to be meorporated in it.
Kolliker does not refer to either Primnoa plumatilis or P. gracilis
of Milne Edwards, but testifies to the new species P. regularis of
Duchassiang and Michelotti possessing the type spicula of the
genus.
‘ Muricea.—Polypary branching ; sclerobasic axis horny; scle-
renchyma armed with coarse echinate spicula; calices approximate,
very prominent, echinate. The dominant form of spicula in this
genus is coarse echinate unsymmetrical fusiform, having spines or
tubercles developed to a much greater extent on one side than on
the other (Plate XLI., Figs. 18-15). In addition, more evenly
tuberculate and echinate spicula of smaller size are abundantly re-
presented.
Gorgonia plantaginea of Lamarck is referred by Milne Edwards
to the genus Hunicea; the spicula prepared from Valenciennes
types are, however, essentially characteristic of what obtains in
Muricea, and the examination of specimens of the polyparies in the
British Museum and that of the Royal College of Surgeons justifies
me in referrmg the species without hesitation to the last-named
genus. The spicula of Gorgonia sectilis, Val., also follow the
Muricean type.
Kolliker annexes to this genus Muricea elegans, Duch. et Mich.,
and M. horrida, Mobius.
Muricea placomus, M. Edw. et Val. (non Esp.), is described by
Milne Edwards as possessing a general form closely resembling that
of Gorgonia verrucosa. Spicula prepared from the type specimens in
the Paris Museum exactly agree with the form prevalent in the last-
named genus, and to which it should doubtlessly be referred.
Echinogorgia, Kik.—The two species Gorgonia cerea and fur-
furacea of Esper, referred with doubt to the genus Muwricea by
Milne Edwards, together with G. Sasappo (Rhip. stricta, M. Edw.),
its variety reticulata, and G. wnbratica of the same author, have
been formed into a new genus by Kolliker, to which he has given
the name of Echinogorgia.
This genus appears to be a very natural one, and all its members
share in common, spicula of a peculiar form ; these may be described
as consisting of a laminate or more or less expanded base surmounted
by a coronet of variously modified proliferous prolongations (Plate
XLI., Figs. 18, 20, 22).
ia oe Royal Microscopical Society. 85
In addition to the species above mentioned, I would also refer to
this genus two others not alluded to by Kolliker: these are,
Lthipidigorgia coarctata, M. Kdw.(G.coarctata, Lamk.), and Muricea
fungifera of the same author. The spicula of Gorgonia granifera,
Lamk., which neither Milne Edwards nor Kolliker refers to, also har-
monize with the Echinogorgian type just described.
With the typical spicula last alluded to, a simple echinulate
arcuate form, not referred to by Kolliker, appears to be constantly
present (Plate XLI., Fig. 19). ‘This form of spicula is present in all
the three last-mentioned species, and also in Rhipidigorgia stricta,
M. Edw. (Hchinogorgia Sasappo, K1k.).
Gorgonia Danaidis, Val., described by Milne Edwards as Lepto-
gorgia aurantiaca, likewise possesses spicula approaching the pro-
liferous type just alluded to (Plate XLI., Fig.25). The base of these
spicula, however, may be described rather as irregularly inflated
than laminate ; and the arcuate form not being represented, it seems
probable that this species may eventually form the type of a new
genus.
Acanthogorgia, J. EK. Gray (Paramuricea, Kolhker). —
Kolliker eliminates from the genus Muricea yet another genus,
taking for his type the Mur. placomus of Ehrenberg (Gorg. do.,
Esp.) ; an allied species, however, had previously been described by
Dr. Gray, who attached to it the generic name of Acanthogorgia,
and which name must necessarily take the precedence of the one
more recently proposed by Kolliker. Comparisons of the spicula of
Acanthogorgia Grayt, J. Y. Johnson, and Muricea placomus, Khr.,
demonstrate beyond doubt their generic identity. ‘The spicula of
the various species of Acanthogorgia possess well-marked specific
characteristics. All share in common an arcuate type, as in Hchino-
gorgia, but they may be distinguished by being more slender and
less abundantly echinulate than those of that genus; the remaining
spicula differ considerably according to their species; with all,
however, there is a certain raggedness of outline rendering them
readily distinguishable from those of any other genus. The two
forms of Paramuricea placomus, Kolliker, treated as simple varieties
by the last-named author, are undoubtedly two distinct species. In
his variety a, the calices are large and closely approximated on the
polypary, while in his variety b, they are considerably smaller and
sparsely scattered ; the variation in the character of their respective
spicula is still more prominent. ‘The first-named variety contains
in abundance the form with modifications represented at Plate XLL.,
Figs. 26, 27: a proliferous type, having laminate prolongations
developed on the same plane and whose margins are more or less
lacinulate and echinate ; one of these prolongations is usually pro-
duced in the form of a taproot to a much greater length than the
others.
36 I f Monthly Microscopica
86 Transactions of the eee dig
In variety b, two very distinct forms prevail in addition to the
usual arcuate type: the one (Plate XLI., Figs. 28, 29) bears a certain
resemblance to the form predominant in variety a, but the taproot-
like prolongation is here represented by a small fascicle of rootlets or
series of laminze whose axis is produced at right angles to the plane
on which the remaining ones subtend; this peculiarity of their
arrangement gives these spicula a very plant-like aspect. The re-
maining form (Plate XLI., Fig. 31) is easier figured than described ;
it seems, however, to be an extraordinary development of an irregular
echinate fusiform type, one end of which has become fasciculate,
while the other gives rise to a variable number of lacinulate pro-
longations; this interpretation is the more easily understood on
reference to the spicula of Acanthogorgia Grayi (Plate XLI.,
Figs.32, 53). Here, in addition to the slender arcuate form, irregular
echinate and more or less lacinulate fusiform spicula form the pre-
vailing type, some of these, moreover, evincing a tendency to
become fasciculate at one extremity.
Paramuricea intermedia and spinosa, Klk., and Villogorqia
nigrescens, Duch. et Mich., according to Kolliker, possess the generic
characters of the foregoing varieties of placomus, and are referred
by him to the same genus.
Eunicea.—Polypary branching, axis corneous; sclerenchyma
of a suberose consistence, calices very prominent, cylindrical, the
apertures usually bilabiate.
The characteristic form of the spicula in this genus is repre-
sented at Plate XLI., Figs. 34,36. These for the most part consist
of large, handsome, evenly tuberculate fusiform spicula of various
colours, and include the form usually prepared for sale, referred to at
the commencement of this paper: these spicula occupy the deeper
part of the ccenenchyma ; superficial to them is a cortical layer
of variously modified echinate or furcato-clavate spicula, of which
examples are shown at Plate XLI., Figs. 35, 37,38. To this genus
should doubtlessly be referred Pleaaura pinsilis and pendula, from
the Antilles, of Valenciennes, but to which two species no reference
is made by either Milne Edwards or Kolhiker. The last-named author
substantiates the claim of Gorgonia succinea, Esp., and Hunicea
clavaria, Lamouroux, to be ranked as true Eunicee. Milne Kd-
wards was not altogether certain of their true position. In addition,
Kolliker includes the following new species in the same genus :—
Eunicea hirta, Stromeyeri, fusca, Sagoti, and lugubris, Duch. et
Mich., and EL. mamimosa, Lamouroux. Hunicea plantaginea of
Milne Edwards has already been referred to the genus Muricea.
The spicula of Gorgonia pseudo-antipathes, Lamk. (non Esp.), essen-
tially follow the Eunicean type.
Plexaura.—Polypary branching, axis corneous; ccenenchyma
extremely thick, of a suberose consistence ; calices not prominent.
ee ee ee Royal Microscopical Society. 87
The predominant type of the spicula in this genus appears to
originate from an irregular tuberculate fusiform condition, which
evinces a tendency to become eminently proliferous (Plate XLL,
Figs.40, 41). Associated with these, attenuato-bistellate and echinato-
clavate spicula are of frequent occurrence, these latter occupying
the superficial layer of the coenenchyma.
Pleawaura racemosa, Val. et M. Edw., possesses spicula corre-
sponding exactly to what obtains in Gorgonia proper, and to which
genus it should in all probability be referred ; additional evidence in
support of the proposed re-arrangement of this species is furnished
by Milne Edwards’ remark that it seems to establish the passage
between the genera Hunicea and Gorgonia.
Gorgonia alba, Lamk., referred with doubt to Eunicea by Milne
Edwards, contains spicula agreeing essentially with the type
predominant in Leptogorgia to be afterwards described, and to
which genus it is probably referable. The spicula of Plexaura
eburnea, Val., not alluded to by Milne Edwards, also agree with the
same type.
Gorgoma nodulifera, Lamk. (Plexaura (?) M. Edw.), abounds
with spicula agreeing with a form predominant in Verrucella gem-
macea, and which will be again referred to when describing those of
that species. Kolliker retains this species in the genus Plexaura,
but probably had not an opportunity of consulting the type spe-
cimens; he likewise adds to it Plewawra Ehrenbergii, K1., P. an-
tipathes, Kl. (Gorgonia, Esp.), and P. dubia, Kl. (G. antipathes,
var. Eisp.).
Pleaaurella, Klk., Plexaura dichotoma and vermiculata,
M. Edw., with other allied species, have been formed into the new
genus Plexauwrella by Kolhiker, on account of the difference they
present in the structure of their axis and in the contour of their
spicula from all the ordinary Pleaauwre. The axis in this genus
contains a large amount of carbonate of lime, and the spicula are
very characteristic. These last assume a bi- tri- or quadri-partite
outline, the latter form often bearing a strong resemblance to some
elegant tropical Papilio. They are for the most part more or less
bilaterally symmetrical, having a smooth zone in the centre, with
richly tuberculated alz on either side. Characteristic forms from
Pleaxaurella dichotoma are represented at Plate XLI., Figs. 47-51.
To the species already referred to, Kolliker annexes Plexawrella
‘crassa (Gorgonia, Esp.), Plewaurella anceps and nutans (Eunicea
of Duch. et Mich.), and Gorgonia furcata, Lamk. ‘To these
should evidently be added Gorgonia heteropora, Lamk. (Plexaura
of Lamx.), the spicula in this species agreeing precisely with the
form predominant in P. dichotoma.
Gorgonia.—Polypary arborescent, more or less flabellate, branch-
ing irregular dichotomously ; ramuscules free, almost cylindrical.
88 Transactions of the Nyournal, Feb. 1, 1610.
Ccenenchyma moderately thick, rarely presenting a well-marked
median furrow. Calices occupying the summit of prominent verru-
ciform tubercles. The examination of type spicula of eleven out of
fourteen of Milne Edwards’ species of Gorgonia proper, enables me
to separate his genus into three very distinct groups.
Sec. I—Taking as the type of the first group the Gorgonia
verrucosa of Linneeus, common on our British coasts, the spicula
are found to consist essentially of two forms, the one being attenuate
fusiform and sparsely echinate, and the other, and most characteristic
one, lagenate or flask-shaped, the head of the flask bemg to a greater
or less extent tuberculate, and the bulb usually exhibiting a ten-
dency to become either fluted or verticillate. These lagenate
spicula occupy the surface of the ccenenchyma, the base being
directed outwards. Kolliker, plate xviii., figs. 25 and 26, shows a
transverse section of the polypary of an allied species illustrating
the position of these spicula zn sctu.
Gorgonia papillifera, amaranthoides, and graninea, M. Kdw.,
harmonize with G. verrucosa in possessing spicula of precisely the
same character. To these must be added the three following species
which have been referred to other genera by the author just quoted,
t.é., Muricea placomus, Val. et M. Edw. (non Esp.), Pleeaura
racemosa, Val., and Verrucella furcata, M. Edw. (Gorgonia, Lamk.).
Gorgonia crinita, Val., not alluded to by Milne Edwards, must
also be annexed to the same group. In accordance with Kolliker,
Gorgonia venosa and subtilis, Val., G. papillosa, Esp., G. Berto-
lonii, Lamx. (G. viminalis, var. Esp.), and G. albicans, Klk. (G.
palma, var. Esp.), likewise possess spicula of the character just
described. Examples of the spicula characteristic of this group are
shown at Plate XLII., Figs. 1-6.
Sec. II.—Gorgonia, vatricosa, arida, discolor, and exserta of
Milne Edwards agree in possessing spicula almost entirely of a
slender arcuate form, and to a greater or lesser extent tuberculate
or echinate. Plate XLII., Figs. 7, 9, 14, G. exserta, diverges rather
from the other three in having spicula which are less arcuate and
more attenuate, and which approach to a doubly-stellate form.
These four species, with their characteristic spicula, are omitted by
Kolliker in his Monograph.
See. III —Gorgonia miniata, pumicea and ramulus, M. Edw.,
possess spicula essentially characteristic of what obtains in the genus
Leptogorgia to be next described.
Leptogorgia. Axis corneous; ccenenchyma pellicular, compact ;
calices not prominent. The apertures of the calices bemg even
with the surface of the ccenenchyma is suggestive of what obtains
in the genus Plexawra ; but the slender nature of the coonenchyma,
apart from the characters afforded by the spicula, renders this genus
easily distinguishable from it.
1 a al aa etal t say Royal Microscopical Society. 89
With the small development of the ccenenchyma just alluded to,
a corresponding minuteness in the size of the spicula might be
reasonably anticipated; and the fact that the members of the genus
and its allies contain smaller forms than are to be met with in any
other, scarcely takes us by surprise. The type predominant through-
out the Leptogorgiz is represented at Plate XLII., Figs. 15, 16,
consisting of short fusiform spicula, bearmg two, four, or more
transverse rows of tubercule. This form is constant in the fol-
lowing species of Milne Edwards which I have had the oppor-
tunity of examining, 7.e., L. rosea, Webbiana, viminea, sanguinea,
virgulata, and virgea. Exceptional forms occur in L. Boryana and
aurantiaca ; the former possessing a type peculiar to Juneella,
to be hereafter described ; and the latter, one closely assimilating
that prevalent in Hchinogorgia, and with which it was associated
when referring to that genus.
The Leptogorgian type of spicula is very widely disseminated,
and crops up with various modifications and associations in each of
the following genera of Milne Edwards, wiz. Lophogorgia, Ptero-
gorgia, Xiphigorgia, Rhipidigorgia, Phyllogorgia, Hymenogorgia,
Phycogorgia, and Gorgonella.
This relative conformity of the spicula has induced Kolliker to
group the representatives of the majority of these genera (Phyllo-
gorgia and Phycogorgia, to which he makes no reference, being
alone excepted) under the one generic title of Gorgonia. He, more-
over, incorporates with these those true Gorgonix possessing the
attenuate fusiform and lagenate spicula before described. His motive
for this last arrangement is quite inexplicable, and is certainly not a
natural cne, since it includes organisms differing most essentially in
both their external contour and internal structure.
Proceeding with the system of classification adopted by Milne
Edwards, the next genus we arrive at is Lophogorgia, and which he
characterizes as follows :—
Lophogorgia.—Polypary spread out in the form of a plume
or fan, having one or more of the branches thick and flattened.
The spicula of the single species, L. palma, essentially follow
the Leptogorgian type; and though the main branches of the
polypary are thick and flattened, it is a significant fact that the
terminal ones are slender and cylindrical, and beset with minute
sht-like polyp apertures precisely similar to what we meet with
m the genus Leptogorgia.
Pterogorgia.—Polypary xamifying or bi-pinnate, flattened,
haying the calices disposed on the two surfaces in longitudinal
series on each side of a median line.
All the species of this genus that I have examined contain
spicula agreeing with the Leptogorgian type; several of them,
however, possess different forms in association with this type.
* : Monthly Micros ical
90 Transactions of the Sea ep ete
In Pterogorgia setosa, for instance, we for the first time meet
with an arcuate form bearing tuberculee only on the inner surface
of the are (Plate XLII., Fig. 22). These viewed in profile bear a
grotesque resemblance to a canoe fully manned, and for which
reason I shall hereafter distinguish this form of spicula by the
appellation of the scaphoid type.* Mixed with these, in P. setosa,
is the Leptogorgian type before referred to. Pé. pinnata also
possesses the two forms which obtain in the last-named species.
P. suberosa and betulina possess, in addition to the Leptogorgian
type, spicula of a somewhat ovate form (Plate XLIL, Fig. 20); and
with the latter are also included an approach to the Juneella
and spiked dumb-bell type.t The spicula of P. petechizans and
laxa also follow the Leptogorgian type, but are rather irregular.
Xiphigorgia.—Polypary haying the sclerobasic axis bordered
on each side by a lateral expansion of the ccenenchyma; the calices
disposed in vertical rows on the edges of these lamine.
The Leptogorgian type of spicula, with minor modifications,
is predominant in both species of this genus; X. anceps possessing
in addition an approach to the scaphoid type.
Rhipidigorgia—tThe branches of the polypary in this genus
are not only disposed on the same plane, but the ramuscules
coalesce at every point of contact, so as to constitute a more or less
perfect network. This form of polypary has won for them the
popular appellation of “Sea-Fans.”
Milne Edwards refers to this genus all the Gorgonacex ex-
hibiting a tendency to become reticulate; but as such an arrange-
ment necessarily binds together a series of species presenting the
most marked differences in the structure and arrangement of their
calices, in the contour of their respective spicula, and, im all pro-
bability, in that of the polyp-animals themselves, the genus, as
at present constituted, cannot take rank as a natural one. .
The following are the principal modifications in form of the
spicula of the species I have so far examined :—
1. Rhipidigorgia flabellum and oceatoria agree in possessing
the Leptogorgian and scaphoid type combined.
2. R. reticulum, cribrum, arenata, verriculata, and stenobrachis
abound in the Leptogorgian type alone.
3. R. lacuens, plagalis, and wmbraculum differ in possessing
the form peculiar to Juncella.
4, R. stricta and coarctata vary again in the possession of an
arcuate in conjunction with a laminato-proliferous type, referred
to when describing Hchinogorgia, and in which genus they were
then included.
* Kolliker distinguishes this as the “cramp-iron” form ‘“ klammer,” but the
simile seems scarcely definitive.
+ Subsequent examination has led me to refer this species to Junceila.
ee ones Royal Microscopical Society. 91
Phyllogorgia.—Polypary explanate, foliaceous ; the sclerobasic
axis branching, and the more slender ramifications anastomosing
frequently among themselves, as with the genus Rhipidigorgia,
the ccenenchyma, however, not constituting a cylindrical cortex
around the axes, but expanding laterally, so as to form large
foliaceous lamina, on the surfaces of which the calices are disposed.
In P. dilitata the Leptogorgian and scaphoid types of spicula
predominate. Phyllogorgia foliata is described as closely approxi-
mating the last-named species; but I have not yet had an oppor-
tunity of examining its spicula.
Hymenogorgia.—The only difference existing between this
genus and the last is, that the minor ramifications of the sclero-
basic axis do not coalesce. The ccenenchyma forms similar
foliaceous expansions, and the spicula follow essentially the same
type.
a Phycogorgia.—In this genus the sclerobasic axis itself becomes
dilated in membranous expansions, resembling a fucus invested
with a slender and porous ccenenchyma. One form of spicula
alone is represented in the single species, P. fucata, and that the
regular Leptogorgian type. |
The four next genera have been separated by Milne Edwards
into a distinct group, the Gorgonellacex, on account of the
sclerobasic axis contaming a large amount of calcareous in addi-
tion to corneous matter; he considers, however, that they respec-
tively correspond to certain genera of the Gorgonacee (M. Edw.)
possessing entirely corneous axes. Kolliker, as has been already
observed, has made, partly for the same reason, a similar separation
of several species from Plewawra, creating for them the new generic
title of Pleaaurella.
Gorgonella.—Polypary much branching; sclerenchyma very
slender ; calices little or not at all prominent. Milne Edwards
considers this genus equivalent to Leptogorgia; the spicula, more-
over, of G. sarmentosa, the only species I have yet examined, are
not distinguishable from the type predominant in the last-named
genus.
Verrucella.—The author just quoted regards this genus as
corresponding with Gorgonia proper. The polypary is arborescent,
the sclerenchyma moderately thick, and furnished with exceedingly
rominent calices. In correlation with the above, it is a significant
fact that the spicula of Verrucella gemmacea agree, to a certain
extent, with the form characteristic of Gorgonia verrucosa and
its allies, possessing a modification of the lagenate type (Plate XLIL.,
Figs. 27, 28); the attenuato-fusiform is, however, not represented
but replaced by a form best described as the spiked dumb-bell type
(Plate XLIT., Fig. 29).
Plexawra nodulifera, M. Edw. (Gorgonia, Lamk.), possesses
92 Transactions of the eel Ai pag
spicula conforming with the last type described, and also a modi-
fication of the same, but the lagenate type is wanting.
In Verrucella violacea, the spicula, all of which are of a bril-
liant crimson, assume an entirely different form; and on a small
scale they present a close resemblance to what obtams im the
genus Hunicea, being, though small, neatly fusiform spicula bear-
ing numerous transverse rows of symmetrically disposed tubercles
(Plate XLIL., Figs. 33, 54). It seems highly probable that this
species may form the type of a new genus, having incorporated
with it the Gorgonia lilacina and sanguinolenta of Valenciennes,
these two species possessing spicula exactly harmonizing in contour
with the form just alluded to.
The spicula of V. flexuosa agree with the Juncella type, to be
presently described.
Ctenocella.—Polypary prolonged in the form of a straight rod,
haying the branches disposed in a pectinate manner on one side
only.
The form and disposition of the calices im the single species,
C. pectinata, and the character of the spicula, are so precisely
similar to what obtains in Juneella, that it must necessarily be
incorporated with that genus.
Juncella.—Polypary more or less rod-like, polyp-cells scattered.
The very characteristic form of spicula invariably predominant
in this genus is the mammillate or tuberculate dumb-bell type
(Plate XLII, Fig. 38). This type is constant without exception,
through the four species of Milne Edwards, yuncea, vimen, hystria,
and elongata, Juncella swreulus and caliculata of Valenciennes,
and Juncella flabellum of Johnson.
The following species, which possess the same form of spicula,
must be associated with the foregoing. They have hitherto occu-
pied a different position in the system of classification adopted by
Milne Edwards, and have been briefly alluded to en passant in
the consecutive order in which they occur. These are, Primnoa
myura, Leptogorgia Boryana, Lihipidigorgia lacuens, plagalis,
and umbraculum, Pterogorgia betulina, Verrucella fleawosa, and
Ctenocella pectinata.
We have now arrived at the end of that section to which I
proposed to confine my present observations. ‘The representatives of
Milne Edwards’ genera, Rhipidigorgia, Leptogorgia, and their allies
(and under which latter designation (Leptogorgia) I would include
all those Gorgonacez possessing essentially the short fusiform spicula
predominant in the last-named genus), require more study than I have
yet had leisure and opportunity to bestow upon them ; and although
this Leptogorgian type of spicula collates together species differing
most widely in the general external form of their polyparies, there
is nevertheless, in addition to that afforded by the spicula, a certain —
Ps pen ao. Royal Microscopical Society. 93
harmony pervading the character of the coenenchyma and the form
and disposition of the individual polyp-cells throughout the entire
group which may possibly warrant their eventual arrangement
under one generic title. In illustration of the small value of
general external form for the purposes of even specific diagnosis,
as applied to the “hard structures” of the Coelenterata, I need
only refer to Millepora alcicornis among the Madrepores or “ Stony
Corals,” in which the amount of variation of the external contour
of its corallum is simply perplexing; the most striking examples
of these, taken separately, might be almost supposed to represent
distinct genera, but the existence of intermediate conditions inti-
mately uniting the whole series unquestionably substantiates their
specific identity.
The facts which have been eliminated in the foregoing remarks
will, I think, suffice to demonstrate beyond doubt what a highly
important element the Calcareous Spicula represent in our appre-
ciation of the generic characters of the Gorgonidz. The study of
the group from this point of view must, however, be considered
quite in its infancy; but the time has arrived when zoologists must
no longer be content with the characters afforded by general contour
or by the examination of the dried polyparies only. Not only is it
necessary that the spicula alone should again be studied; our
information respecting the variations in form of the polyp-animals
themselves is as yet of the most meagre description ; and until we
have learnt to appreciate these characters by the examination of
the animals preserved in spirit, or, what is more important still,
alive in their native element, we can scarcely expect to arrive at
a just estimation of their true zoological affinities.
Further particulars respecting the specific variations of the
spicula, the position the different forms occupy in relation to the
common polypary, and the general law of affinity which undoubtedly
pervades the whole series, must necessarily form the subject of a
future communication.
In conclusion, I must not neglect to testify to the good work
our trans-Atlantic cousins are achieving in this direction by fitting
out expeditions, for the main purpose of exploring and arriving at
a better knowledge of the representatives of the Marine fauna
on the other side of the Atlantic;* an example, which it is a
pleasure to be able to add, the British Government has at length
‘recognized the high importance of following; and in fact if
England is (and may such be her ever happy destiny) to remain
* The names of Prof. A. E. Verrill and Count Pourtales ave particularly
worthy of notice for having contributed so richly to our knowledge of the Celen-
terata. Many new. genera and species of Gorgonacee have been described by
them; but want of space necessarily obliges me to postpone entering on the present
occasion into the results of their investigations.
Monthly Microscopical
94 On Pollen. Jounal: Feb. 1, 1e70.
“ Mistress of the Seas,” it behoves her not to allow her prestige
associated with the briny element to remain simply superficial.
There are laurels to be reaped, only by the hand of Science, in
the vast abysses of the ocean, which shall add a lustre to her
diadem that shall remain untarnished till time and space shall be
no more.
VI.—On Pollen; considered as an Aid in the Differentiation of
Species. By Cuarues Barney, Esq.
Havine recently examined the pollen of several thousand species of
plants, I am led to think that the characters presented by these
grains might prove useful as a means of differentiation in allied
species ; my researches, however, have not been sufficiently exten-
sive to form any positive conclusions, but as leisure permits I hope
to prosecute the subject further. In the meanwhile, the following
notes are thrown out as indications of some of the more noticeable
distinctions to be drawn from a careful comparison of these organs,
and they may serve to draw the attention of others to the matter.
There are four points, in one or other of which pollen-grains of
plants belonging to the same genus may be found to differ from
each other, viz. form, markings, dimensions, and colour.
1. Form.—lIt has long been noticed that certain types of pollen
are characteristic of the natural order to which the plants which
produce them belong, as, for instance, the peculiar pitted polyhedral.
pollen of the Caryophyllacex, the spherical spiny pollen of the
Malvacez, the large triangular pollen of the Onagracex, the peculiar
pollen of the Coniferz, or the elliptical pollen of the Liliacee and
other monocotyledonous orders ; in fact, most orders possess a type
sufficiently marked to be characteristic of each. This statement,
however, must be accepted with limitations; the Compositz, for
instance, have three or more well-marked types, represented by the
beautifully sculptured pollen of the Chicory, the minute oval spiny
pollen of the Asters, Calendulas, Cacalias, &c., and another form
wholly destitute of spines, as in the Centawrea scabiosa. ‘There
are, besides, other natural orders where similar variety occurs.
But differences of form are met with in plants of the same
genus, by which the one species or the other is readily marked off
by its pollen; thus the pollen-grain of Anemone sulphwrea is
roundish, but that of Anemone montana is elliptic; the pollen of
Aronicum Doronicum is much more elongate than that of A.
scorpioides; and while the grains of Ranunculus philonotis are
round and yellow, those of R. platanifolius are elliptic, white and
smaller.
Monthly Microscopical =
Journal, Feb. 1, 1870. On Pollen. 95
2. Markings. — Here again there is endless diversity, and a
boundless field lies open for the researches of tired-out dot and line
hunters of diatom-valves. A few instances only of the more striking
differences can be given here.
The pollen of the Geraniacee and Campanulacex is for the
most part globular ; but while some of the grains are quite smooth,
others are covered with spines; thus the pollen of Campanula
media has a number of short spines sparsely scattered over the
surface of the grain, but C. rapunculoides is wholly destitute of
them. In other plants these spines are replaced by tubercles, and
both spines and tubercles vary greatly in length and number ; for
example, in Valeriana tuberosa the spines are only half the length
of those on the pollen of V. montana, the grains being also slightly
smaller. The pollen of the Liliacez is oftened covered with a more
or less prominent reticulation, which is subject to much variation ;
compare, for example, the coarse network which invests the pollen
of Lvliwm crocewm with the finer reticulation of L. canadense,
the grains of the latter species being much more globose and
smaller.
3. Dimensions.—Some instances of the differences observable in
the size of pollen-grains have already been published by Professor
Gulliver, whose measurements of the pollen of various species of
Ranunculus show the help that may be derived from this character ;
R. arvensis is nearly twice the size of R. hirsutus, their dimensions
being respectively z4+5th and ;4,sth of an inch.
I have not had the time to make similar careful measurements
with the micrometer, but I have seen sufficient to be satisfied that
while there is considerable variation in dimensions between the
pollen of one species and that of another, they are tolerably constant
in size in the same species.
For some noticeable differences compare the smaller pollen of
Epilobium brachycarpum with the larger pollen of H. Flecschert, or
that of Senecio gallicus with S. incanus, the spines on the latter
species being also much coarser. Again, the pollen of Silene acaulis
is but half the size of that of S. alpina, the latter having some
beautiful markings in addition ; the pollen-grains of this genus
differ from the usual caryophyllaceous type in not having the pits
or depressions common in the order, so that the grains become
spherical rather than polyhedral.
- 4, Colowr.—This is not so reliable a character for differentiation
as the others noticed, since species differ amongst each other accord-
ing to the soil, &c., of the place where they have grown. I remember
gathering some years ago, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, a variety
of Stellaria Holostea having a dark purple pollen instead of the
Bee, pale yellow. An example or two under this head will
suffice.
96 Optical Improvements RB.
The pollen of Ajuga genevensis is yellow, but that of A. pyra-
midalis is usually white ; again, while the grains of Ornithogalum
umbellatum are large and yellow, those of O. nutans are small and
white.
Some objection may be raised to any reliance being placed upon
the dry shrivelled-up grains of herbaria specimens—such specimens
being in most cases the only ones obtainable for purposes of in-
vestigation ; but the structure of pollen is such as to bring into
greater prominence the pores, folds, valves, and other markings
which are met with on their surface after the grains have collapsed
by the discharge of their contents.
In regard to the mounting of these objects for the microscope,
they show to the best advantage when put up perfectly dry; the
cells should be sufficiently shallow to admit of no more than a single
layer, and at the same time deep enough to permit the grains to
move about. If pollen is mounted soon after it has been discharged
from the fresh anthers, the fovilla is apt to condense on the covering
glass, and the slide soon becomes useless. The stamens taken from
an unopened flower-bud furnish the best and cleanest pollen, and
these should be selected in preference to those taken from the fully-
developed flower.
Canada balsam, glycerine, and other media are - occasionally
helpful in making out structure; thus the pores of Campanula
rotundifolia, Phytewna Halleri, and other allied species, are made
much more distinct when mounted in balsam.—Paper read before
the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester.
VIL—On Professor Listing’s* recent Optical Improvements in
the Microscope. By Dr. H. Hacen.
In all microscopes the dioptric arrangement is now analogous to
the astronomic spy-glass; they have but one real image, from
which the virtual image is formed and brought to the eye of the
observer.
Professor Listing proposes to have two real images, and in
this way to form three successive augmentations instead of two,
as before. It is well known that by a prolongation of the draw-
tube, or by increasing the distance between the objective and the
eye-piece, the image becomes successively greater, but the defini-
tion and penetration is by no means better. Professor Listing has
made some experiments, and states that with an eye-piece of his
* See also ‘Nachr. d. kg]! Gesell. der Wissensch.,’ 1869, No. 1, and Poggen-
dorff’s ‘ Annalen,’ 1869, T. xvi., p. 467.
enn WoL, ev. in the Microscope. 97
construction (a double eye-piece with four lenses, similar to those
of the terrestrial spy-glasses) the magnifying power of the instru-
ment, and also to nearly the same degree the penetration, is raised,
by a tube of 430™, 20, 28, 55, 97, and 137 per cent. (the latter,
of course, with diminution of the field), more than the same objec-
tive (Hartnack’s, No. 7) and eye-piece (No.3) with a tube 200"™
in length. The object was Pleurosigma angulatum, and Professor
Listing assures us that the latent power of the objective is developed
by this means in an astonishing manner. He also remarked that
the so-called Erectors have long been used, but always with a low
power and a short tube. The most advantageous form for the
eye-piece would be, for the two superior glasses, achromatic lenses
from 15 to 20" in diameter, and with a diaphragm between,
having an aperture of from 8 to 9°". For the two inferior
lenses, a common Huyghen’s eye-piece would be the best. Such
a combined eye-piece, with a tube 420" long, would raise the
power of the instrument 97 per cent. The use of an achromatic
condenser adapted for oblique illumination is necessary for high
powers. ‘The experiment was only successfully made with the best
objectives of English artists, or with the excellent new Hartnack
objectives.
According to his calculation, an objective of 1™™ distance will
give the first real image at a distance of 200" from the second
chief point of the objective; and combined with an eye-piece in
Listing’s manner, having a power of 25 diameters by itself, and a
tube 450™™ long, the magnifying power of the whole instrument
would be 5000 diameters.
In the common arrangement of the microscope, the dioptric car-
dinal points are in the same order as in a cancave lens, and the
focal distance of the whole microscope (not of the objective) would
be equal to — °5™™, with a magnifying power of 400 diameters
for a visual distance of 200".
In the Listing instrument the order of the cardinal points
would be inverted and analogous to a convex lens, with a focal
distance of the whole microscope equal to + °04™™, with a magni-
fying power of 5000 diameters. In the first case the objective
would have a focal distance of 3™™; in the last of 1™™. The differ-
-ence between the two chief points of the whole microscope is in both
cases nearly equal to the whole length of the tube. In the last
arrangement the whole microscope is analogous to a convex lens
with very short focal distance.
In a second paper Professor Listing gives further facts con-
cerning this arrangement. An objective with a focal distance
of 1™™ has the first image 201 distant from the second
chief pot, The first magnifying is = 200. The middle eye-
piece of two achromatic lenses with 25™™ focal distance, and 15™™
VOL. II, H
98 Improvements in the Microscope. [™yournu, Penk sto.
distance from each other, gives a focal distance of 18™™, and so the
second magnifying is=9 ‘This apparatus having the objective
and middle eye-piece combined with the five eye-pieces of Hartnack
(magnifying from {ths and ;%ths to 11 diameters), gives a total
power of from 6840 to 19,800 diameters, with a tube of 440™™.
Professor Listing advises that the lenses of the eye-piece should
be made of 15™™ diameter, and with a correction for their distance.
For the middle eye-piece, perhaps, lenses of quartz combined with
a lower (1°61 to 1°59) flint glass should be used. In another
place he gives a different construction for the middle eye-piece,
analogous to an objective of two glasses, but with greater dimen-
sions, and calculates the magnifymg power of this to be from
22,000 to as much as 25,600 diameters.
Professor Listing observes that only the penetrating power
would be raised by this method of construction, but that to a
very considerable degree.—A paper read before the Microscopical
Section of the Boston Society of Natwral Science, November 10,
1869.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Feb. 1, 1870. ( 99 )
PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
The Cause of Variegation in the Leaves of Plants.—Practical
botanists are well aware of two things: (1) that a rage now exists
for plants the leaves of which are blanched in parts; and (2) that
whatever the nature of this blanching, which sometimes appears spon-
taneously, any plant may be made variegated by inoculating into
it the sap of one which is variegated already by means of engrafta-
tion. But the cause of this phenomenon has been sought by M.
Edouard Morren who, in a most interesting paper on the whole subject,
recently read before the Belgian Academy, tries to explain it. Dr.
Morren recites the experiments of others, and he seems to imply
that the affection, for such there is reason to regard it, is the re-
sult of the presence of minute corpuscles which have no green colour
like the ordinary corpuscles. The etiolated parts, he says, are not
altered by carbonic anhydride(?), and they enclose “imperfect granu-
lations deprived of green colouring matter.” Dr. Morren refers to
the recent able experiments of our countryman, Dr. Maxwell T. |
Masters, on Jasminium officinale, and his paper is of interest because,
as it seems to us, it opens up a field in which every microscopist
may do some good work.—Vide L’ Institut, January 19.
The Movement of the Chlorophyll Corpuscles—At the meeting of
the French Academy of Sciences on the 17th of January, a note was
presented from M. Rose relative to M. Prillieux’s last researches on
the influence of light on plants. The author has found that the light
does not affect each individual corpuscle so as to cause it to move,
but operates on the material surrounding a number of corpuscles,
and by influencing it causes the corpuscles to move.—Vide Comptes
Rendus, January 17.
The Constitution of the Ovum in Sacculine.—M. Balbiani replies to
_ M. Ed. Van Beneden on this point in a paper read before the French
Academy. He considers that he has proved that the small clear eleva-
tion placed on one of the points of the surface of the egg of the Sacculinee
is not the cicatricule as supposed by M. Gerbe, but is really a small
rudimentary ovule, adherent to the matured one, and which is subse-
quently detached from it. “M.Ed. Van Beneden,” says M. Balbiani,
“thinks that after its separation the minute ovule remains in the
interior of the reproductive organ to give birth to two daughter-cells,
which become adherent to each other, and one of which, in its turn,
becomes an egg. According to his view, a single cell would by suc-
cessive sub-divisions give rise, without ceasing, to new ova. This
explanation is not only improbable but is actually in contradiction
with the direct observation of facts. According to my observations
upon the ovary in the fresh state on specimens hardened in spirits
of wine, and from which sections had been made in various direc-
tions, this is how the thing really takes place :—On a point of one of
the ramifications of the ovary a small cell appears at first by a process
H 2
icros ical
100 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE, [Monthly Microscow
of budding. In growing, this cell pushes before it the external
epithelial envelope of the ovary, which thus becomes the wall of the
ovigerous follicle. The latter is pediculated, and the small cell
within it soon forms by division two new cells like the parent one.
This division is further pursued once or twice on each of these, and
it is one of the daughter-cells of the last generation which becomes
the ‘viable’ egg. In the ovigerous follicles one sees ovules still
in the rudimentary state under the form of a small cellular group
situated in the inferior part of the follicle below the ovum in course
of its development. I can do no better than compare these bodies to
the vitelligenous cells of insects; both appear to me, in fact, to be
nothing less than abortive eggs, with this distinction always, that in
insects the cells maintain an organic union with each other and the
egg in course of development, whilst in the Sacculine they are either
free or have a slight connection with the latter. I do not believe
either that after the deposition of the mature ovum the little ‘ polar
cell’ remains in the ovary to become the starting-point of a new
ovum, as M. Ed. Van Beneden describes. It is easy to assure oneself,
by means of hardened preparations, that the cell has no relation save
with the egg to which it is adherent, and that consequently it must
be carried by it in its passage from the follicle, and must fall with it
into the ovarian sac.” M. Balbiani’s paper, which is of much interest
to comparative anatomists, then deals with the general question of
the primordial division of the ovum in Sacculine as pointed out in
the vertebrates by Pfliiger, Kélliker, and others, and also with the
points in relation to the second organic element (in addition to the
vesicle of Purkinje, which he admits the existence of in Sacculine).
—Comptes Rendus, December 27, 1869.
The Afferent Canals in Clionia celata (Grant).—M. Leon Vaillant,
in some recent dredging excursions, has had an opportunity of study-
ing this curious penetrating sponge while alive and upon the oyster-
shell. His observations have led him to different conclusions from
those established by Professor Grant. He states that in Clionia celata,
while the papille in the wide perforations are, as has long since been
shown, the oscula or efferent orifices of the water current which
pervade the parenchyma, the papille of the second form are really
the pores of distinct afferent currents—Paper read before French
Academy, January 3, 1870.
Nitrate of Silver as an aid in Microscopic Investigations.—M.
Grandry has communicated to the ‘Centralblatt’ the results of his
observations on the action of nitrate of silver on nervous tissue. He
used the tissue obtained from the frog and rabbit for his experiments,
and placed portions both from the centres and the nerves in a one-
fourth per cent. solution, macerating them for five days in the dark,
and then exposing them for three days to bright light. If the
surface of the cord thus treated be carefully teazed out with needles,
the axis-cylinders are found to exhibit a very regular and sharply
defined transverse striation—clear, unstained strize alternating with
deeply tinted ones. The breadth of the dark strie varies from one to
MTL Feb eo] PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 101
five thousandths of a millimétre ; that of the clear, from one to three
thousandths. In addition to the transverse striation, the axis-cylinder
also exhibits well-marked longitudinal striation, so that it presents a
singularly close, though probably only superficial, analogy to a mus-
cular fibre. Examination by polarized light, however, does not
furnish any evidence of the existence of a doubly refractile substance.
M. Grandry observed a similar transverse striation in the bodies of,
and in the processes given off from, ganglion cells, especially in those
of the anterior horn of the cervical portion of the spinal cord.—The
Lancet, January 15.
Fossil Bryozoa.—The study of the fossil Bryozoa is a fertile field
for microscopists, and is being pursued more abroad than in England.
A memoir by an Italian, Signor Manzoni, was recently read before the
Vienna Academy (Dec. 16), on the Fossil Bryozoa of Italy. The
author went very fully into the subject, and described no less than
twenty-one species of Lepralia, and gave four plates illustrative of his
observations. Only six of the species are already known: L. scripta,
pteropora, and tetragona, Rss. ; linearis, Hassall; ansata, Johnst., and
ciliata, Pall.; the remaining fifteen are quite new. The greater number
of the species (twelve) are from the Middle Miocene of Turin; four
are from the Middle Pliocene of Castellarquata ; and the remaining
five are from the Upper Pliocene of Reggio in Calabria.
The Terminations of the Biliary Ducts.—This question, which has
been solved in opposite ways by Drs. Beale and Handfield Jones, has
recently been taken up in America. <A paper on the subject appeared
lately in the ‘New Orleans Journal of Medicine,’ and is thus
abstracted by the ‘ Lancet’ (January 22), which has lately from time
to time published some very valuable résumés of foreign histological
papers. The writer in the ‘ Lancet,’ whom we think we could name,
thinks that the author of the paper in question, Dr. H. D. Schmidt,
satisfactorily makes out his claim to being the discoverer of the termi-
nation of the biliary ducts in biliary capillaries, which is now very
generally admitted. By a series of unfortunate circumstances, amongst
which the fire that occurred in the Smithsonian Institute, the civil
war, and Dr. Schmidt’s ill-health, were the most important, the obser-
vations made in 1859 have only now been published. Dr. Schmidt’s
observations seem to be essentially similar to those that have of late
years been advanced by Budge, M‘Gillavry, Chrzonsczezewsky, and
’ Eberth, and are to the effect that two capillary networks exist in the
lobule of the liver: one, commencing at the periphery of the lobule
from the smallest branches of the portal vein and hepatic artery, and
ending at the centre in those of the hepatic vein, serves for the circu-
lation of the blood ; the other, commencing independently in the centre
of the lobule, near the interlobular vein, and ending in the smallest
branches of the hepatic ducts, is most probably destined for the trans-
port of the secretion of the gland. The cells lie within the meshes of
the two networks; but, as it appears, are held and adherent more to
the network for the secretion. Dr. Schmidt agrees with M. Guillot in
believing that a natural communication exists between the biliary
102 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. ee
ducts and the deep-seated lymphatics of the liver. Both Kiernan and
Mascagni noticed that injections thrown into the ducts returned by the
absorbents, and the former observer stated that bile is frequently pro-
pelled into the absorbents on injecting the duct ; and it is known that
in some diseases of the liver the hepatic lymphatics are found to be
distended with bile.
Sponges or Worms.—In a paper read before the Montreal Natural
History Society, on the 29th of November, “ On the Genus Scolithus
and some Allied Fossils.” Mr. Billings attempted to prove that the
well-known fossil Histioderma Hibernicum from Bray in Wicklow are
really not the casts of an annelid, but are, as their structure seemed to
show, veritable sponges.
A Microscope and Camera combined.—Those who care for the
multum-in-parvo class of apparatus will do well to read the description
(‘British Journal of Photography, January) of a new instrument
invented by MM. Borie and de Tournemine, and exhibited at a
meeting of the French Photographic Society. The description of
the instrument is too long for our pages. But we may state that,
according to the inventor, the apparatus may be used as the following
separate instruments :—A solar microscope, a photographic solar
microscope, a compound microscope, a photographic apparatus, an
enlarging apparatus for negatives, a terrestrial telescope, a telescopic
photographic apparatus, an enlarging apparatus direct upon paper, and
a photographic ophthalmoscope.
NOTES AND MEMORANDA.
Soirée of the Old Change Microscopical Society.— We learn from
the secretary, Mr. 8. Helm, that the fourth annual soirée of this Society
will take place at the City Terminus Hotel, on the 14th inst. Gentle-
men desirous of exhibiting objects at the soirée should communicate
with the secretary without delay.
Microscopy in Dublin.—The following quotation from ‘The
Medical Press Circular’ of the 19th of January, needs no comment
from us; its force will be fully apparent to our readers :—“ Dr. John
Barker read an interesting paper ‘On Microscopic Illumination’ at a
meeting of the Royal Irish Academy on the 10th inst. Dr. Barker.
truly describes the present defective manner of viewing microscopic
objects, by saying that ordinarily on looking into a microscope we feel
disposed to shrink from the sudden glare of light which strikes on the
eye from the field of vision, which is flooded with intense light; the
pupil contracts, and at first we see nothing at all; presently a some-
thing semi-transparent is rendered visible by the relative opacity
and transparency of its parts, and by the shadows they cast on the
Dee NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 103
retina and on other portions of the object. Now, all these effects will
not show us its true structure, but will rather contribute to a false
impression of what is under examination. From such considerations
as these, Dr. Barker concludes that axial illumination, in which a
large portion of the central rays of light are stopped off, is the only
one which ought to be admitted in microscopic research—a conclusion
already arrived at by most of our best microscopists; but all have
hitherto experienced a great difficulty in obtaining sufficient light, and
of economizing the oblique rays (those most valuable), which are
generally reflected to a large extent, and even dispersed at the under
surface of the slide on which the object is placed. To obviate these
difficulties, Dr. Barker makes use of the immersion plan, by placing
between the slide and illuminator a film of water or oil; this gets rid
of all, or almost all, the defects of former modes of illumination.
This film acts as a medium, permitting rays of light, without sensible
deviation or dispersion, to reach the object, and also allows all stage
movements to be freely used. The light obtained in the manner
indicated is almost purely achromatic, and is sufficiently oblique to
give a black-ground illumination with an eighth of an inch object-glass
(immersion), and will show clearly the dotted structure of the lines
on the Pleurosigma formosum with a quarter-inch object-glass, and with
a two-thirds used binocularly the surface and interior of certain
classes of objects are shown in a manner hitherto not seen. Dr.
Barker’s first experiments were with a flat-topped paraboloid, and, after
the meeting of the Academy broke up, the members had an opportu-
nity of viewing with it a specimen of the Conocholus volvox (a truly
beautiful object).”
The Quekett Club’s Journal.—We are informed that the com-
mittee of the Quekett Club have re-considered their recent determina-
tion. It is now proposed to issue the ‘ Journal’ of the club as hereto-
fore.
Dr. Woodward’s Paper.—The figure omitted in the publication of
this paper will be supplied, printed on a separate “slip,” in our next.
Readers will then have an opportunity of inserting it in the proper
place in their volumes.
Monthly Microscopical
( 104 ) [“scurna, Feb. 1, 1570
CORRESPONDENCE.
Nosert’s Trst-Linss.
To the Editor of the ‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal.’
148, CuuapsipE, E.C., January 12, 1870.
Srr,—In p. 283 of the Journal for November last, the reporter
of the discussion on Dr. Woodward’s paper appears to have quite
misunderstood my remarks. I did not say that Messrs, Powell and
Lealand had “ruled a test-object with 100 lines in +55,” which is a
mistake. I expressed a doubt whether the lines on Nobert’s test-
plate could be clearly defined beyond the 16th group. I added that
with Powell and Lealand’s new method of oblique illumination the lines
on the Amphipleura pellucida and acus could be clearly shown with
their immersion 1th, +4,th, and th, which also give a beautiful defi-
nition of the Podura scales. Mr. Lealand has succeeded in counting
the Amphipleura lines, and finds them 100 in 55th of an inch.
Exuis G. Loss.
Cotuixs’ Dissectrine Microscope.
To the Editor of the ‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal.
January 13, 1870.
Dear Sir,—In reply to the letter of Dr. Swintard, of the New
York College of Veterinary Surgeons, I should be glad to explain
that if I adopted any plan (invention I did not presume to call it)
of Dr. Busteed’s it was quite unknown to me; but there is one
part of my arrangement that I find much appreciated, and is, I think,
novel.
If the engraving is examined it will be seen that the arm is in two
portions ; the lower half with the objectives is fixed, and the upper
half carrying the body turns upon a centre, so that it can be instantly
converted from a single microscope to a compound, or vice versd. It
is also fitted with my new double nose-piece, so that the changes of
power can be most easily and quickly effected.
Before Dr. Swintard’s letter appeared, I was engaged in carrying
out a suggestion of Mr. Westell’s; this is now nearly completed, and
will greatly add to its value as a dissecting microscope, and at the
same time remove it from any apparent similarity to that made by
Mr. Grunow.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Cas. CoLuins.
Monthly Mi -opical
f a arnnls Feb. L 1870. ( 1 05 )
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.*
Royat MicroscopicaL Socrery.
Kine’s CoLiece, January 12, 1870.
The Rev. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.
A list of donations to the Society was read, and a vote of thanks
given to the respective donors.
Mr. Slack announced that Messrs. Gould and Porter had sent for
exhibition a specimen of their small cheap education microscope ; and
that the Rev. T. H. Browne, of High Wycombe, had presented to the
Society a box containing one dozen slides of carefully prepared sec-
tions of bone.
A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Browne.
Mr. Slack also said he had been requested to state that at the next
meeting of the Society (which would be the annual meeting) a propo-
sition would be brought forward to discontinue the practice of providing
refreshments after the ordinary meetings, as it was found that less than
half the Fellows who attended availed themselves of the provision
made, and that in lieu thereof a friendly conversazione should be held.
By this means a saving of some 16/. to 20J. per annum would be
effected, which might be advantageously appropriated to the purchase
of books and apparatus. The Council had no wish to influence the
decision of the Fellows, but thought it worthy of their consideration.
The President proposed that M. Mouchet, of Rochefort-sur-Mer,
should be elected an Honorary Fellow of the Society. M. Mouchet
was an ardent microscopist, and would feel much pleasure in being
more intimately connected with the Society. He had obtained some
distinction for inventions in relation to microscopical apparatus, for
one of which (a method of cutting wood for microscopic examination)
he had received from the French emperor at the late Exhibition a gold
medal of honour. He had also devised a finder of more extended appli-
cation than Maltwood’s, for not only could the objects be found, but
also accurately measured. The President then read a short commu-
nication from M. Mouchet referring to his machine for cutting thin
sections of wood.
The ballot was then ordered to be taken for the election of
M. Mouchet.
Mr. J. Beck was happy to add his testimony to M. Mouchet’s
character as a diligent student of microscopy, and very cordially sup-
ported the proposition of the President.
The list of Fellows who would be proposed as officers of the
Society at the annual meeting in February was then read.
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: Hyd ra—and by “underlining ”
words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus
ensure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings.—Ep. M. M. J.
106 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. = [joni ron tei.
It was proposed and seconded, and unanimously agreed to, that
Messrs. Suffolk and Bocket be requested to act as auditors for the
ear.
‘ The President then requested Mr. J. Browning, F.R.AS., to read
his paper “ On a Method of Measuring the Position of Absorption
Bands with a Micro-spectroscope.”
Mr. Ingpen inquired whether Mr. Browning did not think that
two lines crossing at an acute angle, as in his (Mr. Browning’s)
star-spectroscope, would be preferable to a single vertical line; as he
thought the position of a band or line in the spectrum could be more
accurately measured if caused to bisect an angle than if covered by a
bright line.
Mr. Browning thanked Mr. Ingpen for his suggestion, and he
thought much advantage would arise from its adoption.
Mr. Brooke said it appeared to him that Mr. Browning’s invention
was a very valuable one, as it rendered micrometric measurement very
simple. The use of a micrometer with a bright image instead of a
dark image would be very advantageous ; for whereas on a slightly
illuminated field the dark image is invisible, by substituting the
bright line for the dark line every purpose is answered.
Dr. Lawson said he felt much indebted to Mr. Browning for his
invention. He had worked for some time past with the interference
scale of Mr. Sorby, but had met with the difficulties which Mr.
Browning had enumerated, but he had always been unable to calculate
easily the number of the bands lying between the Ist and 12th.
The invention just described would make such an operation easy for
the future.
The President, in presenting the thanks of the meeting to Mr.
Browning, said that the improvements made by him in the construc-
tion of the micro-spectroscope were felt by all to be very valuable. It
appeared as if the wonders capable of being revealed by this instru-
ment were only beginning to dawn upon those who used it.
Mr. Hogg then gave a brief account of Mr. Alfred Sanders’ paper
“ On an Undescribed Stage of Development of Tetrarhyncus corollatus.”
The thanks of the meeting were then given to Mr. Sanders.
The President called upon Mr. W. 8. Kent to read his paper “ On
the Calcareous Spicula of the Gorgonacee.”
Mr. Stewart inquired of Mr. Kent whether he had come to any
conclusion as to the mode of the formation of the spicules he had de-
scribed. There were instances of agreement in form, but of difference
in construction; as in those cases where there was an intermixture of
horny and calcareous matter. His own opinion was that this com-
pound structure was due to the molecular coalescence of carbonate of
lime deposited in the colloid matter of the animal, thereby modifying
the physical forces always operating in the animal.
Mz. Kent replied that he had not paid sufficient attention to this
part of the subject to be able to arrive at any conclusion thereon.
Mr. Stewart again inquired how Mr. Kent accounted for the fact
that in the flask-shaped spicules the bases projected towards the out-
side, and the neck was directed towards the axis of the gorgonia? It
Monthly Microscopical] PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 107
was in his opinion important to consider the relative position of the
spicules, not only to each other, but also to the animal itself.
Mr. Kent replied, and the President proposed a vote of thanks to
Mr. Kent, observing at the same time how the paper illustrated the
well-known truth that nature is constant in her law, but infinite in
her modifications. The endless variety in the leaves of trees is hardly
more striking than the varied structure of the spicula of the Gorgonix,
which clearly are characteristic of genera and species. ‘To arrive at
any law of formation would involve very difficult but interesting
inquiries.
The meeting was then adjourned until the 9th of February, which
will be the anniversary. The officers for the ensuing year will be
elected, and the President will deliver an address.
Donations to the Library and Cabinet from December 8th, 1869,
to January 12th, 1870 :—
From
Land and Water. Weekly rnp Mein kwon Loecie etcetera ae ancore,
Society of Arts Journal. Weekly onsen tne SOGICLY
Scientific Opinion. eh ad) ool ao eo coy bo SECO:
INGE VCCLlyirs Mss ttiasel ake fs) Se |e) om Bidator:
The Student... .. a da aeell taa eed Publishers
Journal of the arnear Society... : Society.
Annual Report of the Brighton and Sussex Natural
History Society .. Thos. W. Wonfor, Esq.
Certain Butterfly Scales characteristic of Sex. By
IRDOSMWeWontorr 2 ArtSia cee | tec ek ellsda es ee AUthon:
The Chemical News, 4 Parts .. .. .. «. « « W.2. Suffolk, Esq.
The Canadian Journal.
Popular Science Review. No.34 .. .. .. .. .. Publisher.
Journalkottihe Queketi Clubs. 2. 9s.) "hPa ss Crud:
A Photo-lithograph of Diatoms be ge nee oy ee ees) hos) Weltshires
One Dozen Slides of Bone Sections .. .. .. .. «. Kev. Thos. H. Browne.
Walter Tebbitt, Esq., was elected a Fellow and M. Mouchet an
Honorary Fellow of the Society.
Water W. Reeves,
Assist.-Secretary, §c.
LirERARY AND PuHimosopuicaL Society oF MANCHESTER.
Microscopical and Natural History Section.
December 6th, 1869.—John Watson, Esq., President of the Section,
in the chair.
Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., was elected a member of the
Section.
Mr. Charles Bailey read a paper “ On Pollen ; considered as an Aid
in the Differentiation of Species.” [This paper ‘will be found among
our articles. |
Mr. J. B. Dancer, F.R.A.S., read a short paper on some of the new’
Hydro-Carbon compounds from which he had obtained very beautiful
polarizing objects for the microscope. These were exhibited to the
— Monthly Mi ical
108 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIFTIES. fp gt
members, and a more detailed account promised when the experiments
are complete.
Mancuester MicroscoprcaL Section or THE Lower Mostey
Street ScHoots.—NaturaL History Socrery.*
A conversazione was held on Monday evening, January 10th, 1870,
about 120 being present. The members brought their microscopes,
and other objects relative to the science of microscopy were exhibited.
J. Barrow, Esq., President, in the chair.
The President stated that the object of the meeting was to create
a taste for the study of microscopy, to show the work of the members,
and to give some idea of the pleasure the microscopist enjoys.
The President gave a short address “On the Life History of
Ferns,” showing the value the microscope had been in defining their
organization.
Mr. Aylward exhibited with Reade’s prism various diatoms; two
small aquariums containing animalcule ; and a number of trays of
foraminifera, &c.
Mr. Armstrong, a series of insects mounted whole; a number of
slides of various parts of insects; some human anatomical prepara-
tions ; and a number of micro-photographs.
Mr. Hope, a number of ferns and miscellaneous slides.
Mr. Chaffers, sections of mollusca.
Mr. Hyde, vegetable cuticles.
Mr. Jackson, a series of seeds, and a number of ferns showing
fructification.
Mr. H. C. Armstrong, a number of corallines, scales, foramini-
fera, &e.
Mr. Armstrong exhibited, with the gas microscope, a number of
slides of diatoms, insects, parasites, &c.; also, by the oxy-hydrogen
lantern, some micro-photographs taken on Dr. Maddox’s principle.
This was exceedingly successful, and added considerably to the
interest of the meeting.
The President read the list of papers for the present quarter.
Reapina Microscoprcan Soctetry.t
December 21st, 1869.—Captain Lang (the President) presided, and
after the usual business
Mr. Vines read a paper “ On Urinary Deposits.” In it he referred
to the valuable aid of the microscope in physiological research ; and
after giving a detailed account of the structure of the kidney and its
functions, proceeded to describe the characters of healthy urine, and
the microscopic appearances of urea, sugar, and the various salts met
with in deposits. He also dwelt upon the means of diagnosis afforded
by casts of uriniferous tubes and the cells they entangled. His paper
was illustrated by a diagram and examples of deposits.
* Report supplied by Mr. W. Jackson.
+ Report furnished by Mr. B. J. Austin.
re veo ee PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 109
Acting upon a resolution passed at the November meeting,
whereby papers upon Natural History subjects not exclusively con-
nected- with the microscope were made admissible, Dr. Moses gave
interesting particulars of the spur-winged goose (Anser Gambensis), of
which a specimen had recently been shot in Hampshire; and Mr.
F. A. Bulley read a short paper “On a Remarkable Case of Animal
Malformation,” in which he described a preparation placed upon the
table. This consisted of a pig which had lived four hours, and at the
time of its birth was furnished with a trunk about two inches long
formed of flexible rings and ending in a prehensile appendage, with
tubular passages exactly like the trunk of the elephant. Its ears and
epidermis were like those of the elephant, while the eyes were in an
unusual position.
Captain Lang exhibited Petrobius maritimus, and Mr. Tatem
showed various insect mounts.
January 18th, 1870.—Captain Lang presided, and, after the
transaction of business, the secretary read a paper “ On the Structure
and Affinities of Lycopods ;” embracing an account of the microscopic
structure of the various tissues and organs, and a comparison of the
club-mosses generally, with conifers, ferns, mosses, and selaginelle.
The paper was illustrated by specimens and mounts.
Captain Lang showed mounted specimens of two different species
of Acari found on house-fly, also of Coleochete scutata, and Cheetophora
tuberculosa.
Mr. Tatem exhibited Trinoton conspurcatum and Lipeurus jejunus,
parasites from the goose; Hematopinus acanthopus, from the field-
mouse; Nirmus argulus (before and after moult) and Colpocephalum
subequale, from the rook; the dog-tick, Ivodes plumbeus ; and the
sheep-tick, Hippobosca ovina.
Mr. Simpson exhibited live larve of the dog-flea.
BricHton AND Sussex Naturat History Soctery.
January 13th, 1870.—The President, Mr. T. H. Hennah, in the
chair.—Mr. Wonfor announced the receipt of a copy of a paper from
Mr. C. Roper “ On the Decapod Crustacea obtained at Eastbourne,” and
read by that gentleman before the Eastbourne Natural History Society.
Mr. J. EH. Mayall communicated a note on the discovery of copper
in common coal gas, generated, he believed, from the pyrites contained
in the coal. Mr. J. E. Mayall read a very interesting paper “On
“Volcanic Theories.”
Bristot Microscorrcat Societry.*
Wednesday, January 19th, 1870. Mr. W. J. Fedden, President,
in the chair.—The minutes of the last meeting having been read and
confirmed, it was announced that Mr. Roper had presented to the
Society a copy of his book ‘A Catalogue of Microscopical Works.’
* Report supplied by Mr, T. G. Ponton.
Monthly Mi ical
110 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. pret oe the
A unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Roper for his dona-
tion, and he was proposed as an honorary member of the Society, to
be balloted for at the next meeting.
Some discussion then ensued on the advisability of the Society’s
holding a public soirée. There was a considerable diversity of
opinion, and the matter was finally referred to the Standing Com-
mittee.
Mr. Tibbits then read a paper “On Mounting Animal Tissues,”
which he illustrated by a number of beautiful preparations of brain
and spinal cord made by himself.
TuNBRIDGE Wewuuis MioroscoricAL Socretry.*
The first meeting of this Society was held at Dr. Milner Barry’s
house on the 4th inst., Dr. Deakin, President, in the chair.—A variety
of most interesting objects were exhibited, amongst them some of the
very earliest micro-photographs taken by Mr. Delves,—the circulation
in Chara; sections of wood, &c. For the future each monthly meet-
ing will be devoted to the consideration of some special subject. The
Anatomy of Lichens will be discussed at the next meeting.
Biruincuam Natrurat History anp Microscopican Socrery.
The meetings were resumed on the 11th ultimo, when Mr. §. Allport
exhibited and described a fine collection of foraminifera from the
West Indian and Mediterranean Seas, obtained by shaking sponges
brought from those regions over water, skimming off the shells which
float while the particles of sand sink to the bottom, and mounting the
specimens thus obtained in Canada balsam, after preliminary treat-
ment with turpentine and exhaustion of air from the chambers.
Special interest attaches to these organisms at the present time by
reason of the attention which has lately been directed to them, in
connection with the subject of deep-sea soundings, as the great chalk-
forming agents of the world. Mr. Allport further referred to certain
passages in systematic works on Foraminifera, with a view to prove
that in this, as in other branches of natural history, varieties are too
often unjustifiably elevated to the rank of species. ‘The specimens
exhibited in illustration of the subject included representatives of the
genera Peneroplis, Spirolina, Orbiculina, Orbitolites, Polystomella,
and Planorbulina. The Rev. H. W. Crosskey also contributed Globi-
gerina bulloides from 2000-fathom soundings in the Atlantic, and
foraminifera from chalk; and in connection with these made some
interesting remarks on points of geology suggested by Dr. Carpenter’s
recent lectures. The speaker observed that modern geologists would
find themselves compelled to depart from the strict and arbitrary rules
by which they had hitherto separated different epochs and formations,
the tendency of progressive discovery being to show that these extend
into or overlap each other so that no harsh line of demarcation can be
* From the Secretary, the Rev. B. Whitelock.
ee en PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 111
drawn. He also alluded to the difficulty with which geologists have
hitherto had to contend in explaining the great break in the system
between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, which recent discovery
has in a great measure enabled us to do. Among general specimens
exhibited were the shells Bythinia tentaculata type, var. ventricosa,
brown and white; and var. albida, all from Alum Rock, the last being
a new variety, found by Mr. Lloyd, and named last month by Mr.
Jeffries ; also, Spherium corneum, var. flavescens, from Plant’s Brook,
all contributed by Mr. R. M. Lloyd; and a collection of cones and
olives, forming the second part of a series of foreign shells, presented
to the Society by Mr. Keen, of Liverpool.
At a subsequent meeting, Mr. 8. Allport also contributed the first
instalment of a series of minerals, forming the constituents of igneous
and metamorphic rocks ; 1st, the group of Felspars, including speci-
mens of Orthoclase, Albite, Oligoclase, and Labradorite, with the
varieties Adularia and Sanadine: 2nd, Pyroxenic minerals, comprising
Augite, Hornblende, Bronzite, Diallage, Hypersthene, Actinolite, Tre-
molite, with specimens of Mica, Quartz, Leucite, and Nephelite; also
some of the Zeolites most frequently found in cavities of the older
igneous rocks, and the minerals Tourmaline, Epidote, Garnet, Idocrase,
Chlorite, and Spodumene.
Mr. J. Bagnall exhibited Tortula papillosa, and several other mosses,
not previously recorded as occurring in the district, and on behalf of
Dr. Braithwaite, Andrea rupestris and A. obovata, two recent additions
to the British Flora, from Glen Callater; Mr. E. Myers contributed
fragments of boulder and wood from Boulder Clay at Sefton Park,
near Liverpool, and described the Drift section in which they were
exposed; and Mr. E. Simpson laid on ,the table thirty species of
marine mollusca taken on the coast of Jersey.
Monthly Microscopical
( 112 ) sauviae Feb. 1 1870.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Chemismus der Pflanzenzelle. Von Prof. H. Karsten. Wien.
Braumiiller.
Jahrbiicher fiir wissenchaftliche Botanik. Herausgegeben von
Dr. N. Pringsheim. ter Band. 38tes Heft. Leipzig. Engelmann.
Studien aus dem Institute fiir experimentelle Pathologie in Wien
aus dem Jahre 1869. Herausgegeben von 8. Stricker. ltes Heft.
Wien. Braumiiller.
Zur Kenntniss der Purkinje’schen Faden. Von Herrn A. Frisch.
Wien. Gerold s Sohn.
Mikroskopische Unterscheidung der Mineralien aus der Augit-
Amphibol- und Biotitgruppe. Von G.Tschermak. Wien. Gerold’s
Sohn.
Anatomisch-systematische Beschreibung der Alcyonarien. Erste
Abtheilung. Die Pennatulidew. ltes Heft. Von A. Kolliker.
Frankfurt. Winter.
The Monthly Microscopical Journal March1.1870. PI. XLII.
WG SaiELS ad nat del W West imp.
Fig.l Ulodendron Taylori, sp.nov. 2. U. pumilum, sp. nov
3. Usminus Lindl s Hutt. 4.U. majus, Lindl x Hutt. 5-7.U.
tumidum, sp, nov.
THE
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.
MARCH 1, 1870.
I—THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.
(Delivered before the Royat Mricroscorican Society, Yebruary 9, 1870.)
GENTLEMEN,
A statutable generation has nearly passed away since the
first felt want of organization among microscopists issued in the
formation of the Society over which I have now the honour to
preside. To me, therefore, it seems natural to look back upon the
past, and I will gladly carry my hearers along with me while I
turn my sail up the stream of lite under the cheerful gale of plea-
sant memories. It is now more than thirty years since the honoured
father of our Society, Dr. Bowerbank, assembled what he called a
“band of brothers” for the weekly investigation of microscopic
objects, with special reference to structure, functions, and laws of
formation. The animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdom
were brought under review by pioneers of science, and the early
fruits of their discoveries promised an abundant harvest. The
cherished names of Lindley, Mantell, Lister, Henslow, Ward,
Quekett, Bell, and of other leading investigators in the branches of
physical science, where the microscope is an indispensable imstru-
ment for research, will be a guarantee, not for vague speculations,
but for the establishment of new facts and the extension of positive
knowledge. Could it be possible to collect within moderate com-
pass an account of the weekly labours of Dr. Bowerbank and his
zealous collaborateurs, not only would there be a present testimony .
to the value of their early work, but it would be at once apparent
. that the philosopher’s sanctum within which so many were assem-
bled was too limited in dimension, and that the law of cell-formation
must perforce be called into requisition. Accordingly, after a large
and most interesting meeting, specially assembled to greet our
Honorary Fellow, Ehrenberg, Dr. Bowerbank said to me with a
warmth of feeling I shall never forget, ‘‘ God bless the microscope ;
let us have a Society.” A hearty response was given on my part
when Dr. Bowerbank added, we will call the Saciety the Micro-
scopic Society. I suggested Microscopical instead of Microscopie,
as being more in accordance with the analogy of nomenclature, and
VoL. Tl. I
114 Transactions of the OD March te Asto.
preventing the possibility of ourselves being mistaken for micro-
scopic objects. This was admitted, and hence our name. An
arrangement was made in due course for drawing up suitable rules
and laws, and after a few preliminary meetings at Messrs. Bower-
bank’s, Quekett’s, and Ward’s, the ‘“ Microscopical Society of
London” had both a local habitation and a name, under the pre-
sidency of Professor Owen, on the 29th of January, 1840.* From
this date the appointed monthly meetings of the Society were
regularly held, but the Monday evening meetings at Islington and
Highbury were not yet interrupted. There the net was still
spread, and the bait, too tempting to be refused, seldom failed to
prove the skill of the angler im adding new members to our body.
The varied treasures of well-arranged cabinets were always open
for inspection, so that those—and they were many—who brought
new objects of interest, received an ample equivalent in the know-
ledge they carried away. Many fields of microscopical research,
now indeed well trodden, were then only just ventured upon by a
few ; and it will always be a pleasant recollection to Dr. Bowerbank
that he was able to offer efficient assistance to the authors of
valuable works, which tended in no small degree to advance micro-
scopical investigation. Many of the objects figured by Mantell in
his ‘Wonders of Geology’ and ‘ Medals of Creation, were first of
all exhibited to Dr. Bowerbank and his friends; and Professor
Owen derived no small assistance both from Dr. Bowerbank’s
microscope and my own, in the exquisite drawings by Lens Aldous
* EXTRACT FROM THE FIRST HisroriIcAL DocuMENT IN THE ARCHIVES OF
THE R. M.S.
“Ata meeting held at the house of E. J. Quekett, Esq., Wellclose Square,
September 3rd, 1839, to take into consideration the propriety of forming a Society
for the promotion of Microscopical investigation, and for the introduction and
improvement of the Microscope as a scientific instrument,
“Present, the following gentlemen :—
Rey. J. T. Bran, | Mr. E. J. QuEKETT,
Mr. J. S. BowErpank, | Rev. J. B. Reap,
Dr. F, Farry, | Mr. RipPincHam,
Mr. FRANCcrIs, » Ross,
», GREENING, | » 2. Ei Sonmny,
», JACKSON, ,, C. VARLEY,
», LASTER, 5 Na Ba Warp;
», G. LoppicEs, » A. WHITE,
», C. LoppicEs,
“Tt was resolved, that such a Society should be formed, that a provisional com-
mittee be appointed to carry the resolution into effect, aud that the said committee
do consist of the undermentioned gentlemen, viz. :—
Messrs. Bowrrnank, Lister, Loppicus, QeukuTT, Reape, SoLLy, and Warp.
“The provisional committee having held several meetings, it was resolved,
that the following Rules and Regulations be recommended for adoption :—
“Ist. That the Society be designated ‘The Microscopical Society of London.’ ”
Then follow twenty Rules, which were adopted at the first public meeting,
under the presidency of Professor Owen.
Hoe March ie, | Loyal Microscopical Society. 115
of the sections of teeth which embellish his ‘Odontography.’ Of
three of these sections I made enlarged photographs in 1839, for
the artist’s guidance, by means of the solar microscope, under
such an arrangement of lenses that no danger could ensue from the
heat-giving rays; and presentation copies of proofs of many of the
plates, and also of Professor Owen’s work on the Kangaroo will
always be valued by me as a memento of those early days. Many
papers also on the minute structure of fossil and recent plants owed
their origin to these weekly meetings, and it will suffice to add that
the elaborate work on Sponges, which even now is adding to the
honour of our good friend’s honoured name, is the fruit of the good
seed sown thirty years ago. And happily the author is still with
us and at work. The cruda viridisque senectus-—his good and green
old age—is still devoted with almost youthful ardour to his early
love; while his ripe experience enables him to recognize more
devoutly the hand of the Great Master, and to bid ‘“ God speed ”
to the Society which specially investigates His works. The few,
alas! the very few of our original members who still remain on our
list, will, with myself, refer with mixed feelings to this our early
history, while the younger Fellows will be glad to find these few
historical particulars for the first time officially recorded.
T have stated that Dr. Bowerbank is the father of the Micro-
scopical Society. Perhaps I may be looked upon as a godfather
and sponsor, inasmuch as I named the child; and now that it has
arrived at maturity, it is my duty to see that im ripeness of age
it may attain to perfectness of knowledge. To perform this my
duty efficiently, and to give some proof of my abiding interest in
the present and future welfare of the Society, it is my intention to
place in its Library my own copy of the ‘ Philosophical Trans-
actions.’ In the perusal of this great work your minds will be filled
with thoughts of other men; and after due meditation and study,
they will be also replenished with your own. ‘The unavoidable
result will be a large accession of valuable papers at our meetings
on topics peculiarly ours.
My first seventeen volumes of the ‘ Transactions,’ from the com-
mencement in 1665 to 1694, representing as it were the Hocene
‘period of microscopical investigation, are 7n extenso as originally
printed. Then follow ten volumes containing the ‘Transactions
abridged.’ The first five volumes are by Lowthorp and Jones,
under the émprimatur of Sir Isaac Newton as President, The
remaining five are by Reid, Gray, and Martyn. In these volumes
the papers are disposed under general heads, and the Latin papers
are translated into English. This ‘Abridgment’ contains the
‘ Transactions’ from the commencement to 1750. From this date
the publication of the ‘ Transactions’ was placed under the special
direction of the Society itself, and not left, as heretofore, in the
12
116 Transactions of the uae eo.
hands of the respective secretaries, and my own copy is complete
from 1751 to the present year 1870.* There is also an Index,
both of authors and subjects, from the commencement to 1770,
with references to the ‘ Transactions at large’ and to the ‘ Abridg-
ment ;’ and to complete our means of reference, not only to the
‘Transactions, but to many other philosophical works, both Eng-
lish and foreign, published during the present century, the Royal
Society has generously added to our Library its ‘Catalogue of
Scientific Papers’ now in course of publication.
I wish also to present to you my copy of the ‘ History of the
Royal Society, by Dr. Sprat. This learned Bishop of Rochester
informs us in his preface that, owing to the objections and cavils
of detractors, he writes not altogether in the way of a plain
history, but sometimes of an apology; and it may be said of the
Bishop, in the language of an author of the period,—“ Taking to
task that insulting question, What have they done? he gives
an answer to it, which doubtless will satisfy discreet and sober
men. And as for those that would have them give the Great
Elixir, the Perpetual Motion, the way to make Glass Malleable,
and Man Immortal, &., or they will object they have done nothing ;
for such, he saith, their impertinent taunts are no more to be
regarded than the chat of idiots and children.”
But the Bishop had not only to meet detractors like these ; he
had also to vindicate the design of the Royal Society from the im-
putation of being prejudicial to the Church of England. And he
finds it easy to point out the agreement there is between the design
of the Royal Society and that of our Church im its beginning.
“They both,” says his Lordship, “ may lay equal claim to the word
fteformation ; the one having compassed it in Religion, the other
purposing it in Philosophy.” And how this purpose has been
carried out we ourselves are witnesses. Many reverent and master-
minds, from Newton to the present day, have received in their study
of the Book of Nature an illumination from the Great Author of
Nature no less specific and manifest than that divine illumination
which enabled Prophets and Apostles to indite the Book of Revela-
tion. Hence, an enlightened philosopher can now point out, in
terms unknown to the Early Church, How “ the heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy work,”—while,
under an unerring inspiration, it is announced to us that “the law
of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
I almost shrink from giving any historical account of the many
portions of the ‘ Transactions,’ specially interesting to ourselves, as
I would rather avoid the Scylla of a mere index of authors, and the
Charybdis of a too extended account of their works. Suflice it to
say that our lamented President, Professor Quekett, has given us,
* A few parts now in the limbo of borrowed books will be replaced.
Seed Maen ea Royal Microscopical Society. 117
in his ‘History of the Microscope, copious extracts from these
volumes, which literally teem with improvements in the construc-
tion of this instrument, from the very first published paper—viz.
‘An Account of the Improvement of Optic Glasses by Campani ’—
to the recorded discovery of Mr. Lister, who raised the compound
microscope from its primitive and almost useless condition to that
of being the most important instrument ever yet bestowed by art
upon the investigator of Nature. I would rather commend for
your frequent and profitable perusal the whole ‘Transactions of the
Royal Society,’ extending over more than 200 years. They are a
mine of intellectual wealth; and the zeal and determined labour of
those who drill and bore the solid earth for that gold for the body
which perisheth, may be held up for the imitation of those who
desire more anxiously gold for the mind. With these few observa-
tions I offer you this great commentary on universal nature, while,
as a Fellow of your Society, I still retain the virtual possession of a
gift now absolutely your own.
I connect at once the present with the past in addressing you
now as “ Frtxows of the Royal Microscopical Society.” The change
in our designation and the charter which led to it were alluded to
as simple facts by my predecessor in the chair, and that with a
modesty which I am not bound to imitate, masmuch as it concealed
his own claim to the honour of procuring these privileges. Five
years ago, at the official meeting of the Council, my predecessor
strongly urged that my name should be placed first in the selected
list of officers for the following year; but I knew myself, and I
knew my friend; and it will be admitted by all that I exercised a
wise discretion in then refusing the proffered honour, and in joming
heartily with the Council in securing for our Society the untiring
energy and practical knowledge of business which have enabled our
late Chief Officer to leave behind him in uneffaceable characters
the marks of Royal favour in the title “Royal” which Her Most
Gracious Majesty conferred, and in the distinguished honour of
receiving H.R.H. the Prince of Wales as our Patron. It is
therefore but a just debt of gratitude, after his doubly biennial
occupation of the chair—vzz. during the last two years under our
first condition and the first two years under the higher standing of
our Society—that I should now offer to Mr. Glaisher, in the name
and on behalf of the Society, our cordial acknowledgment of his
faithful services, and our hearty good wishes for his future wel-
fare.
The three oldest members of your Society, who were mainly
instrumental in its formation, and who therefore had the honour of
applying for a Royal Charter of Incorporation, were Dr. Bowerbank,
Mr. Ward, and myself. The last address from the chair announced
the death of our dear and valued fellow-worker and first treasurer,
118 Transactions of the een 1800.
Mr. Ward; and it is now my painful duty to record the loss of
another of the associated founders of our Society, and to add to our
obituary the name of Joseph Jackson Lister. Full of years and
full of honour he rests from his labours; and it is the consoling
testimony of the friends who witnessed the perfect calmness of his
departure that he enjoyed that peace of which it is enough to say
that it “ passeth all understanding.”
During the past year we have lost four Fellows by death, viz. :—
Mr. Joseph Jackson Lister, F.R.S., Z.S.; Mr. Henry Hall; Mr.
George Western, and Captain John Gould Noble ; also one Honorary
Fellow, Professor Purkinje, of Prague. We have lost six Fellows
by resignation. The number of Honorary Fellows has been in-
creased by two, and of Ordinary Fellows by twelve. At the present
time our total number is greater than in any preceding year, being
now 458.
In a long letter received from Professor Lister to-day I am
furnished with important particulars regarding his late dear and
honoured father. This obituary notice, through the medium of our
Journal, will be placed in the hands of all our Fellows.
The points of special interest to our Society are naturally con-
nected with the improvements Mr. Lister effected in the micro-
scope; and owing to the admirable arrangement of his original
MSS. and letters, we have here, in his own words, a detailed
history of his experiments and discoveries from 1824 to 1887.
When he saw his principles of construction practically carried out,
he devoted his leisure to various investigations by aid of the instru-
ment he had so greatly improved ; and his well-known observations
“On the Structure and Functions of Tubular and Cellular Polypi
and Ascidie,” beautifully illustrated by sketches from life under the
camera lucida, form a classical paper in the ‘ Philosophical Trans-
actions’ for 1834.
Some important papers of Mr. Lister’s, still unpublished, will,
we may hope, be given to the world.
Our list of Honorary Fellows commenced with the names of
Professor Ehrenberg and the late Professor Purkinje. These distin-
guished philosophers were elected at the first anniversary meeting
of our Society in 1841. Professor Purkinje, of Prague, unlike his
illustrious compeer of Berlin, was not a contributor to our ‘ Trans-
actions; but his valuable physiological researches, continued
throughout a long and active life, place him among the most cele-
brated observers of modern times. He died on the 28th of July last,
in the eighty-second year of his age.
Mr. Hall, Mr. Western, and Captain Noble, whose loss we also
deplore, took great interest in microscopical literature; and Mr. Hall
will be especially remembered among the circle of his friends as
having zealously promoted microscopical investigation at Hackney.
Monthly Microscopical
dournal March ts LeTO, Royal Microscopical Soccety. 119
A few words in memoriam respecting the late Mr. Holland, who,
though not officially of ws, uniformly worked with us, will be received,
as a due tribute to the zeal of one of our oldest friends.
Mr. Holland commenced life as a clerk to a ship broker, and
afterwards started in business, first as a partner, and then alone as
a wine merchant on Tower Hill.
He was always ardently attached to science, and every moment
he could spare was devoted to some pursuit connected therewith.
As early as 1822 both the telescope and microscope seem to have
been passions with him. For a long time his best microscope was
a small compound one by Cary. To this instrument he added the
first rectangular movable stage. Afterwards he began to construct
and use very perfect globules of glass as objectives in a single
microscope made on a plan of his own, and having caused some of
these to be ground plano-convex, his continued study and experi-
ments resulted in the manufacture of some excellent Wollaston
Doublets, and afterwards in the Triplet with which his own name
has since been connected. The Triplet carried the single micro-
scope to its highest point of excellence, and for its discovery the
Society of Arts awarded him its Silver Medal.
At the time Mr. Barton made the beautiful specimens of fine
lines which are seen in the buttons now bearing his name, he
ruled, at the request of Mr. Holland, some exceedingly fine micro-
meters, which bear comparison with any recent productions.
In September, 1833, he opened an exhibition of a gas micro-
scope, at 106, New Bond Street, which continued till July, 1834.
This instrument greatly surpassed the first arrangement exhibited
by Cary and Cooper in the previous year, inasmuch as the error of
spherical aberration was neutralized by mounting the objects on
curved glasses.
In his collection of apparatus there is a rectangular prism and
a separate raised stage for sub-stage oblique iUlummation, and among
his papers we find a careful series of observations by this arrange-
ment on the stix of various species of diatoms.
An ingenious speciality was the construction of polarizing
“Floral Devices” for the microscope, some of which were made up
of as many as 192 pieces stamped out of various polarizing films by
a graduated series of minute punches, the connecting stems being
formed of the hairs from the back of a child’s hand, adult hairs
beg too coarse. One of these is most kindly presented to our
Society by Mr. J. Lyon Field, the present possessor of Mr. Holland’s
microscope and objects.
His latest investigations were on the specific microscopic
characters of the virus of the cattle plague, illustrated by mounted
specimens and careful drawings.
For the last thirty years he was in the counting-house of
120 Transactions of the fe er in.
Messrs. Field, of Lambeth, and his probity, methodical habits, and
untiring attention to business, secured for him the personal respect
and friendship of every member of the firm. His naturally vigor-
ous constitution was at last undermined by chronic bronchitis, and
he passed away in his sleep on the 15th day of November, 1869,
and in the 77th year of his age.
At the eight monthly meetings held during the past session
twenty-one papers have been communicated, viz. seven by friends
of our Fellows, and fourteen by Fellows themselves.
The first paper in March, by the well-known and accurate
observer, Dr. Gulliver, points out the unique character of the fibres
of the crystalline lens of the lamprey, which appear to be smooth
and not serrated. This departure from the general law of structure
is very remarkable.
The exhaustive and elaborately illustrated paper by Mz. Suffolk,
“On the Structure of the Proboscis of the Blow-fly,” and the paper
by Mr. Lowne “On the Rectal Papille of the Fly,” are admirable
specimens of patient investigation and manipulative skill.
Valuable communications in reference to minute anatomy and
animal and vegetable physiology, by Messrs. Sanders, Kent, McIntyre,
Carruthers, Wake, and Dr. Macintosh, have supplied us with new
and useful information, and led to enlivening and interesting
discussions.
In bringing before us the forms of gigantic Lycopodiacex
belonging to the Carboniferous period, Mr. Carruthers set forth, in
a very able viva voce exposition, the several points of agreement and
difference between the immense stems of ancient cryptogamic forests
and the stems of existing plants. During my own residence in
Halifax, in 1829 and two following years, I had frequent oppor-
tunities of examining the Lepidodendron selaginoides, figured and
described by Mr. Carruthers, and I can corroborate his statement
that the fossil-bearimg nodules, known locally as “ bawm-pots,”
occur over a space of many acres. One of these bawm-pots, now in
the Halifax Museum, has entrapped, in the Coal-measures, about
12 inches of the skeleton and tail of an 8 or 10 Ib. fish.* It was
duing my residence in Halifax that the British Association, of which
I am now what is popularly known as “an old life member,”
assembled for the first time at York under the presidency of the
Karl Fitzwilliam, and from that time to this our indebtedness, as
microscopists, to a goodly company of members of the Association,
will be acknowledged by us all. It is also gratifying to find that
our own labours have been recognized by the Association, and we
* A plaster of Paris cast of this remarkable baum-pot fossil was sent to the
meeting by Mr. Waterhouse, of Halifax. The fish is probably a fine specimen of
the Celacanthus Phillipsii, described by Agassiz, having a cartilaginous vertebral
column with bony hollow appendages (hence its name) and beautifully sculptured
scales.
SOREL Royal Microscopical Society. 19%
may hope that the lapse of twelve years gives additional force to the
following words of our own first President in his Address at the Leeds
meeting of the British Association :—“ The microscope is an indis-
pensable instrument in embryological and histological researches,
as also in reference to that vast swarm of animalcules which are too
minute for ordinary vision. I can here do little more than allude
to the systematic direction now given to the application of the
microscope to particular tissues and particular classes, chiefly due in
this country to the counsels and example of the Microscopical Society
of London.”
At our meeting in April, Dr. Beale, treading on the very con-
fines of the limit of human knowledge, brought a question before us
which may very easily be answered on the ground of speculation,
yet all but unanswerable on the basis of truth. What is Proto-
plasm? and, What is Life? In consequence of the penumbra of
diametrically opposite definitions, Dr. Beale rejects the word Proto-
plasm, so much in favour with metaphysical physicists, and he enables
us to look on at the battle of the giants vigorously destroying each
other’s theories but failing to establish their own. In propounding
his own views concerning the matter of living beings, Dr. Beale
restricts himself to the simple and expressive terms, germinal
matter and formed matter. ‘The former is possessed of vital pro-
perties, and the latter of material properties only. The rather
striking difference between dead and hving matter seems to justify
the rejection of a term which is indiscriminately applied to masses of
living things and dead things, and to warrant the use of other terms
which are free from the mysteriousness of protoplasm, and which
properly indicate matter existing in two very different states, living
and formed.
Then, as to the question, What is Life? This much we know,
on the highest authority, that Life is the direct gift of the Creator
to the living creatures of His hands, and for perfect knowledge we
must wait for the perfect day, when “ we shall know even as also
we are known.” Meanwhile, the conscientious observer is amply
justified in investigating the Law of Life as well asthe Law of
_ Gravitation, telling us, as it may seem to him, what it is and how it
acts ; and if he advance no farther than a plausible hypothesis, he
may thereby direct us Truth-ward though he reach not the goal
himself. We can place no limit to legitimate inquiry, nor refuse a
hearty reception of well-established facts. At the same time let us
bear this in mind, Hwmanum est errare, and it may be that universal
a is received as practical truth,—but truth is not error for all
that.
In the discussion of an allied subject, Mr. Staniland Wake
strongly supports the view that the connection between the initial
phases of animal and vegetable life is more fundamental than has
ye YY Monthly Microscopical
122 Transactions of the picmeph er ae try
hitherto been supposed,—that it is, in point of fact, a mere matter
of chance, a mere question of conditions, whether a particular germ
shall finally be exhibited as a true animal or a true vegetable. But
this speculation on the most minute forms of existence ought to be
supported by evidence which substantiates the hypothesis. Other-
wise, in spite of the novelty which may be attractive to younger
philosophers, the old faith will maintain its ground, that animal or
vegetable life is in no case produced except from germs of individuals
of the same species.
At our December meeting Professor Rymer Jones favoured us
with a short eatempore account of deep-sea dredging. This labo-
rious operation is now carried on with equal assiduity and success.
Ehrenberg, as Professor Owen states, had discovered that the
substance of the greensands in stratified deposits, from the Silurian
to the Tertiary periods inclusive, is composed of the casts of the
interior of the microscopic shells of Polycystinex and Foramincfera.
But many soundings now brought up from various parts of the
deep sea consist chiefly of similar microscopic polythalamous shells,
mingled with a greensand composed of casts of Foraminifera.
Therefore the mode in which a deposit was made at the bottom of
the deep primeval ocean of the Silurian period is illustrated by that
which the microscope has demonstrated to take place under similar
conditions at the present day.
Thanks to the monthly publication of our ‘ Proceedings, I am
spared the regret of my predecessor, who naturally complained that
in preparing his address he had not the advantage of perusing the
papers communicated at the two preceding meetings. ‘The papers
are now posted up to the day, and the Journal for this month con-
tains the four papers read in abstract at the meeting in January.
The last of these is a long and most instructive monograph by Mr.
Kent, “On the Calcareous Spicula of Gorgonacez, their Modifica-
tion of Form, and the Importance of their Characters as a Basis for
Generic and Specific Diagnosis.” It is only very recently that natu-
ralists have availed themselves of this new basis for a natural
system of classification, and it is cheering to an old observer to see
the tact with which a young microscopist exhibits Nature’s modifi-
cations under Nature’s law. Mr. Kent’s paper, with nearly 100
charming illustrations of his subject, most of them heretofore un-
figured, is a boon to microscopists, and stamps something far beyond
a mere money value on the ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal’ for
February.
Our thanks are due to Mr. Browning for two papers on the
Spectroscope, and to our Hon. Secretary, Mr. Hogg, for his results
of spectrum analysis. In the reported discussion on Mr. Hoge’s
paper, I should be glad to place absorption bands on a few expres-
sions used by Mr. Ray Lankester, as their absence would add force
eetcat Marchal tay. Royal Microscopical Society. 123
to some of his criticisms. It is true, for instance, that alcohol
alone is not the best menstruum for the chlorophyll of plants. A
previous aqueous solution is desirable. Of this I have just had a
striking example when examining the spectrum of the Japan honey-
suckle. The dark purple skin of the fruit yields a purple solution
to water, and its spectrum is marked by the obliteration of the red,
with the exception of a curiously thin bright band untouched in
the middle of the red,—the obliteration of the yellow and blue, and
the exaltation of the green. The subsequent alcoholic solution of
the portion first acted on by water gives a green solution of chloro-
phyll, and its spectrum is now characterized by a magnificent black
band near the commencement of the red, over the line B,—a pale
band in the green, and the cutting off of nearly all the blue.
Whereas the spectrum of a primary alcoholic solution is a curious
mixture of these two spectra.
Another striking example of the accuracy of spectroscope work
was lately supplied by Mr. Sorby, to whom I forwarded the dichroie
fluid exhibited at our last Soirée. Mr. Sorby clearly proves that a
very different spectrum is produced by the addition of albumen to
the confervoid mass, and hereby he establishes Mr. Sheppard’s con-
clusions, and disestablishes Mr. Ray Lankester’s assertions.
Mr. Browning’s micro-spectroscope was lately added to our
Ross-microscope. The spectroscope leads us into a new field of
research, and the wonders revealed by this marvellous instrument
are only dawning upon us. Already it converts the telescope into
a celestial microscope, and in the hands of our distinguished Fellow,
Mr. Huggins, now on the Council of the Royal Society, it enables
him to deal with the constituents of some of the mighty spheres of
the universe as if they were merely elements of the Volvox globator.
Mr. Browning has recently improved the series of prisms, and also,
in order to secure a reliable measurement of absorption bands, he
has converted the instrument into a micrometer-spectroscope ; and
I have the pleasure of stating that Mr. Browning will put new and
more powerful prisms to our own instrument, and will also add
“the new measuring apparatus” as a present to the Society. Mr.
Browning’s communication on this subject was read at our last
meeting, and we learn from it, in few words, that the micrometer-
spectroscope determines the position of absorption bands by their
accurately measured distance from Fratinhofer’s fixed lines of the
spectrum, while the ordinary micro-spectroscope determines their
position by their distance from one of Mr. Sorby’s 12 interference
lines produced by a thin plate of quartz between two Nicol’s
prisms. Mr. Sorby’s ingenious artificial scale is thus superseded
by an unalterable natural scale.
With respect to the attempts brought before us to improve the
microscope itself as an instrument of scientific research, I must
124 Transactions of the ite.
refer to Dr. Royston-Pigott’s paper “On High Power Definition,”
and to my own paper “On the Equilateral Prism.” Considering
a perfect microscope as consisting of two parts, a magnifying
apparatus and an illuminating apparatus, Dr. Pigott proposes to
weed out, as it were, an effective portion of the small residuary
spherical aberration of the best objectives, and I have ventured to
propose a principle of illumination which has not hitherto been
avowedly advocated. When Dr. Wollaston recommended for an
illuminating lens one of three-fourths of an inch in focal length, in
which the microscopic object was placed in a vortex of foci, where
the rays crossed in a thousand points both before and after they
fell upon the object, he failed to realize the true method of ilumina-
tion. Spherical and chromatic aberration are equally injurious in
either of the essential parts of a microscope. The equilateral
prism used as a condenser and the hemispherical lens used as a
prism, are free from both these errors. They supply, the one
a condensed, the other a simple, single beam of parallel light ; and
a microscopic object, under such illumination, has virtually the
advantage of being illuminated as by the sun. Natural light and
shade are secured, and objects, like the valves of the Diatomacee,
which hitherto have been shrouded in a haze of interpretations, are
truthfully presented to the observer. I therefore look upon the
prism as a kind of “Zaphnath-paaneah,” a revealer of secrets.
Dr. Pigott’s work is more arduous, and it certainly met in the first
instance with an encouraging amount of opposition,—encouraging,
I mean, to one who knew—and was prepared to defend—the right.
For my own part, I must honestly say, and I am not alone in my
opinion, that I did not believe a word of it. In point of fact, I was
sure that Dr. Pigott’s “beaded scale” was not the true test scale.
True, we were all taken by surprise and uttered our criticisms
freely, yet, in my own defence, | must be allowed to say that I
do not concur in the personal comments reported in our ‘ Proceed-
ings’ and ‘now willingly cancelled. I felt, however, that I had sat
too long at the feet of my old friend, Andrew Ross, to admit the
possibility of his good work being vitiated by this newly-announced
error, and what I did not look for I did not find,—but only because
I did not look for it, not because it did not exist. There is un-
doubtedly in our best objectives a residuary spherical aberration,—
small, I admit,—but it is unnecessary to say to a microscopist that
its injurious effect upon the magnified image of an object varies
directly as the square of the power of the eye-piece. It would be
beyond the scope of a President’s Address to point out how this
small but injurious amount of error may be detected and dimi-
nished. This must remain as a fundamental problem in the
Optician’s Euclid. It is enough to record the fact of improve-
ment as one of the salient points of the year. I will therefore
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ony Mach iiewo.| Leoyal Microscopical Society. 125
only add that those who, like myself, have seen Dr. Pigott’s
exhibition of the beaded scales of Lepidocyrtus curvicollis and
Degeeria domestica, can only sincerely thank him for taking the
trouble to compel us to believe that a successful raid upon the
existing trace of spherical aberration is not a myth.
The immersion lens, the “hydro-objective,” has probably an
advantage in “the battle of the glasses” over the “ pneumo-
objective,” as pointed out by Dr. Pigott; and Mr. Ross has laid
us under further obligation by kindly adding immersion-fronts to
his 3th and th in our possession. The high praise, however,
which is given to the immersion system will perhaps be received
with caution until more extended observations have been made
upon its powers. Yet all seem, at present, to admit that consider-
able advantages are gained by its use. The light is more abundant,
the colouring of natural objects more brilliant, the definition keener :
inferior glasses are frequently improved by its application: illumi-
nation can be more effectively employed with a less complex machinery
of stops, diaphragms, and condensers: above all, facility of construc-
tion seems to be indicated by the offer of the highest powers at the
lowest prices. This intimation comes from the Continent,—A 5th
for fifty shillings! Is such work possible at home? Still we
have yet to learn, notwithstanding these acknowledged advantages,
whether there are any considerable drawbacks looming in the
microscopic future which may in some measure counterbalance the
employment of water refractions. Of one thing we may be sure,
that absolute perfection is unattamable. The ghost of aberration
will never be entirely exorcised even by cold water. It is there
—do our best—and after all our compensations for figure, as for
colour, there ever must be a little ghost of an error in all probability.
At the same time, I believe it to be reduced to the minimum visibile
when the colowr test so strongly advocated by Dr. Pigott is fairly
exhibited on the stage. Thus the natural colours, for instance, of
the upper and lower rows of beads on the scale of Degeeria plumbea
seem, for the first time, to be brought out by Dr. Pigott’s more
accurate balance of positive and negative aberrations. But this part
of the subject is extensive, and must be left for further research and
’ observations.
It is proper to remark that Colonel Woodward has resolved the
19th band of Nobert’s lines with a Powell and Lealand’s ;',th immer-
sion. He is the only observer who has succeeded in resolving 112688
lines to the inch, with a power of 1000 linear. But these lines
present the same appearance as lines drawn about 112 to the inch
would afford at a distance of 10 inches, to the ordinary sight,—which
are evidently exceedingly close for numeration. No other powers
in Colonel Woodward’s possession could resolve this 19th band, and
this is a strong fact in favour of the immersion system. But even
126 Transactions of the Konner ene
here diffraction lines are multiplied, and the visibility of the lines is
a function of the breadth of the groove ploughed in the glass—the
depth to which it is cut,—the sectional shape of the groove itself—
and the direction and character of the illumination employed. All
these variable conditions in some measure detract from the fixed
yalue of this test. It ought to depend upon the uniformity of
standard conditions. The Acus,as shown by Mr. Powell, isa sharper
and safer test.
A valuable series of papers by Mr. Wenham, “On the Con-
struction of Object-glasses for the Microscope,” will be found in the
‘Monthly Microscopical Journal’ for 1869. These papers were
considered by the author to be communications to our Society ; but,
owing to their nature and arrangement, the formal reading of them
was, at his request, dispensed with. It is acknowledged by all
opticians that Mr. Lister’s introduction of the triple-back, 4. e. the
innermost of the three combinations, has proved “the grandest step”
towards the perfection of the compound objective. Mr. Wenham
was no doubt the first to connect with this new back a lens nearly
hemispherical, instead of the cemented triple front. Mr. Wray,
following closely but independently in his wake, used what he
calls “ the kettledrum system for front” so early as 1851. It gives
confidence to observers when they find that able men are driven
by the necessities of the case to work by almost the same rules.
Accordingly I received with pleasure a note from Mr. Wray, in
which he says, “ Judge of my surprise when I read Mr. Wenham’s
first paper, and found he was using a form very nearly similar to
my own.” Mr. Wenham points out very forcibly that the single
front has the advantage of facility of construction, and also gives
command over any required extent both of aperture and power.
When we find the diameter of a single front to be only the oth of
an inch, Mr. Wenham may well say, “ The difficulty if not impos-
sibility of constructing a triple of such almost invisible atoms of
glass may be imagined.”
Despairing of taking up the subject again practically, Mr. Wenham
leaves, as a legacy to opticians, an improvement even on the single
front, and proposes to construct the higher powers with two
single lenses in front, of equal radius. If these are set m contact,
the magnifying power will be nearly as their sum; they may there-
fore be made of double the radius, and consequently nearly twice the
diameter, which, of course, would lessen the practical diffieulty of
working a ;'5th, and enable us to go even beyond this power. A
partial experiment with a jth, having this “doublet” front, has
proved that perfect correction for colour is the result. Our leading
opticians will no doubt thankfully avail themselves of these sug-
gestions of an amateur labourer whose masterly knowledge of the
subject and almost unrivalled practical skill fit him to speak ea”
Seer at geen eno. Royal Microscopical Society. 127
cathedra. 'The Society also will learn with regret that Mr. Wenham
is now unable to take his place amongst us and to add, as heretofore,
to the interest of our discussions.
Among the many valuable presents received during the past year,
the Amici reflecting microscope, presented by Dr. Millar, requires
a special notice. As Holland’s Triplet was the culminating point
of the single microscope, so the Amici Reflector was a stand-point
in the history of the compound microscope. It is not too much
to say that the compound microscope had been in what we may
term an embryo state for a period of nearly 200 years. Griendelius
in 1687 published in his work on the Microscope a diagram and an
account of a compound microscope, the compound positive eye-piece
consisting of two pairs of plano-convex lenses placed with the
convex surfaces towards each other, an arrangement superior per-
haps to Ramsden’s, and, what is very remarkable, the object-glass of
that early microscope is compound also, consisting of two plano-
convex lenses of short focal length, as in Wollaston’s celebrated
double, the convex surfaces bemg hyperbolic curves. Spherical
aberration, however, would necessarily confine such a construction
within the limit of low powers, and the achromatic objective had
not yet become a matter even of mathematical speculation. Errors
from curvature and colour seemed for a long time to be looked upon
by opticians as a sine quad non, and to be accepted as an inherent
and irremovable blot upon their work. Nor did mathematicians get
them out of the scrape until Amici, in our own day, threw the
refracting medium overboard, and, after the example of Newton, used
a small speculum for high and low powers. In the exterior of the
Amician microscope there is indeed a prima facie resemblance to
a Newtonian telescope ; but, as Dr. Gormg justly remarks, “the
form of the concave metal and the situation of the radiant point are
so totally different as to constitute a new instrument.”
The mstrument presented to the Society by Dr. Millar was made
by Cuthbert. Dr. Goring gives a very minute description of it in
his ‘Mrcrograputa, speaking of Cuthbert and himself as “the
parents of the instrument én dts effective form.” I was fortunately
able to complete Dr. Millar’s instrument by adding to it the deeper
_ objective metals, and these, in Dr. Goring’s opinion, became in-
valuable when Cuthbert’s loss of sight stopped his work. Yet,
under my own eyes, this good old man when blind, but owning an
inner light, figured to perfection a small speculum for my Gregorian
telescope, saying with the blind old poet, “ Yet not the more bate I
one jot of hope, but hold right on.”
As the triplet gave place to the more aplanatic speculum, so
the latter was ultimately superseded by the Achromatic objective.
Wm. Tulley was the first among English opticians to produce a
single uncemented achromatic triple, yths of an inch in focal
128 Transactions of the Se een Le,
length. This was effected for Dr. Goring, but only after such an
amount of “ trial and error” that the cost of labour alone, as Tulley
informed me himself, was not less than 907. on the first object-
glass. The record of this fact is interesting.
The present prosperous condition of our Society not only in the
number of our Fellows but in their working power and its efli-
cient results cannot fail to be a source of satisfaction. It is also
gratifying to know that our influence during a period of thirty
years has been largely felt by other bodies of scientific men, both
in London and the provinces; so that there is hardly a town of
importance in the length and breadth of the land without its co-
operative Microscopical Association. In the large centres of com-
mercial enterprise and industry our own labours find a parallel in
theirs, and our once infant Society is now surrounded by a host of
kindred institutions, joming with ourselves in the minute and accu-
rate investigation of Nature’s laws and works. But in looking at
the extent to which the leaven of our influence has operated, it is
impossible to omit a tribute of admiration to the “ State Microsco-
pical Society of Illinois,” for which a charter was procured at the
last Spring session of the legislature, and published zm extenso in
the ‘ Chicago Times’ on the 12th of April last. | Your President and
Mr. Durham, as the President of the Quekett Club, were invited to
be present last May at the first great gathering of this new Society,
when an address of no ordinary interest and power was read from the
chair. ‘This address commenced with a condensed account of
microscopy as to its antiquity and its progress in modern times,
and then more fully described the status of the Royal Microscopical
Society of London, and its influence upon science, literature, and
optical art. After alluding to the increasing number of scientific
journals ably edited and abundantly supported, and also to our own
and other ‘Transactions’ admirably printed and illustrated, the
President observed that “the influence of such a tidal wave on the
interests of science must be at once apparent. Nor,” says he, “did
the usefulness of the parent Society (for such the London Society
may justly be called) end here. From its formation it has given
such an impetus to the optician’s art as to have produced a keen but
friendly competition, which has resulted in a degree of perfection
deemed impossible a few years ago,—a competition which is, year
by year, producing the most marked benefits to science, and, there-
fore, to the world.”
The President then alluded to the past and present condition
of Chicago, and to the marvellous change both in the face of the
country and its population, which seems to us, on this side the
Atlantic, more like a new creation than the following out of any
natural law. He writes as follows :—‘“ The time-honoured saying
of good Bishop Berkeley, ‘ Westward the star of empire takes its
Journal Maren eiso.| Loyal Microscopical Society. 129
way, is as true in science as in material things, Thirty years ago,
when the founders of the London Society met together, the city in
which we live was little better than a swamp. ‘Ten years later,
when the writer first saw it, it was despised even by the cranes.
The only decent tavern where the traveller could find ‘ native rye’
with a strong smack of ‘ fusil,’ was the old Sherman House, oppo-
site which, in a wooden erection, 10 by 12, presided the Hon.
Hugh J. Dickey, as Judge of the Cireuit Court of Cook County,
surrounded by such an aborigines bar as would lead the more
civilized spectator to doubt whether they were the exponents or the
examples of the criminal code of the State. But the old times have
fled ; and now, in a well-ordered city with its 300,000 inhabitants,
on this 30th day of May, 1869, we are able to note that just
thirty years from the foundation of the first Microscopical Society
of which we can find any record, we have with us, in all the pride
and pomp of circumstance, Tue Srarz Microscoprcan Society oF
Tuurors.”
The proposed cultivation of microscopy by this young but far-
seeing Society contains useful hints to those who have been longer
at work. Already special committees have been appointed for the
systematic investigation of floral structures, cryptogamous plants,
vegetable and animal histology and pathology, vegetable and
animal parasites, infusoria, crystallography, and kindred branches.
Besides which it is desired to make the Society useful in social
and commercial interests, by detecting adulteration in food and
fraud in fabrics, and to exhibit from time to time, so far as
may be possible, to such of the citizens as may appreciate it, the
minute handiwork of the Creator, as it can be seen in no other
way than through the almost infinite vision of the microscope.
Such, then, is the vigorous impulse which our parent Society is
admitted to have given during the past year to microscopy, in the
great commercial centre of the State of Ilnois.
Tn accordance with an intimation made to you at our last
anniversary, your President and Council, in the early part of our
present session, were permitted to lay before the Chief Com-
missioner of Public Works and Buildings their formal application
for apartments in some building appropriated by Government for
the use of learned societies.
It was stated to the Chief Commissioner that the Royal Micro-
scopical Society, from the date of its foundation in 1839, has
efficiently contributed to the advancement of the various branches
of science which the microscope is capable of elucidating, and that
the very high degree of perfection obtained by English opticians in
the construction of microscopes, and apparatus pertaining thereto,
has mainly resulted from the labours of Fellows of the said Society,
in devising plans, supplying formule, and generally stimulating
VOL. Il. K
130 Transactions of the Sen
a demand both for first-class instruments, and, what is of equal
importance, for those of an educational character.
That the Society, now numbering more than 450 members,
has for many years published, and continues to publish, records of
its Transactions and Proceedings, and has accumulated a valuable
Library of Microscopical and Philosophical works, and a large col-
lection of objects, preparations and instruments.
That many of the researches promoted by the Society have a
direct bearing upon questions of public health, the propagation
and prevention of disease, the adulteration of food and medicine, and
the detection of frauds upon the excise, and that the assistance
and counsel of Fellows of the Society have been sought by official
persons in departments of the public service where the microscope
is in frequent use. .
That the Society is under the special patronage of His Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales, and has received in the title con-
ferred upon it a distinguished mark of Her Most Gracious Majesty’s
royal favour.
The Chief Commissioner of Works, acknowledging his own per-
sonal interest in the advancement of Microscopical Science, very
kindly submitted for the inspection of the deputation a plan of the
new buildings at Burlington House, and he expressed his regret that
all but one set of apartments at the top of the building had been
appropriated to the larger wants of other Societies by the former
Government. He also pointed out certain alterations which might
be made in the plan for the more convenient arrangement of our
library and instruments, and intimated his wish that application
should be made to the Linnean Society for the occasional use of
their own meeting-room. At the same time, while expressing
a decided opinion as to the propriety of our application, the Chief
Commissioner of Works distinctly stated that the uncertainty
which hung over the whole business—the contract even had not
been signed—prevented him from formally committing himself to
a definite promise of the apartments, and he hoped we should be
satisfied with the statement he had made.
Your Council cannot but feel that the sincere regret expressed
by the late Chief Commissioner at not being able to make a definite
promise, and the recollection of his very courteous and friendly
reception of the deputation, form the best ground for hope that the
present Chief Commissioner of Public Works, at the proper time, will
kindly gratify the Society by a grant of the apartments in question.
The historical character of my ApDpREss suggests a few remarks
on the publication of our ‘ Transactions.’ ‘The Microscopic Journal,’
edited by David Cooper, in 1840 contained the first brief record of
the ‘ Proceedings’ of our Society. In the first volume we find the
important statement that the papers read at the several monthly
Tae Perec iO. Royal Microscopical Society. 131
meetings had all been presented to the Society by the respective
authors, together with a portion of the drawings, diagrams, and
specimens by which they had been illustrated. These papers, with
others which have since been read, but never published, are duly
deposited in the archives of the Society, and a catalogue of such
communications and illustrations will be forthwith prepared. In
the first annual address from the chair, Professor Owen reviewed at
considerable length the previous monthly contributions to micro-
scopic science in reference to minute anatomy, animal and vegetable
physiology, zoology, and palzeontology ; but beyond short abstracts
of some of these papers in the ‘ Microscopic Journal,’ the only
reference to them is contained in the President’s address. An
official catalogue of our MSS. is therefore a desideratum.
‘The Transactions of the Microscopical Society of London,’
published by Van Voorst in three volumes, and issued to members
gratis, contained a selection of the papers read before the Society
during the first thirteen years of its existence. The nine parts
of this work contained on an average about six papers and five
plates for each year; but such was the tardiness of publication,
that the first part of vol. u1., published in 1850, contained two
papers read in 1847, and three read in 1848. This quiescent
period was closed in 1852 by the publication of the Quarterly
Journal, With reference to this publication it may be stated, as a
matter of history, that Mr. Samuel Highley, then associated with
his father, observing that the ‘ ‘Transactions’ of our Society appeared
with great irregularity and at increasingly long intervals, thought
that a journal devoted to microscopy, published regularly every
quarter, would be welcomed by the increasing number of persons
interested in the microscope, whether as an instrument of rational
amusement or of earnest research. He felt convinced, however,
that the elements of success depended upon leavening purely scien-
tific matter with a sufficiency of popular articles and memoranda to
enlist the support of a large number of histological amateurs, without
whose aid the existence of a scientific periodical would be impos-
sible. Dr. Lankester and Mr. George Busk were then invited by
the proprietors to become the editors of the projected journal.
The prospect of a more speedy publication of our papers secured
the co-operation of our Society, and the first number of ‘Tum
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF MicroscopIcAaL ScIENCE’ was launched in
October, 1852, with the promise of contributions from very many
microscopists of note in the United Kingdom. In the first instance
the ‘ Transactions’ of the Society, as published in the Journal, were
issued gratis to the members as heretofore, and 1s. per quarter was
charged to those who received the additional matter also. This
arrangement was the sole cause of the separate paging of the two
distinct portions of the Journal. j
K
132 Transactions of the Eee
In the following year the Society agreed to take 200 copies of
the Quarterly, and to deliver the whole free of charge to all the
members. ‘This better arrangement had a marked influence on
the success of our Society, for within a few months our muster-roll
was satisfactorily increased by sixty-seven additional names. Nor
is this to be wondered at when we recollect that every member
received an admirably illustrated Journal, worth 16s., as well as the
other advantages of membership, for the small subscription of one
guinea.
Too high a charge was demanded, however, by the subsequent
publishers for extra numbers of the Journal, since it appears by a
reference to our Journal account, that while the cost of the Journal
was 84/. in 1856 to meet the requirements of 241 members, it was
more than 184/. in 1862, though in this interval our members had
increased by seventy-six only. This losing game put such a strain
upon our finances that, in spite of a small improvement effected in
subsequent years, your Council eventually gave legal notice to
terminate the agreement for the publication of our ‘ Proceedings’
and ‘Transactions’ in the Quarterly Journal; and in conformity
with their resolution the connection of the Society with that Journal
ceased with the publication of the October number in 1868. An
arrangement was then made with Mr. Robert Hardwicke for the
issue of a Monthly Jowrnal, to commence on the 1st January, 1869,
to be edited by Professor Lawson, M.D., and to contain, in addition
to the matter furnished by the Society, an ample digest of British
and foreign histological research and microscopical intelligence.
The cost to the Society for 450 copies is 20/. per month, additional
copies being charged 1s. each. Hence, while the cost of the
Quarterly Journal, worth 16s. per annum, was 186/. in 1862, to
meet the wants of 517 members, the Monthly Journal, worth 18s.
per annum, was supplied for 240/. to 450 Fellows during the past
year. A charge of 2s. per annum is now made for the postage of
this Monthly Journal to subscribers of one guinea per annum; nor
will this charge be deemed unreasonable when we bear in mind that
the subscription, if diminished by the cost price and postage of the
Journal, would leave but a very small remainder to meet the large
annual expenses of the Society. It is also necessary to add that
we receive about twice as much matter in the course of the year as
was supplied under the late arrangements, and we have the very
important additional advantage of a monthly record of valuable
notices of foreign publications, as well as of the ‘Proceedings’ of
many kindred societies at home and abroad. This story of the
Journal cannot but be gratifying, and your Council feel that our
thanks are due to the Editor and the Publisher for their ready
conformity with all the Society’s stipulations.
One remaining proposal I will venture to submit to you. It
Kenn? Machi) Leoyal Microscopical Society. 133
has received the unanimous approbation of the Council; and the
personal support which several of its members offer, will, I hope,
be appreciated and copied by other Fellows of our Society. I will
state then, in few words, that the increased advantages which the
Society is now able to offer as compared with earlier years induce
me to hope that many Fellows will voluntarily raise their subscrip-
tion. The guinea subscription is so nearly balanced by the copy of
the Society’s ‘Transactions and Proceedings,’ the expenses of the
soirée, the rent and cost of circulars, &., as to leave only a mere
trifle for other purposes.
It would obviously be unfair to make any unexpected demand
upon gentlemen to whom the low terms of subscription offered a chief
inducement to join the Society, or in any way to press them for an
advance; but now that the library, daily open for consultation, has
been largely augmented by purchases and donations—the latter
including a complete set of the ‘ Philosophical Transactions’—and
when valuable and larger collections of instruments, apparatus, and
objects are likewise accessible, it is believed that many Fellows who
entered at 1/. 1s., but who can well afford the outlay, will not
grudge a further annual payment or donation, to be appropriated
to the advancement of microscopical science.
It is felt that this appeal may be made to our original com-
pounders as well as to our annual subscribers at the lower rate, and
it is needless to add that a kind reception of this proposal would
materially contribute to the well-being of our parent Society.
Such then, in conclusion, is our position and our work. We
have gone on year after year, both gaining knowledge ourselves and
communicating knowledge to others. Let us still be up and doing
while the Great Architect of the Universe permits us to investigate
His works, and “all His works praise Him.” Let us never rest upon
our oars, whilst, in the language of the immortal Newton, “ the
great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before us.”
CONSPECTUS OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SocIETY :—
|
| Royal Honprary, Asso- Com- £1. 1s. | £2. 2s. | Total
ees Foreign. | ciates. | pounders. yearly. | yearly. wee
Anniversary, 1869 .. 1 5 2 94] 329 24 455
Since elected ea Woes ¥ +2 i +1 | ; +11 |+14
Since deceased .. .. _ -—1 ; Fin late Be —5
Since resigned : Lietoecls ae — 6
Anniversary, 1870 ..| 1 6 2 95 320 | 34 | 458
|
* i
134 Transactions of the fon ET en.
IJ.—OBITUARY NOTICE
Of the late JoserH Jackson Lister, F.RS., Z.S., with special
reference to his Labours in the Improvement of the Achromatic
Microscope. Contributed, in a letter to the President of the
Royal Microscopical Society, by Josep Lisrer, F.R.S., Pro-
fessor of Clinical Surgery in the University of Edinburgh.
(Communicated by the PrestpEnT at the Anniversary, February 9, 1870.)
My pgsr Sr, Eprxpurcu, 8th February, 1870.
In compliance with your request, I proceed to furnish you
with some particulars regarding my late dear and honoured father.
He was born in London on the 11th of January, 1786, his
parents being highly respected members of the Society of Friends.
At fourteen years of age he left school to assist his father in the
wine trade: but though he was for many years closely occupied in
business, he contrived, by early rising and otherwise, to supple-
ment largely the plain, though good, school education he had
received, and he was in many respects a self-taught man. Such
was the case as regards his mathematical knowledge, which he
turned to such excellent account in his labours for the improve-
ment of the microscope.
His predilection for optics manifested itself very early. He
used to tell how, when a little child, he enjoyed looking at the
prospect through air-bubbles in the window-pane, which improved
the vision of the then myopic eye and enabled him to see distant
objects with distinctness. This fact afterwards led him to think it
probable that in very young children the eye is generally myopic.
‘The same taste was indicated when he was a boy at school by the
circumstance that he alone of all the boys possessed a telescope.
The achromatic microscope was early an object of interest to
him ; but it was not till the year 1824, when he was thirty-eight
years old, that he did anything to improve the object-glass. His
first work of this kind is recorded in a note, dated 1825, to the
following effect :—“ The 14; and ,?; achromatic object-glasses, made
by W. ‘Vulley at Dr. Goring’s suggestion, delighted me by their
beautiful performance, but they appeared to me to have a great
disadvantage in consequence of the thickness in proportion to their
focal length, which W. T. thought could not be avoided. I there-
fore induced him to make for me one of 3°; much thinner in pro-
portion, and had the satisfaction to find its performance very
“nearly equal to his best 75. In one respect, indeed, it is superior ;
showing when in good adjustment the reflection from a minute
ball of mercury a bright point in any part of the field, while in the
Monthly Microscopical! — Royal Microscopical Society. 135
2 and 7‘5 it is so shown only in a small portion of the field near
the centre, and in the rest has a bur shooting outwards.” This bur,
of which a sketch is given, is the first mention of the “coma”
which afterwards formed so important a subject of his investigations.
The note goes on to describe a suggestion for another combination,
illustrated by drawings of magnified views of the curves of the
glasses, executed with his usual extreme neatness and accuracy ;
and it concludes with the words “ tried many experiments to ascer-
tain the best means of correcting small errors in aberration.”
The note from which these quotations are made is the first of
a long series of accounts of experiments, with remarks upon them,
indicating an amount of labour of which, as I never saw the papers
before, and as the work was for the most part done either before
my birth or durmg my early childhood, I had previously had no
idea. The notes are beautifully arranged and might well be pub-
lished just as he left them. I must, however, content myself with
mentioning, in chronological order, some of the most interesting of
their contents.
In 1826, after a description of Amici’s reflecting microscope and
an account of its performance, I find further projections of object-
glasses for Mr. Tulley, followed by a drawing for the engraver to
illustrate a description of Tulley’s microscope, published by that
optician. A copy of this pamphlet has been preserved, and the
first page begins with this acknowledgment :—“ Before commencing
the description of the microscope it will be proper to state that the
construction of the instrument and its apparatus was suggested and
made from original drawings by my friend, J. J. Lister, Esq.,
whose ingenuity and skill in these matters are very generally
acknowledged.” The chief novelties in this instrument, besides the
improved object-glasses, were the following :—
Graduated lengthening tube to the body. The stage-fitting
for clamping and rotating the object. A subsidiary stage. A
dark well. A large disc, which would incline and rotate for opaque
objects. A ground-glass moderator. A glass trough. A live-box
made with flat plate. A combination of lenses to act as condenser
under the object (apparently the first approach to the present
achromatic condenser). The erecting-glass ; and the adaptation of
Wollaston’s camera lucida to the eye-piece.
The value of the erecting-glass for facilitating dissections under
low powers is, perhaps, even yet not sufficiently appreciated.
The camera lucida had long been a favourite instrument with
my father for drawing landscapes: and I may add that the tripod
which he invented for supporting the drawing and the camera, is
that which is now universally used by photographers. ;
In December of the same year occurs an account of an exami-
nation of a set of four plano-convex lenses, each consisting of a
136 Transactions of the [Semel wee in.
bi-convex of plate glass and a plano-concave of flint glass cemented
to it by varnish, constructed by Chevalier, of Paris. Various
interesting observations are here met with. He found that the
maker had done injustice to his own instrument by shutting out
a needlessly large portion of circumferential rays; and that when
the apertures had been enlarged by increasing the holes in the
stops, the glasses performed much better, so as to “ give him strong
doubts of the figure of these small achromatics being injured by
varnish ” (for in Tulley’s glasses the constituents of the compound
lenses were not cemented together), and he remarks on the great
advantage that would be derived from cementing, if unobjectionable
otherwise, in facilitating the manufacture.
He made various trials with these glasses in combination, and
remarks :—“ I will put down my trials of the glasses as they were
made. Some of them have surprised me; and they will show, I
think, remarkably, the advantage to science and art of collating
the detached labours on the same subject, of distant individuals.
The French optician knows nothing of the value of aperture, but
he has shown us that fine performance is not confined to triple
object-glasses” (Tulley’s were triples); “and in successfully com-
bining two achromatics he has given an important hint, probably
without being himself acquainted with its worth, that I hope will
lead to the acquisition of a penetrating power greater than could
ever be reached with one alone.” In the light of subsequent events
this reads almost like a prophecy.
With respect to a combination of one of Chevalier’s glasses with
one of Tulley’s, he writes:—‘ The performance of this compound
is the finest I have ever seen produced by achromatic glasses, and
furnishes, I think, a very important fact. Its virtual focus is
‘52 inch, while W. Tulley’s 3% is but °33 inch, and Chevalier’s
combination only -26 inch; yet it goes beyond them both in clear
positive power of defining.”
But the most interesting parts of this note are those which record,
for the first time, some puzzling appearances in combinations of
compound lenses, which ultimately led him to his great discovery
of the two aplanatic foci. Each of Chevalier’s compound plano-
convex lenses when used singly presented a bur or coma outwards,
but when two of them were combined, this coma, instead of being
exaggerated, as might have been expected, was “Jess than with any
single glass,” while the performance was in other respects satisfactory.
“Observing the advantages resulting from this combination,” he
“tried some others,” among the rest two of Tulley’s triple glasses,
each of which taken singly was of fine performance. But, instead
of unmixed improvement resulting, we find it noted :—“ N.B. Each
glass separately shows a bright object all over the field without
bur, and is not far from being achromatic. But, combined, the
LATA Royal Microscopical Society. 137
objects not in the centre have a strong bur inwarps, the colour
is much under-corrected, and the spherical aberration is not
right.”
“In the following year we find similar anomalous appearances
recorded. Thus, on one occasion, on using in combination a
triple glass of Tulley’s free from coma and otherwise excellent, and
a double plano-convex in which, when used alone, the spherical
aberration was rather under-corrected and an outward coma pre-
sented itself, the combination proved to have the spherical aberra-
tion rather over-corrected and showed an inward coma. Again,
a bi-convex glass of Herschel’s construction, consisting of a bi-convex
of plate with a flint meniscus, when used alone with the flint surface
foremost had little or no coma, but when combined with a triple
yo free from coma, showed a “ bur much inwards.” The same glass
used alone with the plate side foremost showed a “ bur inwards,”
but when it was combined with the triple, which had before had
the effect of inducing an inward coma, the bur inwards was changed
to a “bur slightly outwards.”
Such are samples of the perplexing and seemingly inconsistent
observations recorded at this period. To a less accurate observer
and a less acute mind they must have proved utterly bewildering.
But he did not despair of finding an explanation of the appearances,
and the last note on the subject in that year alludes to the angle
formed by the rays of light with the concave lens as affecting the
direction of the coma.
He was afterwards occupied for a while with planning triple
glasses to be used in front of the previous triples of Tulley, and
with general arrangements for the instrument. But, in November,
1829, a set of five plano-convex glasses manufactured by
Utzschneider and Fraiinhofer, very similar to those of Chevalier
but uncemented, having been placed freely at his disposal by Mr.
Robert Brown, the botanist, he set to work in good earnest to
strive to solve the difficult problem. The experiments made with
this object are recorded in a series of tables, the first of which gives
an accurate description of each of the five new glasses and also
of those of Chevalier, and of their performance when used singly.
The others give the effects of various combinations of those glasses
upon the chromatic and spherical aberrations and upon coma. He
_ had previously observed, as mentioned in a note in 1827, that in a
particular combination of two glasses, the coma was diminished by
separating the glasses. And we find in these tables that the per-
formance of each combination is given, both when the glasses are
close and when they are separated a certain distance from each
other. As we look down the tables we seem for a while to find
confusion worse confounded. We see, indeed, abundant evidence
of the great effect produced both upon coma and upon spherical
188 Transactions of the Sey Recun ee
aberration by the distance between the glasses; but the effects
appear altogether inconsistent, if not contradictory. Thus, as
regards coma, two of Fraiinhofer’s glasses which, if used singly,
gave slight outward coma, gave when combined and near together
a great deal of coma rather outward, but when separated by 1-2
inch an almost entire absence of coma, and what there was rather
inwards. But, farther down, three glasses which each gave out-
ward coma when single, are seen to present in combmation an
inward coma when close, and an outward coma when separated.
With respect to spherical aberration we seem for a while to meet
with something like a law. We find that two glasses which, if
used alone, are free from spherical error, when combined and close
have that error over-corrected, but this over-correction is removed
by separating the glasses. And the same thing occurs with several
other combinations. But looking down the table we come to a
case where the excess of spherical correction caused by a com-
bination of three glasses placed close, cannot be removed by sepa-_
rating them, and then follows a combination of three, in which
“the excess of spherical correction is increased by separating for
the short distance we can go.” And, again, a little lower occurs
a combination, also of three, in which “the excess of spherical cor-
rection is diminished but not conquered” by separation of the
lasses.
4 ‘Yet out of this apparent confusion he educed a principle which
reconciled all the conflicting appearances, and formed the basis
upon which all fine combinations for high powers of the microscope
have rested. He found that in a plano-convex lens, constructed
like those above described, in which a double convex of plate has
its colour corrected for a moderate aperture by a plano-concave of
flint, the effect of the flint lens upon the spherical error caused by the
plate varies remarkably according to the distance of the luminous
point from the glass. If the radiant is at a considerable distance,
the rays proceeding from it have their spherical error under-
corrected; but as the source of light is brought nearer to the
glass, the flmt lens produces greater proportionate effect, and the
under-correction diminishes till at length a point is reached where
it disappears entirely, the rays being all brought to one point at
the conjugate focus of the lens. This, then, is an aplanatie focus.
If the luminous point is brought still nearer to the glass, the
influence of the flint lens continues for a while to mcrease, and
the opposite condition, of over-correction, shows itself; but on still
further approximation of the radiant, in consequence apparently of
a reversal of the relations to each other of the angles at which the
rays of light meet the different curves of the lens, the flint glass
comes to operate with less effect, the excess of correction diminishes,
and at a point somewhat nearer to the glass vanishes, and a second
eatal MARL Gor Royal Microseopical Society. 139
aplanatic focus appears, and from this point onwards under-correc-
tion takes the place of over-correction, and increases till the object
touches the surface of the glass. Such a lens, then, has two
aplanatic foci: for all points between these foci it is over-corrected,
but under-corrected for points either nearer than the shorter or
more distant than the longer focus. A knowledge of these facts
enables the optician to combine a pair of such lenses with perfect
security against spherical error. In order to do this, to quote
from my father’s paper in the ‘ Philosophical Transactions,’ read
January 21st, 1830, “the rays have only to be received by the
front glass from its shorter aplanatic focus, and transmitted in the
direction of the longer correct pencil of the other glass.” The
light then proceeding through each glass, as if from one of its
aplanatic foci, is brought correctly to a focus by the combination.
Supposing two glasses to have been so arranged, if the front glass
is carried nearer to the back one, light proceeding from the shorter
aplanatic focus of the front glass will reach the back glass as if
from a point nearer than its longer aplanatic focus, that is to say,
from a point between the foci, and therefore the spherical error
will be over-corrected. On the other hand, separation of the glasses
beyond their original interval produces under-correction. Thus,
by merely varying the distance between two such lenses, the cor-
rection of the spherical error may be either increased or diminished
at pleasure according to a definite rule, and slight defects in the
glasses can be remedied by simply altering their relative position,
the achromatism of the combination being meanwhile happily little
affected.
Another beautiful circumstance connected with the aplanatic
foci is that of their relation to the coma. At the shorter focus the
coma is inwards, at the longer focus outwards; and ina combination
of two lenses arranged as above described, the inward coma from the
shorter focus of the front glass destroys the outward coma from
the longer focus of back glass, and “the whole field is rendered
beautifully flat and distinct.”
The same principle applies when the lenses are of different
form, and when more than two are combined. Thus the manu-
facture of the achromatic object-glass was reduced from a matter of
uncertainty and empiricism to a scientific system, and has become
susceptible of a degree of perfection that would otherwise have been
impossible.
But though he had thus discovered the principle of construction,
his own labours were far from being concluded. The next section
of his notes is labelled ‘‘ Memoranda on object-glasses made for
experiment, Dec. 1829 to May 1830.” ‘These include a great
number of interesting observations, such as trials of lenses of
different forms; descriptions of the “colours of over, under, and
140 Transactions of the oe rea.
right correction,” as seen when the object is out of focus, illustrated
by coloured sketches ; experiments on the effects of varnish ; proof
that a compound lens has more effect on spherical and chromatic
aberration when placed behind in a combination than when in
front, &e.
Then follow a set of notes of peculiar interest, describing the
effects of glasses made by his own hands. ‘These are referred to
in a letter to Sir John Herschel, of which he preserved a copy,
together with Sir John Herschel’s reply. The letter is dated
London, 24th of 2nd month (Feb.), 1831. In it the following
passages occur :—“ Finding, however, that W. Tulley was too busy
to pursue for me the experiments I wished for ascertaming how
compound object-glasses could be combined to the greatest advan-
tage, I determined in November last to make a trial myself. The
result was, I acknowledge, beyond my expectations; for without
having ever before cut brass or ground more than a single surface
of a piece of glass, I managed to make the tools and to manufacture
a combination of three double object-glasses, without spoiling a
lens or altering a curve, which fulfilled all the conditions I had
proposed for a pencil of 36 degrees.” ..... “ Long illness
among my children afterwards absorbed all my leisure till about
three weeks ago, when I made a second and more complicated trial,
projected for obtaining the same effect with a much larger pencil.
This is just finished, but not without altering one of the original
curves; and its plan might be improved if I could spare time to
make another set. Still I flatter myself these attempts would
interest thee, as showing how easily the principle I mastered may
enable an utter novice in glass-working to produce vision which I
have not yet seen exceeded.” In the second of these trials he
deviated from the plano-convex form of the lenses, employing a
combination of three, of which the front was a double meniscus,
the middle a triple, and the back one a double plano-convex. The
reasons for preferring these forms are given in full detail in his
notes, among which occurs the ingenious idea of regarding the triple
with the middle of flint glass as divided by an imaginary line through
the flint into two double achromatic glasses, each of which may be
considered separately as having two aplanatic foci. The object
he proposed to himself was “a construction fitted to obtain the
largest pencil with good front space and without coma ;” and after
describing the mode by which this was arrived at, he says, “This
combination proves most satisfactorily the advantage of keeping the
angles of the rays at all the different curves moderate, the vision
being singularly definite and easy...... Indeed, taking all toge-
ther, I think I have met with nothing to equal it—the distance
of the front glass from the object bemg 0-11 full.”
Having now completely satisfied himself of the applicability of
WUE, Macias) Loyal Microscopical Society. 141
his principle, he devoted much of his leisure for several years to
various investigations by aid of the instrument which he had so
greatly improved. Some of the results are well known to the public.
Selections from his observations on zoophytes and ascidians, beau-
tifully illustrated by sketches from life by the camera lucida, form
a classical paper in the ‘ Philosophical Transactions.’ But a labo-
rious inquiry, chiefly conducted by means of the microscope, into
the limits of human vision, as determined by the nature of light and
of the eye, has never been published. He had at one time almost
prepared an account of it for the press, when the illness of his eldest
son, which ended fatally, threw such a cloud over his spirits that
for several years he had not the heart to complete the work. And
when at last he did resume it, and was on the eve of publication, he
learned that the Astronomer Royal, Professor Airy, had reached
the same conclusions, though by a different road, and so abandoned
the idea, a circumstance in my opinion deeply to be regretted.
But to return from this digression. The next note in order of
date regarding the construction of the microscope, is one made in
1837, headed “ Remarks on A. Ross’s suggestion for three glasses
to admit a large pencil, which J. J. L. thought would not answer.
A. Rt. tried it, and found it a failure, before trying J. J. L.’s sug-
gestion below.” Then follows a drawing of a proposed combination
of three glasses “ for the same object,” giving the dimensions of the
lenses and the curves of the various surfaces, with a statement of
the effect proposed to be produced by each glass upon spherical
aberration and coma. ‘This resulted in Ross's celebrated 14-inch
object-glass, the construction of which was afterwards adopted by
the other principal London makers.
A statement in his handwriting found among his papers gives,
in a few words, his relations to the British microscope.
“ T had been from early life fond of the compound microscope,
but had not thought of improving its object-glass till about the
year 1824, when I saw at W. Tulley’s an achromatic combination
made by him at Dr. Goring’s suggestion, of two convex lenses of
plate glass, with a concave of flint glass between them, on the plan
of the telescopic objective. They were very thick and clumsy. I
showed him this by a tracing with a camera lucida, which I had
attached to my microscope, and the suggestions resulted in ‘'Tulley’s
470, Which became ¢he microscopic object-glass of the time. But
the subject continued to engage my thoughts, and resulted in the
paper ‘On the Improvement of Compound Microscopes,’ read
before the Royal Society, Jan. 21st, 1830, announcing the dis-
covery of the existence of two aplanatic foci in a double achromatic
object-glass. ‘This has formed a basis for subsequent important
improvements, the object of which has always been to obtain
sharpness and achromatism over the field in the picture from a
142 Transactions of the Ee eaten
larger and larger pencil; this being an essential to obtaining higher
and higher definmg power.
“ After succeeding fairly in a trial combination with this view, I
left the subject for a while, hoping it would be pursued by opticians.
But the glasses produced by the makers continued to be on the first
simple construction of two or three plano-convex compound lenses
till the beginning of 1837. At that time I called on Andrew Ross
regarding some object-glasses he had made to a microscope for
Richard Owen; when he told me he had been long engaged in
unsuccessful trials for a new construction. And at his request I
gave him a projection for a t-inch objective of three compound
lenses, the front one a triple, which he soon worked out successfully,
and it became the standard form for high power for many years.
“ For lower powers I suggested at the same time a double
combination, and, borrowing of him a lens from among his former
failures, and applying it in front of one of my own at home,
obtained at once the performance required.
“Tt was natural that A. Ross should regard these as trade secrets ;
and accordingly, in his article on the Microscope in the ‘ Penny
Cyclopzedia’ he does not mention them, giving only the earlier con-
struction of my article in the ‘Transactions.’ The same is given
afterwards in the treatise which J. Quekett asked at the poimt of
its publication to dedicate to me! And I did not feel required to
disclose A. Ross’s secrets. After a while, with his consent, I instructed
James Smith, 1840, to execute the same construction for mch and
half-inch glasses. Even in 1843 it was with the understanding that
he should not go to deeper powers than }-inch, and ‘ Smith’s quarters ’
were long in repute. In these projections the endeavour was to
keep the angle of pencil at each surface of the glasses as moderate as
was consistent with the other essentials; and by degrees the pencil
admitted has been enlarged beyond my expectations. Some varia-
tions too have been since made in the construction in which I have
had no part; but for all, the principle of the two aplanatic foci has
furnished the clue.”
I believe I am correct when I state that in foreign microscopes
also, object-glasses of high powers and fine performance are con-
structed on the same principle. And thus it seems not too much
to say, as has been lately said by a Professor in one of our Univer-
sities—the son of one who was formerly associated with my father
through a common love of science—that he was “the pillar and
source of all the microscopy of the age.”
Although in this notice I have confined myself chiefly to mat-
ters connected with the microscope, it is right that I should add
that these were far from forming the exclusive occupation of his
leisure hours. ‘The comprehensive grasp of his intellect and the
extent and variety of his attainments were as remarkable as the
Foah Matte ert Royal Microscopical Society. 143
accuracy and originality which characterized his microscopical
work. Indeed there were few subjects in literature, science, or art
with which he did not show himself more or less familiar. His
clear, calm judgment and strict integrity made his opinion highly
valued among his friends in matters of difficulty or dispute. He
was most unselfish, and scrupulously tender of hurting the feelings
of others, and extremely generous in the pecuniary support of
public philanthropic objects, as well as in secret acts of charity.
Though warmly attached to the religious Society of Friends, to
which he belonged, he was aman of very liberal views and catholic
sympathies. But the crowning grace of this beautiful character,
though it might veil his rich gifts from those not intimate with
him, was a most rare modesty and Christian humility.
Living to an advanced age, he retained his activity of body and
mind to the last. But while to his friends this appeared remark-
ably the case, he was himself keenly alive to the gradual effects of
years upon him, and his sensitive nature shrank from the idea of
the helpless state to which he might be brought if his life should be
prolonged like his father’s, who lived to 98 ; and he often expressed
the desire that he “might not outlive his powers.” His wish was
granted. He had only just returned from a stay at the sea-side,
where he had enjoyed long rambles and excursions, when a feverish
attack rapidly but almost painlessly prostrated his strength. Fully
aware that his end was approaching, his loving interest in others
was conspicuous to the last, while for himself he showed no anxiety,
except the earnest desire for a speedy dismissal. He died at Upton
House, in Essex, on the 24th of October, 1869, in the 84th year of
his age.
Believe me,
My dear Si, -
Yours very sincerely,
JoserH Lister.
To the Rev. J. B. Reang, F.R.S., P.R.M.S.
7 Monthly Mi ical
144 Transactions of the ea eaS manent Web.
III.—On the Structure of the Stems of the Arborescent Lycopo-
diacexe of the Coal-measures. By W. Carrurners, F.L.S.,
F.G.S., Botanical Department, British Museum.
IIT. On the Nature of the Scars in the Stems of Ulodendron,
Bothrodendron, and Megaphytum; with a Synopsis of the
Species found in Britain.
(Communicated to the Royan Microscorican Society by the PResipEnT.)
(Continued from Vol. II., page 227.)
‘TrEseE genera are founded on stems which have large scars in longi-
tudinal series on the two opposite sides of the stems. Of one of
these the authors of the ‘ Fossil Flora’ (plate Ixxx.) said, many years
ago, that “of all the anomalous forms that the Coal-measures have
afforded traces this is perhaps the most remarkable.” The various
and very opposite opinions which have been, and still are, enter-
tained in regard to them fully justify this statement. For several
years my attention has been directed to the group, and during that
time I have lost no opportunity of examining specimens in different
collections in Britam. I have, besides, carefully examined a large
series—most probably the largest anywhere to be found—in the
British Museum. The interpretation which I have been led to
adopt is somewhat different from that of my predecessors, but before
explaining it and the data on which it rests, it will be well to give
an historical sketch of the different opinions hitherto entertained.
The earliest notice of these fossils with which I am acquainted
is by Steimhauer, in the ‘American Philosophical Transactions’
(vol. i., New Series, 1818), where he gives a very accurate drawing
and description of U. parmatus. He cautiously considers that there
is not sufficient data to form any satisfactory idea of the affinities
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLIII.
Fig. 1.—Ulodendron Taylori, sp. nov. Natural size. From a specimen from Bath-
gate, Linlithgowshire; in the British Museum.
2.—U. pumilum, sp. nov. Natural size. From a specimen from the York-
shire Coal-field, in the British Museum.
3.—U. minus, Lindl. and Hutt. Section of the inverted cone of an aérial
root in a sandstone cast of the stem, showing the depth to which the
articulating surface penetrated the stem. From the collection of
Ch. Peach, Esq.
4.—U. majus, Lindl. and Hutt. Scar and leaves, natural size. From the
cast of a specimen found near Swansea by Mr. Lucas; in the British
Museum.
5.—U. tumidum, sp. nov. Stem reduced one-third, showing the arrangement
of the vascular bundles for the leaves, some patches of the carbonized
remains of the bases of the leaves, and the swollen bosses from which
the aérial roots sprang. ;
6.—A patch of the carbonized remains of the bases of the leaves, natural
size.
7.—A cicatrix. natural size.
Se Merer yin. Royal Microscopical Society. 145
of the fossil, although he refers to the “curious resemblance that
it has to that of some Jungermannizx preparing for fructification,
when highly magnified.” Steinhauer includes under the same spe-
cific name a fragment of the stem of a Calamite exhibiting the large
round scars of several branches, with the small and linear scars of
the whorls of leaves. A similar fragment was afterwards figured
in Lindley and Hutton’s ‘Fossil Flora’ (plate exxx.) under the
name of Cyclocladia major. The scars of Calamites and Uloden-
dron, as I hope presently to show, were produced by similar causes ;
and it is a singular testimony to the accurate observation and en-
lightened views of the reverend author, which characterize his m-
portant memoir, that he united two objects that are apparently so
different.
Rhode, in 1820, published, in his incomplete ‘ Beitrage zur
Pflanzenkunde der Vorwelt’ (plates iii. and vii.), figures of two
forms of Ulodendron, and though he did not apply names to them,
he entered into a long investigation as to the nature of their scars.
In one species (Ulodendron parmatum) he held them to be the
remains of flowers; and in a somewhat restored drawing, twice the
natural size, of one of these scars, he gives it the aspect of small-
petaled, oval, water-lily. This is perhaps not to be wondered at
in an author who found the coal shales covered with impressions
of the most highly organized flowers, preserved as if they had been
laid out by a paleozoic botanist for his herbarium. His plates
are greater curiosities than his specimens, and do no little credit
to the liveliness of his imagination. The scars of his second species
(U. minus, plate viii., figs. 1-3), inasmuch as they did not present
any traces of petals, he held to be the cicatrices of fallen leaves.
In 1823 Allan published* a figure of U. parmatus, from a
finely-preserved cast found at Craigleith Quarry, near Edinburgh.
The same specimen was subsequently figured by Buckland and by
Brongniart, and I give on Plate XLIV., Fig. 4, a careful drawing
of one of the scars. He did not venture on any decided opinion as
to the nature of the scar.
Sternberg, in 1825, in the ‘Tentamen Flore Primordialis,’
prefixed to his great ‘ Flora der Vorwelt,’ gave the name of Lepido-
~dendron ornatissimum to the first of Rhode’s species, and, sup-
posing that the scars resembled in some degree those on the trunk
of arborescent ferns, he considered them to be the bases of leaves.
' In 1831 Lindley and Hutton began the publication of their
famous ‘ Fossil Flora,’ and two of the early plates were dedicated
» to two specimens of Ulodendron—viz., plate v., U. majus, and
plate vi., U. minus. They held that the scars indicated points
from which had fallen off branches, or more probably masses, of
inflorescence, consisting of closely imbricated scales like the cone of
* ‘Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin.,’ vol. ix., p. 235, plate xiv.
VOL. III. a
146 Transactions of the ey Een en.
Pinus. In their second volume they figured Bothrodendron pune-
tatum, and the additional materials before them satisfied them that
the cavities were the points of attachment of very large cones, which
consisted of rounded polished scales three-tenths of an inch thick,
attached to a central axis, and fitting accurately to each other. So
completely did they resemble “such a strobilus as that of Pinus
Lambertiana, that,’ say the authors, “we cannot doubt that the
plant belonged to the natural order Coniferw.” And to this
opinion they adhered at the close of their serial publication, for in
the letter-press to plate ccxviii., which they considered the same as
B. punctatum, they say they have nothing to add to what they had
already said.
Buckland, in 1836, figured what he believed to be five species of
Ulodendron, referring them without hesitation to Coniferx, and
holding that the scars were the impressions of deciduous cones. In
the centre of each scar there is a cavity indicating the place of
attachment of the cone. The upper portion is marked with furrows,
produced by pressure of the long radiating scales at the bottom of
the cone. This pressure nearly obliterated the smaller rhomboidal
scales of the bark in those parts where the furrows are deepest ; on
the lower portion of the scars the scales of the bark were but slightly
modified by the pressure of the cones. The back scales under the
cone have fallen off, and the surface exhibits small apertures or
tubular cavities, through which vessels entered from beneath the
bark scales into the trunk.
Presl, in 1838, in Sternberg’s ‘Flora’ (p. 185), considered the
scars to represent the bases of branches, and referred the genera
Ulodendron and Megaphytum (which he thought scarcely deserved
to be retained as separate genera) to Lycopodiacezx.
In his ‘Prodrome’ (1828), Brongniart, following Sternberg,
placed Rhode’s plant in Lepidodendron, but in the fragment of
the second volume of his great ‘ Histoire des Végét. Fossiles’
(1837), he places the three genera included in the title of the
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLIV.
Fic. 1.—Ulodendron ovale, sp. nov. Cicatrix of aérial root and leaf scars, natural
size. From a specimen from the Edinburgh Coal-field, in the British
Museum.
» 2—U. transversum, Eichw. Cicatrix of aérial root, and markings of the
vascular bundles to the leaves, one-half the natural size. From a
specimen from the South Wales Coal-field, in the Cardiff Museum.
», 3—U, Stokesii, Buckl. Scar of the compact bundle in the centre of the
cicatrix of the aérial root. From a specimen from Halifax, in the
British Museum.
» 4-—U. parmatum, Carr. Cicatrix of the aérial root and leaf scars, natural
size. From a cast taken from the natural sandstone cast; figured by
Allan, and found at Craigleith, Edinburgh; now in the Museum of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
WG. SuithF. LS, ad nat del W.West imp.
Fig.1.Ulodendron ovale, sp.nov. 2.U transversum, Fuchw.
3.U. Stokesn Buckl. 4. U parmatum, Carr.
Monthly Microscopical
youchaN March |, 1a70. Royal Microscopical Society. 147
present paper together in one group, considering that they probably
differ only in the state of their preservation. He then enters into
an investigation of the merits of Lindley’s and Buckland’s inter-
pretation of the nature of the scar, and shows that the impressions
on the under-half cannot be the scales of the stem, as they are
arranged in a series peculiar to themselves, and different from that
of the stem; and those on the upper part cannot be scars of cone
scales, for they do not have the convex outer surface characteristic of
all such scales. Unfortunately for the students of fossil botany,
the ‘ Histoire’ stopped at page 72, in the middle of a sentence,
sufficient of which is printed to enable us to ascertain his critical
objections to Buckland’s views, but leaving untold his own inter-
pretation of the nature of the scars. This loss is imperfectly
remedied by the short note on the genus in his ‘Tableaux des
Germes Fossiles’ (1849). Here he describes the scars as conical
or hemispherical tubercles covered with foliar cicatrices, and pro-
longed in the centre into the beginning of a branch or adventitious
root. His exposition is based on the beautiful specimen figured by
Allan in the ‘Edinburgh Transactions,’ but he has over looked the im-
portant fact that this specimen is a cast in sandstone of the outer
surface of the stem, so that the elevated tubercles of the cast repre-
sented depressions in the original stem. He recognizes Megaphytum
as a distinct genus allied to U lodendron, and both forming a group
near to Lepidodendron.
Géppert, in his ‘Gattungen der Fossilen Pflanzen’ (1841),
figures a single scar, and considers it to belong to Knorria, and to
represent in the central portion the point of attachment of a small
branch, while the small scars are the bases of leaves arranged in re-
lation to the branch—the interpretation afterwards given, as we have
seen, by Brongniart.
Macalister, in a paper read to the Geological Society of Ireland
(May, 1864), considered the fossil to be a cycadaceous plant, whose
leaf scars were large and circular, and whose scales were as nume-
rous and small as those of a Lycopod.
Dawson, in his ‘ Acadian Geology’ (1868), refers Ulodendron
_ and Bothrodendron to Lomatophloios, and says the scars “usually
mark the insertion of the strobiles, though in barren stems they
may also have produced branches; still the fact of my finding the
strobiles zm sétw in one instance, the accurate resemblance which
the scars bear to those left by the cones of the Red Pine when
borne on thick branches, and the actual impressions of the radiating
scales in some specimens, leave no doubt in my mind that they are
usually the marks of cones; and the great size of the cones m
Lepidophloios accords with the conclusion” (p. 456).
The genus Megaphyton he considers a tree fern, as the scars
are not round and marked with radiating scales, but ae or
L
148 Transactions of the " [Sotrnal, Mare iy 1240.
oval, like those of tree ferns, and so are more probably leaf scars ;
while the small linear scars would indicate ramenta or small aérial
roots. He accordingly restores it as an arborescent form bearing
two large fronds, one on either side of the stem (p. 448).
The scar differs somewhat in form, being in some species
circular, but in the majority more or less oval. It is always in the
form of an inverted cone, though from the great pressure to which
the stems have been subjected it is generally flattened. The actual
depth is shown in a specimen of U. minus, found by Mr. C.
Peach at Redhall Quarry, near Edinburgh, which is an amorphous
cast in white sandstone of the outer surface of the stem. One of
the pits of the natural size is represented in Plate XLIIL., Fig. 3.
The base or centre of the pit presents a scar of different form in
the different species. In U. parmatwm it has a double '‘horse-shoe
shape; in U. Stokesiz it is a half-oval; in U. Taylori it is cireular ;
and so on. ‘The figure is formed by a number of small pits repre-
senting the number and position of the vascular cords which
supplied the supported organ. The re-
f mainder of the scar is covered with single
/ 7) pits, or radiating furrows arranged in
symmetrical order around the basal scar.
The pits are confined to the lower half
of the scar, and the furrows to the upper
half. That this is their true position has
been already determined by the direction
of the leaves when present, and by the
form of their scars when they have fallen.
I was enabled to establish it still more
from the examination of an interesting
dichotomously dividing stem in the col-
lection of Daniel Ross, Esq., of Rock-
L ville, near Edinburgh, in which the posi-
Pie monly divided Stemot tion’ “of Lhe »seaaagy the direction of
yt the stem was clearly seen. ‘There is
not the slightest indication of scales in any of the large series of
specimens I have examined. In attempting to make obvious what
authors believed to be there, the drawings of Ulodendron fre-
quently exhibit scale markings. Take, for example, the drawings of
Allan’s specimen of U. parmatwm preserved in the Museum of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The original drawing by Allan,
though rude and turned upside down, is more accurate than Buck-
land’s greatly reduced drawing * made from a plaster cast; or even
than the original drawing by Brongniart, in his ‘ Hist. Vég. Foss.,’
vol. i1., plate xxvii, In addition to examining the original specimen
* “Geol. and Min.,’ pl. lvi., fig. 3.
Sere. Royal Microscopical Society. 149
with great care, I took a cast of the whole of it, and several casts
of the separate scars. From them the drawing of the scar on
Plate XLIIL., Fig. 4, has been faithfully produced by Mr. Smith. The
original is a natural cast of the outer surface of the stem, whereas
Mr. Smith’s drawing is from the artificial cast, and consequently
exhibits the true aspect of the outer surface of the scar. As is
obvious, there are no scales; but the markings are all produced
either by circular pits or by elongated furrows. These are the ends
of the vascular bundles, as was determined by Presl and Goppert.
The scar is bounded by a distinct boundary line, generally forming
a raised margin, asin U. parmatum. This 1s certainly the boundary
of the articulating surface, and shows that the smaller scars scat-
tered over the large cicatrix were not the bases of leaves, as supposed.
by Goppert and Brongniart, but the bundles passing into a branch
of some kind, as Presl suggested.
The difference in the form of the scars on the upper and under
half of the stem which has puzzled observers, and has not yet been
explained, will be obvious if we consider the structure of the stem
on which these appendages were borne, as figured and described
by me in former numbers of this Journal. On Plate XXXI.* was
ficured the structure of the axis and vascular cylinder of U. mznus.
A comparison of this drawing with that of Lepidodendron selagi-
noides on Plate XX VII. shows that the tissues of Ulodendron agree
with those of Lepidodendron as far as they can be compared—
and remembering that externally the two genera agree except in
the possession of large scars by Ulodendron—there can be no doubt
that the elementary tissues of the one stem can be supplied from
the more perfect specimen of the other. It thus appears that the
conical scar has passed far into, if not quite through, the regularly
arranged prosenchyma of the circum-
ference. The vascular bundles, rising pj) 8
upwards and outwards from the cir- MK |
cumference of the vascular cylinder, lt |
would, in passing into the appendicular 22 SES
organ, penetrate the lower half of the 2 SE |
ZE
articulating surface at right angles, and TH
would consequently show as circular H WN
pits on the cicatrix ; while the bundles L/S \
on the upper half would penetrate the \ |
‘surface at a very oblique angle, and | IN
would consequently show on the cicatrix p,., .-am of the Stem of Ulodendron, show-
as more or less elongated furrows. This _ ing the direction of the bundles entering
will be apparent by an examination of Feiee pea ben ouan a0 oeeee
_ the accompanying diagram. In species, ‘293 P: Prosenchyma.
like U. transverswm, where the inverted cone of the scar has a de-
* Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ vol. 1.
} ‘ Monthly Microscopical
150 Transactions of the Jourual, March 1, 1870.
scending direction, the smaller will necessarily have a more or less
furrowed aspect on the lower as well as on the upper half of the
great scar.
It is remarkable that among the many specimens of Ulodendron
that have been seen, none have exhibited the appendicular organ
in its natural relation to the stem. Dr. Hooker says, Mr. Dawes
showed him a specimen preserved in sandstone, with a large organ,
which he considered to be a cone inserted into one of the cup-shaped
depressions ; but he was unable to form any conclusion concerning
its real nature.* Had Principal Dawson rested his determination
that scars were the impressions of the bases of cones on his having
found one im seu, I must have concluded that his plant was very
different from the European Ulodendron; but his illustration f agrees
with the scars we have figured and described. We hope that a re-
examination of the matter in the light of the additional facts and
explanations contained in this paper, may lead the learned author to
a different interpretation of the structure.
That the appendages were articulated to the stem by the whole
surface of the scar cannot be doubted. In the want, however, of
any observed specimen, it is not so easy to determine what these
appendages were. The specimen figured on Plate XLIII., Fig. 5,
appears to me to throw considerable light on the matter. In this
species the opposite series of scars are borne on swellings on the
stem, and the downward aspect of the scars shows that the organs
which sprang from them had a descending direction. That this is
the true position of the stem is abundantly established by the dark
carbonaceous patches which here and there are attached to it, and
which are the bases of the leaves converted into coal. One of these
patches from the other side of the stem from that shown in the
drawing is represented the size of nature at Fig. 6, and here it is
seen that the bases of the leaves still remaining are imbricated
over each other, and that the scars where the leaves were broken
off are on the upper portion of each base. This clearly shows the
natural direction of the specimen figured. The appendages, then,
must have been adventitious roots in this specimen. In the light
of this specimen, the form and direction of the scars where their
original depth is to any extent preserved, appear to corroborate this
view. ‘The appendage could not in any of them have been patent ;
indeed, they seem to show that it must have passed out outwards
and downwards.
The scars are not at all constant in the method of their arrange-
ment. In U. parmatum I have seen a considerable fragment of
the stem with only one well-formed scar upon it, the remainder
‘beg covered with rhomboidal leaf scars; in other specimens I
have observed from eight to twelve scars, so closely approximated in
* «Memoirs Geol. Surv. Great Brit.,’ vol. ii., pl. ii., p. 427.
+ ‘Acadian Geology,’ p. 457, fig. 170.
Se acter ai Royal Microscopical Society. 151
linear series that their adjoining margins touched, while in the bifur-
cated specimen figured on page 148, the lower and older portion is
seen to be destitute of them, yet they appear on the two branches.
We know nothing of the upper portion of Ulodendron. It is
very probable that the stems were repeatedly divided in a dicho-
tomous manner, and that the branches, foliage, and fruit agree so
nearly with those of Lepidodendron, that they have been referred to
that genus. Hugh Miller, in an interesting paper “On some Fossils
from the Edinburgh Coal-field,” read to the Royal Physical Society,
describes a specimen which, as it lay in the rock, exhibited a true
branch shooting out at an acute angle from the stem, intermediate
between the rows of scars. Unfortunately, the specimen was some-
what injured in lifting it from its matrix. It forms part of the
Miller Collection now deposited in the Edinburgh Museum. On
examination, I found that the leaf scars of the branch were arranged
in a direction opposite to those on the stem, but this may have arisen
from the fractured specimen haying been incorrectly united.
Bothrodendron is universally referred now to Ulodendron. It
was based upon a specimen from which the leaf bases and the
outer portion of the stem (f, 9, /, of Fig. 1, Plate XX VII.) had been
remoyed, and instead of the more or less rhomboidal scars, the pits
of the vascular bundles only are seen.
Megaphytum is based upon casts of the interior of the stem
against the inner surface of the regular prosenchyma of the stem
(e, of Fig. 1, Plate XXVII.). The scar represents only the main
central vascular bundle of the scar of Ulodendron, and has the
same form in the different species as in the species of that genus.
Thus M. distans agrees with U. Stokesiz, and M. approximatum
with U. parmatum. The interrupted strize which cover the stem
between the rows of scars are the impressions of the meshes in the
prosenchyma, through which the vascular bundles passed to the
leaves. This view of these points is further established by the
figure of Megaphytum approaimatum given by Lindley and Hutton,
‘Fossil Flora’ (plate exvi.). In this plate a more external portion
of the stem is seen on the upper left-hand corner of the specimen ;
and this shows the regularly-arranged dots characteristic of the con-
dition to which these authors gave the name Bothrodendron.
Megaphytum is related in the same way to Bothrodendron and
Ulodendron, as Knorria is to the “decorticated” and “corticated”
forms of Lepidodendron, and as the fluted casts of Calamuites are to
the smoother “corticated” forms.
Synopsis of the British Species.
Nat. Ord. Lycopodiacee.
Ulodendron, Lindl. and Hutt., ‘Fossil Flora, plate v. Stem
covered with rhomboidal scars of leaves, and having large round or
oval conical depressions arranged in linear series on opposite sides,
152 Transactions of the pater hiccp oa
from which sprang aérial roots; leaves acuminate, with a median
nerve. Megaphyton, Artis, ‘ Antediluvian Phytology, p.20. Both-
rodendron, Lindl. and Hutt., 1. ¢., plate Ixxx.
1. U. parmatus, Carr. Large cicatrix oval, 34 inches long by
21 inches broad; central scar of the form of a double horse-shoe ;
leaf scars elongated-rhomboidal. Phytolithus parmatus, Steinh.,
‘Amer. Phil. Trans., vol. i., Ser. 2, p. 287, plate vii, fig. 1 (1818).
Lepidodendron ornatissimum, Sternb., ‘Flora Vorw.’—Tent.,
p. xii. (1825). U. Allanii, Buckl., ‘Geol. and Miner., vol. xi.,
p- 92, plate lvi., fig. 3 (1836). U. Rhodii, Buckl., 1. ¢., p. 98.
U. Conybearit, Buckl., 1. ¢., p. 94, plate lvi., fig. 6. U. Rhodi-
anum, Presl, in Sternb., ‘ Flora,’ p. 186° (1838). U. ellupticum,
Presl, 1. ¢., Bothrodendron punctatum, Lindl. and Hutt., plate
ecxvill. (non Ixxx. and Ixxxi.). Megaphytum approximatum, Lindl.
and Hutt., plate exvi.
A scar of an aérial root and of some leaves is shown, natural
size, on Plate XLIV., Fig. 4.
From the Coal-measures, Edinburgh, Newcastle, &c. {Hdin.
Roy. Soc. Museum, British Museum, &c. |
2. U. Stokesit, Buckl., ‘Geol. and Miner.,’ vol. i1., p. 93, plate lvi.,
fic. 5. Large cicatrix, shortly oval, or sub or bicular, 4} inches
long by 3} broad; scar of the small vascular bundles somewhat
elongated and radiating; of the central bundle, semi-ovate, very
broad at the apex, with a free space in the centre; leaf scars elon-
gated-rhomboidal. Megaphytum distans, Lindl. and Hutt., ‘ Fossil
Flora, plate cxvu. M. Allanii, Brongn., ‘ Hist. Végét. Foss.,’ vol. 11.,
plate xxviii , fig. 5, most probably belongs to this species. The original
of his figure is in the Museum of the Royal Society, Edinburgh.
A figure of the scar of the central vascular bundle is given of
the natural size in Fig. 3, Plate XLIV.
From the Coal-measures, Newcastle. [British Museum. |
3. U. ovale, sp. nov. (Plate XLIV., Fig. 1). Cicatrices oval,
2} inches long by 1} inch broad; scar of the compact bundle in
the centre small, roundish, slightly indented on the upper margin ;
scars of the separate bundles very numerous; depressed margin of
the cicatrix with a single series of vascular bundles; leaf scars
rhomboidal.
From the Coal-measures, Edinburgh. [British Museum. ]
4. U. pumilum, sp. nov. (Plate XLIII., Fig. 2). Cicatrices oval,
nine lines long by seven lines broad; scar of the central bundle
roundish, nearly central; leaf scars crowded, and covering the stem,
broadly rhomboidal, with a central depression marking the place
of the vascular bundle.
From the Coal-measures, Yorkshire. [British Museum. ]
5. U. Taylori, sp. nov. (Plate XLIIL, Fig. 1). Cicatrices oval,
see ea Royal Microscopical Society. 153
nine lines long by eight lines broad; scar of the compact bundle
roundish ; separate scars fewer than in U. pumilum; leaf scars
distant from each other, with as much free space separating them
as their own breadth, obovate, with decurrent base, and a scar,
where the vascular bundle passed out.
I have associated with this species the name of an old class-
fellow, Andrew Taylor, Esq., Edinburgh, who durmg the past
summer led me to a quarry in the neighbourhood of Bathgate,
where he observed remains of Ulodendra, and where we succeeded
in obtaining specimens of this interesting species.
From the Coal-measures, Linlithgowshire. [British Museum. |
6. U. transversum, Hichwald, ‘ Lethzea Rossica,’ vol. 1., p. 139,
plate ix. Cicatrices deltoid, with the angles rounded, nearly 4
inches long by 33 inches broad; scar of compact bundle near the
base, of a flattened horse-shoe shape, separate bundles radiating all
round from the cone of the aérial root descending into the stem ;
leaf scars rhomboidal. Megaphytum majus, Presl, Sternb., ‘ Flora,’
p- 187, plate xlvi., probably belongs to this species.
A scar half the natural size is figured on Plate XLIV., Fig. 2.
It belongs to a “corticated”’ specimen, and shows only the pits of
the vascular bundles belonging to the leaves.
From the Coal-measures, Northumberland (Jarrow) [British
Museum], and South Wales [Cardiff Museum].
7. U. majus, Lindl. and Hutt., ‘ Fossil Flora,’ plate v. Cica-
trices circular, 21 inches in diameter; scar of compact bundles
central, compressed circular ; scars of separate bundles more or less
pit-like throughout; leaf scars rhomboidal. U. Lucasiz, Buckl.,
‘Geol. and Miner.,’ vol. ii., p. 98, plate lvi., fig. 4 (1886). U. Lind-
leyanum, Presl, in Sternb., ‘ Flora, p. 185 (1838). Bothrodendron
punctatum, Lindl. and Hutt., ‘Fossil Flora,’ plates Ixxx., Ixxxi.
(excl. plate ccxvill.).
The scar figured, Plate XLIIL., Fig. 4, is from a fine cast of a
specimen found near Swansea by Mr. Lucas.
From the Coal-measures, South Wales, Northumberland, &c.
| British Museum. |
8. U. minus, Lindl. and Hutt., ‘ Fossil Flora,’ plate vi. (excl.
synonymes). Cicatrices sub-circular, from 13 to 14 inch in dia-
meter ; scar of compact bundles triangular with the angles rounded ;
scars of the separate bundles pit-like on the under half, radiating
and furrowed on the upper; leaf scars rhomboidal.
The drawings by Lindley and Hutton of the last two species
are very unsatisfactory. I have never seen the cicatrices composed
of large flat scales, as represented there.
From the Coal-measures, Northumberland, Edinburgh, South
Wales, &c. [British Museum. |
= very Monthly Micros ical
154 The Mode of Examining the — [jority oe
9. U. tumidum, sp. nov. (Plate XLIII., Figs. 5-7). Cicatrices
small, oval, eight lines long by six lines broad, borne on tumid
swellings on the opposite sides of the stem ; solitary cicatrices scat-
tered over the stem; scar of the compact bundle circular, of the
separate bundles pit-like; few in number; leaves with a broad base
imbricated.
Fig. 5 represents a portion of the specimen one-third the natural
size; it has lost all indications of the bases of the leaves, except on
one or two patches, one of which, from the surface not shown in the
figure, is represented natural size at Fig. 6; and one of the cica-
trices, natural size, in Fig. 7.
From the Coal-measures. Britain—locality unknown. {| British
Museum. |
IV.—The Mode of Examining the Microscopie Structure of
Plants. By W. BR. M‘Nas, M.D. Edin.
If.
Havine now considered the Cell-wall, we have next to take up the
subject of the Protoplasm, Nucleus, and Cell-sap. The Protoplasm
is a mixture of albuminous materials with water, and a small
quantity of mcombustible matter. In the young and active state
of the cell, the whole of the cavity is filled up with the protoplasm.
Mixed with the protoplasm we have various organic materials, as
oils, starch, &c., which often increase to a very great extent, or else
disappear altogether, leaving the cell-wall empty. The quantity of
water in the protoplasm seems to vary, and as a consequence we
find that the consistence of the protoplasm also varies, being some-
times very fluid. Imbedded in the protoplasm, and always in rela-
tion to it, we find the more solid protoplasmic body, the nucleus.
The presence of a nucleus is not constant, as we sometimes have
cells without one, either the cells never having formed one, or the
nucleus after having been formed being dissolved in the general
mass of protoplasm, and thus disappearmg. In Chara we find that
as the circulation in the cells begins the nucleus disappears. Besides
forming the nucleus, the protoplasm seems intimately connected with
the formation of chlorophyll and starch. The protoplasm is capable
at certain times of moving. ‘These movements are either slow or
rapid, and three distinct kinds of movements have been described,
In the remarkable conditions of that peculiar group of Fungi, the
Myxomycetes, we have the external form of the masses of protoplasm
constantly changing. Again, in some zoospores we find that the
whole mass of protoplasm moves freely about by means of the
ron Meee ww.) Microscopie Structure of Plants. 155
peculiar cilia with which they are provided. Lastly, we observe
streams of moving particles in the protoplasm of certain cells as in
Vallisneria and Anacharis. In general the protoplasm is granular,
but in the cotyledons of the Jerusalem Artichoke it seems to be
homogenous, and to contain very little water. In Vallisneria it
is very watery, and contains very few granules, while n many
spores the protoplasm is so loaded with colouring matter and
granules that no fluid basis can be detected. This diminution of
the fluid basis may go to such an extent that we may have the
protoplasm appearing in rounded granular masses with starch grains
lying between the masses, as in the cotyledons of the Common Pea.
The Nucleus is frequently absent in certain Thallophytes, but
is present as a rule in vascular plants and mosses. The nucleus
generally assumes its full size at once, and in young cells seems to
be quite out of proportion to the rest of the cell. In young cells,
then, it occupies nearly the whole space of the cell, while in large
older cells it takes up but a very small part of the cavity. In the
young hairs of the Hyoscyamus niger, a further development of
the nucleus has been observed. A firm outer layer forms, and drops
of fluid accumulate in the nucleus, the granules then exhibiting a
regular series of movements.
Chlorophyll being a substance always found in relation to the
protoplasm must be here briefly noticed. The green colouring
matter seems to be carried by granules of protoplasm, the proto-
plasmic base remaining colourless after the colouring matter is
removed by alcohol or ether. The granules of chlorophyll always
lie in relation to the protoplasm, in this resembling the nucleus,
and are never found free or in the cell-sap. In some cases, as in
zoospores, &c., the chlorophyll seems to form part of the protoplasm,
and is not separated in the form of granules. In Zynema we have
peculiarly shaped figures of green protoplasm, while in the vast
majority of plants the grains are rounded. In size the granules
vary greatly, being very large in Selaginellas. Starch and oil are
also frequently found in the chlorophyll granules.
Other bodies are also found in relation to the protoplasm, as
the crystalloids of Naegeli. They are portions of protoplasm which
assume a crystalline form, with plane surfaces and sharp angles and
faces. They occur in the forms of cubes, tetrahedra, octahedra, &c.,
in various plants, are of very minute size, and the angles seem to
be inconstant. The ecrystalloids of the Potato were discovered by
Cohn, and are to be found in the cells of the parenchyma, under
the rind, which do not contain much starch. They are in general
cubical, and sometimes occur in large quantities. Radlkofer dis-
covered them in Lathrva squamaria. ‘They are often in numbers
inside the nucleus, and their general form is that of thin square
plates, sometimes rhombic. Crystalloids have also been described as
156 The Mode of Examining the — [one Mong asia.
occurring in the aleuron grains of fatty seeds, as Ricinus, which are
brought into view by dissolving the fatty matter by means of ether.
Coloured erystalloids are described by Naegeli as occurring in the
petals of Viola tricolor, Orchis, &c. The aleuron grains, so called
by Hartig, are rounded granular formations found in ripe seeds :
as the grains are altered by the action of water it is difficult to
examine them.
Starch is another substance always found in the protoplasm ;
the granules increase in size as long as the protoplasm remains in
the cell, but when it disappears the starch grains mix with the cell-
sap, and all growth stops. The grains present well-marked differences
in appearance, some of the grains being very characteristic.
The Cell-sap.—By cell-sap we mean the fluid contained in the
vacuoles of the protoplasm. It seems to be essential to the growth
of the cell, and contains many substances in solution. We may
have organic acids, mineral salts, alkaloids, &c., dissolved in the
cell-sap, and invisible; but frequently we have colouring matters,
oil, or crystals in the cell-sap. Raphides seem also to be products
of the cell-sap, as well as other substances, such as sugar. ‘The
last stage in the life of the cell is the disappearance of all the
contents, and nothing remains but the dry cell-wall, more or less
modified to adapt it to the position it occupies in the plant and the
function it has to perform.
Let us now pass to the consideration of the tissues. We may
consider a tissue as any aggregation of cells governed by the same
laws of growth. In general we have the tissue formed by the
repeated division of the mother-cell at the growing part of the
plant ; but in a few rare instances we may have cells originally
free becoming fused together to form a tissue. This is seen in
certain of the Alge, as Pediastrum, Hydrodictyon, &. When the
walls of the cells forming a tissue are examined, we see but a single
plate or lamella. This is well seen in the young growing cells at
the point of the root, as in the White Mustard. When the cells
become older and thickening occurs, then it is found to be deposited
on each side of this lamella, in the inside of the wall of the cells.
When thickening has thus taken place, the appearance becomes
very deceptive, and we might think that the thickening layers were
the true cell-walls, while the central lamella was a layer of inter-
cellular substance. By a careful use of reagents we can separate
these two elements, the lamella being soluble in sulphuric acid,
while the thickening deposits can with care be dissolved in chlorate
of potash and nitric acid. When the thickening deposits have been
dissolved we can isolate the delicate lamella or cell-wall. The
so-called intercellular substance, so well seen in many of the Algve,
is a gelatinous degeneration of the lamella. The lamella thus be-
comes greatly thickened, and the masses of thickening matter inside
Monthy crs.) Microscopic Structure of Plants. 157
the cells become widely separated from each other. In tissues in
which rapid growth takes place, we often find that numerous splits
take place in the lamella. These splits form generally at those
parts where the walls of contiguous cells joi, or at other times
the splitting is regular, the cells becoming altered in shape until
we have star-shaped cells formed, as in the pith of the Rush and
petiole of Banana. This process of splitting of the lamella may
go on until the cells are isolated completely, as seen in many ripe
fruits. It is by this splitting process that we have the intercellular
spaces, resin-canals, stomata, &c., formed.
The tissues of a plant may be similar or dissimilar. We may
have a single cell performing all the functions of plant life. Higher
up we have a tissue composed of rows of cells, as in many of the
lower Algze ; while in the higher plants we have numerous different
kinds of cells grouped together in various ways. We can at first
distinguish three layers of tissue in the highest plants : the external
or limitary tissue, the fibro-vascular bundles, and lastly the cellular
mass filling up the intervening space, the primitive tissue of Sachs.
As growth goes on, these three systems become more complex, and
different kinds of cells are formed in each. The chief forms of cells
entering into the composition of all plants are :—1st, thin-walled
cells, the length not greatly exceeding the breadth, and having inter-
cellular spaces—Parenchyma ; and, 2nd, cells placed in rows, gene-
rally considerably elongated, with overlapping ends, no intercellular
spaces, and often greatly thickened—Prosenchyma. Both of these
kinds of tissue may become hardened, as seen in the sclerenchyma
developed in cork, fruits (as the pear), &c. This hardening is, how-
ever, only a physiolcgical change in the condition of the cells.
Naegeli considers all cells as either being capable of dividing or
not. The first he calls Meristem, the second permanent tissue. The
cells out of which all the parts are formed in the root, stem, &c.,
Naegeli called primitive meristem, while the cambium cells which -
are only found in a certain locality he denominated secondary
meristem.
Limitary Tisswes.—These are only developed in plants com-
posed of many cells. They form a protection to the plant, and are
‘best developed in parts exposed to air and light, less so in those
underground or in water. The cells of which the limitary tissues
are composed are generally of small size, and the walls are strong
and thick. In higher plants we have a layer which is in general
easily separable from the others, the Epidermis. Beneath the epi-
dermis we have the subepidermal tissue, or collenchyma. This is
well seen in the Begonia, and it is peculiar in having masses of thick-
ening formed at the corners. Cork is also developed in the more
permanent limitary tissues of the higher plants. The epidermis
disappears, and the cork is formed by the late-formed cells of the
158 The Mode of Examining the _ [}onthly Microscopical
epidermis. The formation of the cork layer can be well seen in
young shoots of the Black Currant. The epidermisis a unicellular
layer ; but in a few plants, as the Begonia, we have two, the second
being formed by the division of the first into two. In the cells of
the epidermis we do not find intercellular spaces, the stomata fur-
nishing the means of communication with the subjacent tissues.
Stomata may be absent, as in roots and submerged parts of plants.
The external cell-wall of the epidermis is in general greatly thick-
ened, forming what is called the cuticle. The cuticle is a continuous
layer, often very largely developed and affording a considerable
amount of protection to the more delicate tissues below. The
various epidermal appendages must also be examined along with the
limitary tissues. Hairs are developed by the epidermal cells, the
hair appearing as a projection of one part of the cell. Hairs are
variable in form. Root hairs are to be found in Marchantia, Equi-
setum, &c.; woolly hairs, either temporary, as in the bud of the
Horse-chestnut, or permanent, as in certain species of Stachys, &c.
Jointed or beaded hairs in Tradescantia, the branching hairs of Ver-
bascum, Turnip, &c., stinging hairs, as in Nettle, Loasa, &e., which
generally contain silica, are familiar objects. Glandular hairs, as
in Rose, and scales, as in Sea-buckthorn, &c., are also to be consi-
dered as part of the limitary tissues. Stinging hairs are generally
placed on an elevated portion of the epidermis. The scales of ferns
seem to be modified hairs, the contents of the cells rapidly disappearing,
and the hair becoming dry and chaff-like. The prickles of the rose
are modified hairs, and seem to be developed by the glandular hairs.
The stomata of plants form an endless variety of objects for the
microscope. In general, they are developed from single epidermal
cells. In the Marchantia several cells enter into their construction,
while in a fern, Anemia, the stoma is developed in the centre of an
epidermal cell. Besides the collenchyma, cork must also be con-
sidered as one of the limitary tissues. Cork forms a protecting
covering, and also is of great importance in the healing of wounds in
plants. The cork cells are developed from the so-called cork cambium.
In large plants and trees we find three stages of the limitary tissues,
each of which requires to be studied. On the youngest twigs we
have a true epidermis; farther down we have the corky layer, the
periderm, formed; while still farther from the growing point we
have the bark. The last point that calls for mention in regard to
the limitary tissues is the peculiar corky deposits called Lenticels.
They are common on Willows, and have been described as glands.
They, however, seem to be little masses of cork cells, and do not
possess any secreting structure.
Fibro-vascular bundles.—In the tissues of all plants with true
roots we find string-like masses of tissue permeating in every direc-
tion, and forming a more or less complete skeleton. These are the
Monthly Microscopical] Microscopic Structure of Planis. 159
fibro-vascular bundles. Sometimes they are very easily separated
from the tissues in which they are imbedded, as in Plantago, while
in others they can only be separated with great difficulty. In many
fruits and stems the delicate cellular tissue disappears, or dries up,
and a number of string-like fibro-vascular bundles are left. In
Myriophyllum the bundles are softer than the surrounding tissues,
and apparently cannot be isolated. The bundles are often sepa-
rated ; but in some stems, as in those of Conifers and Dicotyledons,
the bundles are compressed together in such a manner that the
separate bundles of which the entire mass is composed are no longer
distinguishable. Each of the fibro-vascular bundles consists of
various different forms of tissue, forming a system running through
the entire plant. At first the bundles consist of masses of similar
cells, with no intercellular spaces. This tissue has been called the
Procambium. As the procambium grows older, then the cells
become more or less modified, and converted into the various
permanent forms of cells, vessels, bast, &c., that we find in the
perfect bundle. It frequently happens that the whole of the pro-
cambium is converted gradually into permanent tissue; but at
times an inner layer of the procambium remains active, forming
the cambium layer. In some plants we have the fibro-vascular
bundles containing cambium, while in others there is no cambium.
The bundles containing cambium are open or indefinite; those
containing no cambium are closed or definite bundles. Closed
bundles are to be met with in the Cryptogams, Monocotyledons, and
many Dicotyledons, and are incapable of growth beyond a certain
size. Open bundles, on the other hand, are to be met with in the
roots and stems of Dicotyledons and Conifers, and are capable of
growth for an indefinite period. In the leaves of Conifers and
Dicotyledons we generally find closed bundles; but if they are
open, then their activity soon ceases, and growth stops. Naegeli
has divided the tissues of the vascular bundles into two groups.
These are separated by the cambium, and are named Phloem and
Xylem; the Xylem part being the wood proper, while the Phloem
is in general considered as part of the bark. It is, however, deve-
loped as part of the vascular bundle, distinct from the lmitary
-and primitive tissues. The cells in the Phloem part of the fibro-
vascular bundle are thin-walled sap-bearing cells and the thickened
bast-cells, while the Xylem consists of cells which have become
thickened and woody. Sometimes, as in the Raddish, Potato, &e.,
the cells of the Xylem do not become woody, but remain thin-walled
and parenchymatous. The medullary rays belong to both the
Phloem and Xylem part of the bundle. The structure of the fibro-
vascular bundles is not difficult to examine, and many forms of cells
and vessels enter into their construction, rendering them interesting
objects of study.
160 The Mode of Examining the — [iene Meet 1 aso.
We have now to say a few words on the tissues which remain
after the limitary and fibro-vascular tissues are developed. This
mass of cells, part of Naegeli’s primitive meristem, Sachs has de-
signated Primitive Tissue. Sometimes a considerable quantity of
parenchyma is left unaltered, while at other times it can hardly
be detected. As, however, in the young state of the stem the
primitive tissue can be distinctly seen surrounding the fibro-
vascular bundle, and serving, as it were, as a kind of packing, it
seems advisable to retain it as a separate tissue.
The last group of tissues which we have to consider belong to
none of the three groups already considered, but while differing from
each other morphologically are yet easily classed together physio-
logically. Besides, the Laticiferous tissues are not an essential part
of the structure of a plant, as they are frequently absent. In
examining the laticiferous tissues it is very useful to boil the speci-
mens for a short time in dilute solution of caustic potash. This
renders the rest of the tissue so transparent that the laticiferous
vessels can be seen and traced with great distinctness. Plants
belonging to the Cichoraceze, Lobeliace, and Campanulaces, are
well adapted for the demonstration of the laticiferous vessels. In
the plants belonging to these orders the laticiferous vessels are
found in the fibro-vascular bundles, and form an anastomosing
network permeating the whole plant. In the Cichoracee the
laticiferous vessels are found in the outer layers of the Phloem part
of the fibro-vascular bundles, while in the Campanulaceze and
Lobeliaceze in the inner layers of the Phloem. In the Papayacez
the laticiferous vessels are only to be found in the Xylem layer of the
fibro-vascular bundles. In Papaver, Sanguinaria, Chelidonium, &c.,
the laticiferous vessels are also very perfectly developed in the
Phloem, and singly in the pith and Xylem. They do not anasto-
mose freely in the stem, but in the leaves, &., they form a fine net-
work. Laticiferous vessels seem to be formed by the fusion of rows
of cells, the transverse partitions breaking down, and a continuous
tube being in this way formed. In the Urticacew, Ficus, and
Humulus, the laticiferous vessels are found in the lmitary tissues
close to the bast-bundles, and in Ficus also in the pith, but never
in the wood. They generally occur as long single tubes, and are
not regularly or distinctly branched like the vessels in the Papa-
veraceee and Cichoraceee. In the leaves, however, they seem to
anastomose freely.
In the Euphorbiacez the laticiferous vessels resemble those of
the Urticacese, but are easily distinguished by the thickness of the
walls, which appear in section not unlike bast-fibres. They are
developed most completely in the immediate vicinity of the bast-
fibres, and run into the bark and pith, forming numerous anasto-
moses in the swellings below the leaves. The laticiferous vessels
POnEMMAa Teen Microscopic Structure of Plants. 161
of the Asclepiadaceze and Apocynacez still more closely resemble
bast-fibres, having the same thickened and striated walls. They
are sometimes found in the place of the true bast-fibres, and are
often united in a bundle along with the bast-fibres in the Phloem.
Other modifications are to be found in Arum, Acer, Oleander, &e.
Peculiar laticiferous tubes have been described by Hanstein as
occurring in the onion. ‘They contain a milky juice, and are long
wide ceils with cribriform walls. They exist in the bulbs and stems
of several species of Allium, and are found to occur more freely in
the bulb. Similar structures containing a fluid that is not milky
occur in Narcissus, Leucojum, Galanthus, &., the cells containing
numerous Raphides. Other structures resembling laticiferous vessels
are to be found in Scilla, Ornithogalum, &c., and tubes contaiming
enormous Raphides are to be met with in plants belonging to the
Order Commelynaceze. Rounded cavities containing elongated cells
filled with a milky juice have been described by Hildebrand as
occurring in the leaves of Psoralia hirta.
Glands consist sometimes of single cells, at other times of groups
of cells, and are generally easily distinguished from the cells in their
immediate vicinity by their contents, such as oil, resin, colouring
matters, &c. Many hairs are to be considered as glands, secreting
peculiar matters, as stinging hairs. The epidermal cells may also
secrete, as in the case of Lychnis viscaria, and the sweet materials
secreted by many petals. Single glandular cells are to be met
with in the primitive tissue of the leaf of the Camphor plant, while
im many other plants groups of these cells are to be found. The
formation of the material contained in these glandular cells seems
to be a destructive process, the protoplasm disappearing and the
cell-wall becoming variously modified. This is to be seen in the
glandular hairs of Cannabis, Humulus, and Dictamnus.
Resin canals are to be met with in all the different tissues—
Limitary, Primitive, or Fibro-vascular bundles. They are inter-
cellular spaces, filled with peculiar oily or resinous materials. In
general they follow the course of the fibro-vascular bundles, and do
not anastomose. They are to be met with in Coniferze, Cycadacee,
Terebinthacew, Umbelliferee, Araliaceze, and Composite. The canals
of the Coniferze and Ivy seem to be the best known.
VOL, Git: M
r
“Monthly Mi ical
( 1 62 ) eer Mareh 1. 1870.
PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
The Nature and Origin of Blood-globules—MM. A. Béchamp and
A. Estor have recently brought before the French Academy a paper on
this subject, which will be found in ‘ Comptes Rendus,’ 7th Feb., 1870.
They remark that the blood-globules of man and the mammalia are
usually regarded as small elastic masses, in which there is neither
nucleus nor membrane. Deceived, they say, by their appearance
under the microscope, these globules are taken for simple homoge-
neous masses, and they offer what they consider a demonstration that
they are really masses of molecular granulations, agglutinated micro-
ferments (microzymas). They state that when blood is received directly
from the vessel which supplies it, in a glass containing alcohol (45°), it
remains quite limpid, neither depositing fibrine nor globules. Soon,
however, the transparency of the fluid is diminished, and an abundant
deposit is found at the bottom of the vessel, which the microscope
shows to be composed almost exclusively of molecular granulations
free and mobile, or agglutinated. We can, they say, cultivate these
granulations and promote their rapid proliferation. To do this the
first mixture is thrown on a filter, the precipitate is retained, but some
micro-ferments always pass, which are so prolific that at a temperature
of 25° to 35° (C.) after a couple of hours another deposit takes place,
and after thirty-six hours it is as abundant as the first. The same
series of phenomena are repeated till the liquid has completely lost
its colour, and materials of nutrition are no longer supplied. The
experiment may be made with blood that has been beaten up and
defibrinized: so it is not the fibrine which furnishes the micro-fer-
ments; they come from the globules, in which they may be found by
simple methods.
The globules may be retained on the filter after a preliminary
action upon them of solution of sulphate of soda. They are then
placed on a glass slab and ground with a glass muller. By these
means the globules are torn, and the micro-ferments, set free, swim in
the liquid, with their proper oscillatory motion.
This experiment may be varied by taking a drop of defibrinized
blood, and placing it under the microscope, when a mass of globules
will be seen, in which it is often difficult or impossible to find a single
micro-ferment. Let a drop of distilled water be placed so as to pass
under the glass cover of the object, and as it penetrates, the globules
grow pale, and then become granular, soon breaking up and leaying in
their place masses of very mobile micro-ferments, without a trace of
pre-existing membrane.
The micro-ferments of blood behave like those of the liver in this
method of evolution, and like those of fibrine. For at first they can,
under certain circumstances, attach themselves together in chaplets
more or less long. Placed in vials containing diluted starch creosoted,
with or without addition of pure carbonate of lime, they rapidly
develop into bacteria and bacterides.
Journal, Marci usto.| PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 163
These micro-ferments of blood-globules behave like ferments first
under the form of microzymas, then in chaplets, and bacteria during,
or after, this evolution. The starch of flour is rapidly lquefied by
them; the mixture soon presents the characters of soluble starch
and dextrine. If pure carbonate of lime is added previously to the
starch liquid, and it is filtered, after a prolonged reaction the mix-
ture lets fall a precipitate occasioned by the oxalic acid formed
under the action of the ferments, which sometimes remain in the
mycrozymic condition all the while, showing that this evolution into
chaplets and bacteria is not necessary to their action upon the starch.
The starch mixture is always rendered fluid before the appearance of
the bacteria.
The writers affirm that the micro-ferments still contained in the
cells are in a condition for reproduction. They say they have often
seen the birth of a great number of small cells, pale, shghtly segmented
( framboisées ), and much resembling leucocytes, but usually smaller and
more transparent. They have sometimes found twelve to fifteen, in the
field of Nachet’s No. 7, at one time, in liquid which some days before
did not show a single one; and these cellules have never exhibited the
characters of organs in proliferation, such as scission or budding. On
the contrary, they have often seen very pale cells scarcely indicated by
the micro-ferments agglomerated in spheres and motionless, and others
more sharply defined, and further on true leucocytes.
From the preceding facts the writers conclude that the blood-
globules are aggregates of micro-ferments (mycrozymas); that these
mycrozymas can develop into chaplets of beads, into bacteria, or
bacterides, &c.; that they behave like ferments; that the mycrozy-
mas of blood-globules give birth to cells like leucocytes, and to other
smaller cells, more resembling the globules. These mycrozymas are
thus capable, in various media, of engendering cells, and so lead us to
believe that the globule of blood, as an organism, is the result of the
work of these mere micro-ferments.
Amongst other things which they conclude—somewhat hastily—
is, that respiration belongs to the class of phenomena termed fermen-
tation.
Leptothrix and Vibrio Bacillus—MM. Giuseppe Balsamo Crivelli
and Leopold Maggi have an important paper in the ‘ Rendiconti del
Reale Istituto Lombardo,’ ser. ii., vol. i., p. 11, on the above organisms.
They affirm that the leptothrix, the vibrio mentioned above and several
others, are developments from granules of the vitelline membrane of an
egg, or from epithelial cells of the tongue, and that for their appear-
ance no spores are required, nor germs floating in the air, but only
the transformation of a morphological element.
The Growth of Organisms in contact with Phenic Acid.—The preceding
authors detail several instances of vibrions and bacteria appearing in
animal solutions containing phenie acid; but they state that the acid
kills them when their organization is complete.
( 1 64 ) Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Mareh 1, 1870.
NOTES AND MEMORANDA.
The Mechanism of Suppuration—Experiments of M. Hayen
brought before the French Academy of Medicine by M. Vulpian,
overturn the theories of Virchow and Robin, by showing that the
globules of pus are not formed at the expense of the connective tissue
or of the blastema, but they come from the blood, and constitute its
leucocytes. M. Hayen’s experiments were made with frogs, but M.
Vulpian and after him MM. Volkmann and Stradener have shown
that in erysipelas a considerable extravasation of the white globules.
occurs, which is easily proved by cutting the skin. A Dutch physio-
logist, M. Costa, has demonstrated this extravasation of white globules
in inflamed spots. —Cosmos.
Microscopic Crystals in Minerals.—Mr. Isaac Lea has a paper
on this subject in the ‘Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Sciences, Philadelphia.’ He found minute acicular crystals in a thin
piece of fractured gravel from North Carolina. This led him to
examine other stones, and he found in garnets a much larger propor-
tion with crystals than M. Babinet had noticed, no less than 48 with
acicular crystals in 154. In precious garnets from Green’s Creek,
Delaware Co., Penn., out of 310 specimens he found 75 with similar
crystals. Ina second paper Mr. Lea mentions his examination of a
. star sapphire with six rays, in which he discovered exceedingly minute
crystals, short, of pearly lustre, at three different angles, these pro-
ducing the bands which form the rays in three directions of 60° each.
In a bluish sapphire in Prof. Leidy’s collection, he discovered some
arrow-headed crystals, which he thinks may be twin crystals of some
unknown substance. He says they remind him of certain silicate
crystals from the Paris basin, and resemble in form the cuneiform
inscriptions on Babylon bricks. In an amethyst from Thunder Bay,
Lake Superior, he noticed some remarkable globules, some orange-
yellow, and others dark green; they are visible to the naked eye, but
are not spherical, some being cup-shaped. A brilliant ruby, looking
like an Oriental, but which may be Spanish, was full of long acicular
crystals. Figures of many of these crystals are given in the paper.
Amecebee and Monads.—In the ‘ Proceedings of the Bristol Natu-
ralists’ Society,’ just issued (vol. iv. part 2), Dr. Fripp gives a paper on
the above subject, in which he describes the views held by Greef and
Cienkowski, and adds some interesting observations of his own. Dr.
Fripp is, we believe, a pupil of Kélliker’s, and is so well known for
his laborious researches in certain departments of comparative anatomy,
that this fact alone would render his paper attractive. But apart from
this, we can assure our readers that they will find in Dr. Fripp’s com-
munication to the Bristol Society a very long and important account
of recent continental researches on the Amceba and the Monad.
SOHDIG Mased aera NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 165
The Soirée of the Old Change Microscopical Society, which was
held in the City Terminus Hotel, Cannon Street, on the 14th ult.,
was an immense success.. The programme giving a list of the objects
exhibited, reflects great credit on the Society, and shows how inde-
fatigably the Secretary and other officers of the Society must have
worked in organizing the conversazione.
A New Method of Adjusting the Focus of Microscopes..—At the
meeting of the Birmingham Natural History Society on the 8th of
February, Mr. Thos. Fiddian, whose excellent microscope lamp was
described in one of our early numbers, read an interesting paper on
the above subject. It would be impossible without the aid of the
lithographs which accompanied Mr. Fiddian’s paper to give an accu-
rate idea of the method of focussing which he suggests. But as the
paper has been printed for circulation, any of our readers can obtain
it for themselves by writing to the author.
A New Vaginicola.—Mr. F. J. Warner, of Winchester, contri-
butes to ‘Science-Gossip’ for February an account of a species of
Vaginicola, which he considers to be new to science. Referring to
the V. valvata described and figured by Mr. Slack,* and which he
believes to be the only fresh-water valved vaginicola hitherto de-
scribed, he says that it differs materially from the species he has
recently observed, in which the lorica is urceolate or vase-shaped,
hyaline, and terminating at the foot nearly in a point. The valve,
which is very delicate, and in some instances requires careful illumi-
nation in order to distinguish it, is attached to the side of the lorica
about one-third of its length from the top, and moves freely on its
point of attachment, moving up on the protrusion of the animal, and’
immediately closing again on its withdrawing itself, which it does
very rapidly on being alarmed, as for instance. by a tap on the glass
stage or trough. The body when expanded is about J,th of an inch
long, and gradually tapers from the head, which is crowned, to the
foot. When retracted it is pear-shaped, a slight tuft of cilia being
generally apparent at the broader end. The body is nearly filled
with green granules, and several well-marked vacuoles are to be seen.
Mr. Warner gives the following as the technical description :—
Vaginicola (?); tube or lorica crystalline, urceolate about
+4sth of an inch in length, with a valve apparently formed of the same
substance, affixed to the side about one-third of its length from the top,
‘and moving freely on its point of attachment, closing in an inclined
position over the animal on its withdrawing itself into the lorica.
Body about .J,th of an inch in length, with many vacuoles, and nearly
filled with bright green granules.
Hab. fresh-water on Chara, &c.
Microscopic Teratology.—A paper on this subject was read at the
last meeting of the Reading Microscopical Society. It is full of novel
points of interest. We shall reproduce it in our next number.
* «Intellectual Observer, vol. ix., p. 205.
166 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. ony Gea at.
The Microscopic Structure of Rocks.—Mr. J. A. Phillips has
sent us the reprint of a paper in the ‘ Philosophical Magazine’ for
December. In this the author, in describing certain slates, felsites,
and elvanites in the county of Waterford, Ireland, gives an account
of the structure as seen under the microscope, and the paper may
therefore be of interest to our micro-geologists. He describes four
specimens. The first is an elvanite of specific gravity 2°66; a section
of this was observed. Examined under a $-inch objective, this rock,
says the author, is seen to be composed of an amorphous greyish
matrix in which are porphyritically imbedded erystals of quartz and
felspar, the latter being chiefly oligoclase. In addition to these, a few
small crystals of some hornblendic mineral are sparingly disseminated
throughout the mass. It was further observed that the larger quartz-
crystals are sometimes penetrated by crystals both of felspar and horn-
blende; and when examined under a high power, the quartz is seen to
contain fluid cavities. The next was a felsite of sp. gr. 2°64. Under
the microscope this was found to consist of a colourless and generally
amorphous matrix enclosing a few dodecahedral crystals of quartz and
some small crystals of felspar. Other portions of the matrix appear
to be indistinctly crystalline, and to enclose a few laminz of a greenish
mineral, probably chlorite. The next was a columnous slate of sp. gr.
2°66. <A section of this slate, made parallel to one of its lines of
cleavage, when examined under the microscope, was found to consist
of an amorphous matrix through which is somewhat thickly disse-
minated a flocculence of a dirty greenish colour, perhaps due to the
presence of minute quantities of chlorite. A few well-defined quartz-
crystals were also apparent. The last was a metamorphosed slate of
sp. gr. 2°65, A section prepared from a band, apparently of highly
metamorphosed slate, lying to the east of the foregoing, in which the
cleavage-planes had to a great extent become obliterated, was found |
under the microscope to be chiefly composed of felspathic-looking
crystals crossing each other in all directions, with here and there
some minute scales of chlorite. These crystals, which readily depo-
larize polarized light, are nearly transparent; but the small amount
of potassa, soda, and lime present in the rock, as shown by analysis,
renders it improbable that so large a proportion of it can consist of
any variety of felspar.
Monthly Microscopical
J ournal, March 1, 1870. ( 167 )
CORRESPONDENCE.
PoncEANE oR ANILINE RED, As A SUBSTITUTE FOR CARMINE IN
Microscopic CoLoURING.
To the Editor of the ‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal.’
Sir,—This substance, which is one of the Aniline series of dyes,
produces, when mixed with warm water (about five grains to a pint),
a most admirable colouring medium for microscopic investigations.
From the experience I have had of its properties, it seems likely to
be useful as a means of distinguishing between separate structures,
uniting with some but leaving others coloured as before. Epithelial
starch granular matter, as of brain and other animal matters, is
coloured by it in various shades. The Soredial tubes of Chlorococcus
are coloured, while the Gonidia remain green. It seems to possess
the valuable property of not arresting the vitality of organisms, such
as Vibrio or Monas.
MeErTcALre JOHNSON.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.*
Royat Microscopican Soctery.
Krine’s CoLiece, February 9, 1870.
Rev. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
A list of donations to the Society was also read, and a vote of
thanks passed to the respective donors.
The President then delivered his Address, in which he announced
his intention of presenting to the Society his copy of the ‘ Philo-
sophical Transactions :’ sixty volumes, in extenso, from 1665 to 1812,
and twelve volumes of ‘Transactions abridged,’ from 1665 to 1750, are
whole or half-bound. The parts from 1813 to the present time are in
boards, as issued by the Royal Society. The President stated that a
few parts, borrowed or otherwise missing, will be replaced. .
After reading the obituary list for the past year, the President
paused in his Address, for the purpose of communicating to the So-
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: Hydra—and by “underlining ”
words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus
ensure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings.—Eb. M. M. J.
Monthly M ical
168 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. [| YOnUaY March 1, favo.
ciety Professor Lister’s account of his late father’s microscopical
labours. This important historical document was received with most
cordial thanks to Professor Lister from all the Fellows present.
It was moved by Mr. C. Brooke, and seconded by Mr. J. H.
Wenham, “That the cordial thanks of this meeting be presented to
the President for the most able and lucid Address which he has just
delivered.”
The vote of thanks was unanimously carried, and briefly acknow-
ledged by the President.
It was moved by Mr. Slack, and seconded by Mr. E. G. Lobb,
and unanimously agreed to, ‘“ That the thanks of this meeting be
given to Mrs. Holland for the valuable present she had made to the
Society, and to which the President had referred in his Address.”
Mr. E. G. Lobb moved, and Mr. Peter Gray seconded, the follow-
ing resolution :—“ That the best thanks of this meeting be given to
the President for his magnificent present of the ‘ Philosophical Trans-
actions’ to the Society.” The resolution was unanimously carried.
The President acknowledged the vote.
It was then moved and seconded, and agreed to, that Messrs.
J. Browning and J. Hilton be requested to act as Scrutineers in the
election of officers for the ensuing year.
Mr. Slack, in reply to a question from Mr. Tupholme concerning
Dr. Greville’s drawings of diatoms, stated that Dr. Lankester had
written to say that Dr. Greville had latterly superintended the execu-
tion of the platesin Edinburgh, and that the drawings had been
returned to him for that purpose. It was further stated that Dr. Lan-
kester had been requested to send to the Society every drawing in his
possession, and which, according to the bye-laws, belonged to the
Society, but that he had failed to comply with the request.
The Library Committee reported that the books generally were in
good condition, that the numerous valuable donations had been
periodically announced in ‘ The Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ and
that the purchases were as follows, viz.:—-Owen’s ‘ Anatomy,’ Vol. III. ;
Bate and Westwood’s ‘Sessile-eyed Crustacea, 2 vols.; Hinck’s
‘Zoophytes, 2 vols.; Jeffrey’s ‘Conchology,’ Vol. V.; Cobbold’s ‘ Sup-
plement to the Entozoa;’ Lowne’s ‘ Anatomy of the Blow-fly. They
hoped in future years a larger sum would be appropriated to the
acquisition of important works, and that they should be enabled to
extend the system of exchange with foreign societies.
The Scrutineers announced that the whole of the officers proposed
for the ensuing year had been unanimously elected.
Mr. Slack then brought before the meeting the question of refresh-
ments after the ordinary meetings of the Society. The subject had
been alluded to at the previous meeting, and he had little to add to his
remarks on that occasion. After a few remarks by Messrs. Browning,
Gray, and Beck, it was moved by Mr. Tyler and seconded by Mr.
Stevenson, “That the custom of providing refreshment after the meet-
ings of the Society be for the present discontinued.” This motion was
supported by Messrs. Lee and Hogg, and carried unanimously.
Mr. Slack announced that at the next meeting of the Society Dr.
ee tae PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 169
Carpenter had promised to attend and bring before the notice of the
Fellows some Microscopic Memoranda :—
1. ‘On the comparative steadiness of the Ross and Lister Models
under trying circumstances.”
2. “On the Shell Structure of the Fusulina.”
3. ‘On the Micropyle of the Fish’s Ovum.”
4. “On the Reparation of the Spines of Echini.”
The meeting was then adjourned to the 9th of March.
Mr. Brooke exhibited, at the close of the meeting, a very conve-
nient and modified form of a travelling or portable microscope, which
excited much interest.
RicHarD MestayEer, TREASURER, IN ACCOUNT WITH THE ROYAL
Microscoricat Soctery.
£ Siew £ Ss. d.
To Balance brought forward.. 266 0 9 | By Payments to Mr. Hard-
», Subscriptions for 1866 .. Tits wicke for Journal.. 234 3 0
a i IS67 <2 tI O » Printing 2412 9
AS 3 1868 .. aut 1.0 35 Binding, Ke. e 31a) 4,0
+: < S69 29S) oO » Rent and other expenses
5 1870 4 4 0 King’s College ‘ 59 14 4
5 Dividend on 10591. 6s. 2d. “3 Refreshments .. 23 4 3
Consols .. .. 15 11 2 » Instruments aa 3 6 Oe
s Tap and Screws sold. Ono ,, Assistant Secretary 57 15 0
,, Donation to the Tea Fund 019 0, ,, Soirée ae eet 65 13 7
|| , Petty Cash 23 LG
i RCDOLLGE Seatac ae Gr 6Gr0
5, Collector’s Commission .. ee ban
», Subscriptions to Ray So-
ciety o: Le Sh0
», Purchase of 241. 14s. 6d.
Consoles Pegi tan toc ee, LOMO
£566 13 8
| ,, Balance in favour of the
Society to Dec. 31,1869 28 0 3
£594 13 11 £594 13 11
25th January, 1870. W. T. SUFFOLK,
Examined and found correct,
JOHN BOCKETT, \ Auditors
OFFICERS AND CoUNCIL.
President.—Rev. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S..
. Vice-Presidents.—*Charles Brooke, M.A., F.R.S.; L. S. Beale,
M.D., F.R.S.; James Glaisher, F.R.S.; *F. H. Wenham, C.E.
Treasurer.—Richard Mestayer, F.L.S.
Secretaries.—H. J. Slack, F.G.S.; Jabez Hogg, F.LS.
Council.—* Robert Braithwaite, M.D., F.L.S.; *W. B. Carpenter,
* Those with the asterisk before their names were not before members of
Council.
170 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. erie ee RTM
M.D., F.R.S.; Arthur Farre, M.D., F.R.S.; Henry Lawson, M.D.;
Henry Lee, F.L.S., F.G.S.; Ellis G. Lobb, Esq.; John Millar, L.R.C.P.
Ed., F.L.S.; James Murie, M.D., F.L.S.; *John Ware Stephenson,
F.R.AS.; *Charles Stewart, M.R.C.S., F.L.S.; Charles Tyler, F.L.S.,
¥.G.8S. ; *G. C. Wallich, M.D., F.L.S.
Donations to the Library from January 12th to February 9th,
1870 :—
From
Land and Water. Weekly se. cies vtee: apets Bieedy meee Cnoms
Society of Arts Journal. Weekly isp pie. cael ee) Geae msUCrerae
Nature; | Weekly =. 3.) st) We Sate ain) Meet econ
The Student... .. a8 tine se) Ga ee RULES ET
Journal of the Linnean Society .. Pues 5 SNG177/77.
Scientific Opinion. Part XV. .. Editor.
Microscopie Objects, figured and described by. To
Martin. No.1 .. : Publisher.
The Chemical News. 5 Nos. .. W. T. Suffolk, Esq.
Notes on Microscopic Crystals included in some Minerals.
By Isaac Lee : Author.
Synopsis of the British Sea-weeds. By W. H. “Harvey .. W. W. Reeves.
The Philosophical Transactions from 1665 to the present
time, being complete as published from 1751 to 1870 The President.
A Micrometer ruled on silver, by Mr. Barton .. .. Mrs. Holland,
Three Specimens of the Beads and Bead-lenses made
by the late Mr. Holland .. Mrs, Holland.
The Silver Medal of the Society of Arts awarded to her
late husband for his Micrposcoic Triplet .. .. .. Mrs. Holland.
George Lewis, Esq., was elected a Fellow of the Society.
Wattrer W. ReExvEs,
Assist. Secretary.
QuEKETT Microscopical Cius.t
At the ordinary meeting of the Club, held at the University College,
January 28th, 1870, P. Le Neve Foster, Esq., M.A., President, in
the chair,—six gentlemen were balloted for and elected members of the
club, four gentlemen were proposed for membership, and a number of
presents to the library were announced. A paper was read by Dr. R.
Braithwaite, F.L.S., “On the Geographical Distribution of Mosses in
Europe,” which was for the purpose divided into three zones in latitude,
viz. the Arctic, from the Pole to 60° N.; the Middle, from 60° N.
to 46° N.; and the Southern, extending from 46° N. to the shores of
the Mediterranean Sea. In altitude, five zones were also described, with
the classes of mosses to be found in each. The general aspects of
mosses in nature, with their habitats, as well as the ferns frequently
associated with them, were also touched upon by Dr. Braithwaite, who
concluded his very interesting paper with a quotation of much beauty
from the pen of Mr. Ruskin. The paper was illustrated by a large
collection of dried specimens, mounted together according to their
* Those with the asterisk before their names were not before members of
Council.
+ Report supplied by Mr. Rf. T. Lewis.
Monthiy Microscopleal PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 171
localities. A cordial vote of thanks to Dr. Braithwaite was then
passed for his paper, and after an announcement of the subjects of
papers for the meetings in February and March, the proceedings
terminated with a conversazione, at which some interesting objects were
exhibited under microscopes, and much attention was attracted by
the collection of Mosses and Ferns illustrative of the paper of the
evenllig.
Lirerary AND PuimosopHican Socrery or MANcHESTER.
Ordinary meeting, February 8th, 1870. J. P. Joule, LL.D.,
E.RS., &e., President, in the chair—The following interesting
botanical paper was the only Microscopical communication :—
“On the Natural Ropes used in packing Cotton Bales in the
Brazils,” by Charles Bailey, Esq.
Most of the cotton bales which reach this country from the Brazils
are corded with long stems of climbing plants, which grow in the
greatest profusion in the forests bordering on the cotton districts. In
their fresh state these stems are exceedingly pliant and of remarkable
strength, so that they serve admirably for cordage purposes, but by
the time that the cotton reaches the mills of Lancashire they become
dry and rigid, and as no further use can be made of them, they are
burned for firewood. Being very long, they are very troublesome to
put on the boiler fires, and most millowners are glad to get rid of
them.
These objects are invested with singular interest when examined
in regard to their structure, for although the external form of many
of them is extremely curious, their chief interest centres in their
remarkable internal organization. Although they reach this country
in immense quantities, they are not often to be met with in our
museums or colleges; it may be questioned whether any one of our
public institutions possesses a complete collection of these stems ;
certainly the names of the plants which produce them are for the most
part unknown.
My attention was first directed to them by Mr. Robert Holland,
of Mobberley, in a paper which he read on the 7th December last, to
the “ Manchester Scientific Students’ Association,” on “ Some peculiar
forms of Exogenous Stems,’ and to this gentleman, to Mr. Randall
Alcock, of Bury, to Mr. Alderman Thompson, of Blackburn, to Mr.
Richard Thompson, of Padiham, to Mr. Spencer, of Manchester, and
to Mr. Griffiths, of Liverpool, I am indebted for an abundant supply
of these ropes.
It is not so much my object on this occasion to give a detailed
account of the many forms met with, as to give some general descrip-
tion of them, classifying them for the most part under the natural
orders to which they probably belong; but I may preface these notes
with a short summary of the little which has already been written
concerning them.
One of the earlicst to minutely study this class of plants was
Charles Gaudichaud, a botanist who visited Chili, Peru, and the Brazils
172 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. pct fl ta pr
in 1830, and who subsequently published a memoir, entitled, ‘ Re-
cherches générales sur l’organographie, la physiologie, et Vorgano-
genie des Végétaux, * in which will be found a large number of
engravings of many lianas, but very little descriptive matter; the
memoir was written to support the views of Du Petit-Thouars in regard
to the growth of wood, and in opposition to the views of other leading
botanists, but little is said about the climbing plants. The most com-
plete general account of their structure which I have met with is
that by Adrien de Jussieu—‘Sur les tiges de diverses Lianes, et
particulicrement sur celles de la famille des Malpighiacées ;’f this was
afterwards reprinted, with additions, and incorporated in the same
author’s ‘Monographie de la famille des Malpighiacées. { Another
account of their organization is included in the eighth volume of the
‘ Botanische Zeitung, by Hermann Criiger, entitled ‘ Hinige Beitriage
zur Kenntniss von sogenanntnen anomalen Holzbildungen des Dikoty-
lenstammes, and published in 1850. Notices of the structure of other
lianas are also to be met with in isolated memoirs, some of which
will be referred to, and in most botanical text-books, particularly
in those of Lindley, Schleiden, Richard, and Duchartre. Much im-
portant information may also be anticipated from some recent memoirs
by a Brazilian botanist—Dr. Ladislaii Netto, who has presented me-
moirs on the subject to the French Academy, extracts from which have
only so far been published in the ‘Comptes Rendus’ and ‘ Annales des
Sciences’ for 1866, 1867, &c. §
Microscopical and Natural History Section of the Manchester
Interary and Philosophical Society.
January 3rd, 1870. R. D. Darbishire, B.A., F.G.S., in the chair.
Dr. Wm. Roberts. exhibited some specimens of urinary calculi,
composed of cystine ; also some crystals of the same, obtained by eva-
poration in the open air of the ammoniacal solution. Six-sided plates
of mother-of-pearl lustre were obtained in this way, which formed
brilliant objects for the microscope.
Mr. J. Sidebotham read a paper, entitled ‘ Notes on the Pupa and
Imago of Acherontia atropos.”
Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., sent for exhibition some very inte-
resting microscopic sections of Hozéon Canadense, which are the more
valuable as being those which have passed through the hands of Sir
W. E. Logan and Dr. Carpenter.
Mr. J. B. Dancer, F.R.A.S., presented the Section with a box con-
taining twelve new polarizing objects. These partly consisted of some
of the hard fatty acids which form very effective objects, and partly of
crystallizations of some of the hydro-carbon compounds which compete
with the best specimens of polarizing objects of the present day.
* ‘Mém. Savans Etrangers, t. viii., Paris, 1835.
+ ‘Annales Sciences Naturelles, t. xv., Paris, 1841.
{ ‘Arch. du Mus.,’ t. iii., Paris, 1843.
§ Owing to pressure of matter the remainder of this interesting paper has
been “crushed out.” It shall appear in our next Number.—Ep, M. M. J
ee eee PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. tis
{EADING MicroscopicaL Socrery.*
February 15th, 1870.—Captain Lang presided, and after the ordi-
nary business Mr. Amner read a paper upon “The Use of the Micro-
scope in the Detection of Adulterations,” confining himself mainly to
the adulterations of tea, coffee, cocoa, and sugar, and describing the
microscopical characters of the genuine substances, as well as of those
added. The subject was illustrated by drawings and mounted speci-
mens.
The President read a paper by Mr. Tatem, entitled “ A Contribu-
tion to the Teratology of the Infusoria,’ in which were described the
results of hypertrophy, or of arrested development in examples of
Tirachelius anas, Chilodon cucullus, Vorticella convallaria, Melicerta, and
Stephanoceros Hichorni, &e. ‘Vo these the writer attached some im-
portance, as helping to indicate the fixity of specific characters.
Drawings of the aberrant forms accompanied the paper.
Mr. Tatem also exhibited slides of diatoms mounted symmetri-
cally.
BricgHTON AND Sussex Narurau History Society.
February 10th—The President, Mr. T. H. Hennah, in the chair.
The receipt of ‘Catalogue of Works on the Microscope, by Mr.
R. C. Roper, from the author, and ‘ Microscopic Objects Figured and
Described, by J. H. Martin, from the publisher, was acknowledged.
The Hon. Sec., Mr. T. W. Wonfor, exhibited and read a description
of a series of gall-nuts found on English plants, collected by Mr. W.
H. Kidd, and presented by that gentleman to the Brighton Museum.
Mr. T. W. Wonfor then read a paper “ On Seeds.”
After tracing the seed from its first appearance as a mere pimple,
in the unexpanded flower-bud, through the ovule, and its impregnation
to the perfect seed, with a description of the several parts and their
economy, the mode of dissemination, the power of resisting heat and
cold, the wonderful property possessed by some seeds of preserving
their vitality under apparently adverse circumstances for long periods
of years, and the advantages accruing from artificial selection, were
each discussed; on the last point attention was called to what had
been done by Mr. F. Hallett, of Brighton, with wheat. Seeds as
microscopic objects were next discussed. Having spent several years
in the collection and examination of wild and cultivated seeds as
microscopic objects, Mr. Wonfor thought that few things in the vege-
table kingdom presented such diversity of form, markings, and beauty.
Although unwilling to lay down any law for classification by means
of the appearances “of seeds, yet often in the case of unknown seeds
he had been able to name the family to which they belonged, from
certain peculiarities common to many plants of the same family.
Among some of the most interesting families might be mentioned the
Scrophulariacee, containing the Mulleins, Foxgloves, Antirrhinums,
Figworts, Paulownias, &c.; the Papaveracee, many of which were very
* Report supplied by Mr. B. J. Austin.
t+ Report supplied by Mr. T. W. Wonfor.
174 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. oT ED.
beautiful objects; the Caryophyllacez, or pink family, containing a
very great variety of very beautiful seeds, not the least beautiful being
the common chickweed and ragged-robin; and the Orchidacez, charac-
terized by what had been termed the appearance of net-purses contain-
ing a single gold coin. The majority required no other preparation but
that of being mounted dry; some, like the orchids, when mounted in
balsam, were good polariscope objects. For making out the several
coats of the seed and the embryo, sections cut on the plan recom-
mended by Dr. Halifax gave admirable results. The paper was illus-
trated by a large collection of seeds under the microscope and other-
wise, and by microscopic preparations, including sections showing the
several parts made by Dr. Halifax.
BristoL MicroscopicAL Socrery.
Wednesday, February 16th.—Mr. W. J. Fedden, President, in the
chair.
The minutes of the preceding meeting were read and confirmed,
and some other business transacted.
Mr. Roper was balloted for as, and elected, an honorary member of
the Society.
Mr. T. G. Ponton, F.Z.S., Hon. Sec., then read a paper “On some
Points in the Anatomy of Tegenaria domestica—the House Spider,”
especially in reference to the nervous and circulatory systems.
TunBRIDGE Wetits MicroscopicaAL SocreTy.*
The second meeting of this Society was held on the 1st instant
at the house of the President, Dr. Deakin, who read a paper “ On the
Anatomy of Lichens,” which was most clearly and ably demonstrated.
He exhibited some very beautifully executed drawings of the peculiar
construction of this interesting class of plants, showing the internal
structure of the thallus and the reproductive organs, as well as a large
number of very beautiful specimens of the plants themselves.
Two new members were elected.
The subject for the next meeting will be Diatoms.
Ox~pHAm MicroscopicaL Socrery.
On Tuesday evening, the 11th January, the members of the Old-
ham Microscopical Society held their annual meeting, which was very
well attended. The summary of the year’s proceedings, read by the
President, showed that the Society was in a prosperous state, having
doubled the number of its members and realized a respectable balance.
The following subjects had passed under consideration, and papers
been read upon them by members, viz. “The best mode of Measuring
the Angle of Aperture of Object-glasses,’ “The Spider microsco-
pically considered,” “Our British Mosses,” and “The Microscope in
Geology.”
After the business was concluded, a pleasant evening was spent in
viewing the numerous beautiful objects brought by the various mem-
bers and exhibited under their instruments,
* Report supplied hy the Rey. B. Whitelock.
Mournal, March 1, 1s0.| PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 175
Journal, March 1, 1870.
Outp CHANGE Microscopican Soctery.
President, Charles J. Leaf, Esq., F.L.S., &c.—The fourth anntal
soirée of this Society was held at the City Terminus Hotel, Cannon
Street, on Monday, February 14th.
The weather being so very severe, the living objects exhibited
were not so numerous as on other occasions; but amongst them were
included Lophopus erystallinus (the President), Fredicella sultana (Mr.
Madle), Ciliary action in Mussel (Mr. Wray), Stephanoceros Eichornii
(Mr. F. H. Leaf), Polyzoa (Mr. T. Ross), and many other illustra-
tions of pond life.
Amongst the mounted objects the most conspicuous were a series
of slides by Dr. Carpenter, V.P.R.S., illustrative of his recent dredging
expedition in the North Sea in H.MS. ‘ Porcupine,’ and which were
well shown in Mr. Crouch’s microscopes. Mr. W. Carruthers exhi-
bited “Silicified starch granules from Hocene strata ;” and Dr. Demp-
sey, circular crystals of Saliginene.
Mr. W. C. Roberts, F.C.S., the chemist to the Mint, illustrated
the value of the microscope as a detective, by showing a sovereign
which had been tampered with to the extent of two-pence, and which
clearly evinced the “sweating” process it had undergone.
Mr. T. Curteis, F.R.M.S., exhibited some very beautiful drawings
of microscopic objects, executed by Messrs. Richter and E. T. Draper,
which were much admired.
Mr. W. Ladd illuminated his microscopes and those in the imme-
diate vicinity by the new Oxy-hydrogen Zirconia light, which seems
to be as intense as the electric, and with more steadiness. Mr. C.
Tyler, F.L.S., was surrounded by numerous admirers of some very
fine type slides—sections of Dactylocalyx pumiceus, D. Prattii, D. sub-
globosa, Iphiteon panicea, &c.
The objects in general in the 250 microscopes, although well
known to experienced microscopists, were many of them new to the
visitors, who scanned them and questioned the exhibitors upon them
with more than usual interest—the various anatomical slides espe-
cially attracting their attention.
The display, in the “Art Room,” of water-colour drawings, stereo-
scopes, graphoscopes, works of art, photographs, and scientific works,
&c., proved very attractive. In the same room Dr. Hawksley’s stetho-
sphygmograph, for recording the movements of the lungs, heart, and
_pulse simultaneously, was repeatedly tested and explained by the
inventor and Dr. Armstrong. The “ Natural History Room” was lite-
rally crammed with specimens of the three kingdoms—Animal, Vege-
table, and Mineral—conspicuous amongst them being some very
beautiful cases of birds, &e., by Mr. W. E. Dawe, jun.; some fine
drawings and photographs of plants, by Mr. Fitch and Mr. D. R.
Jackson, of Kew; and some thirty or forty cases of Lepidoptera and
Coleoptera, exhibited by Miss Loddiges.
The Committee of the Guildhall Library, with their usual libe-
rality, filled the “Antique Room” with a large variety of rare books,
&c., including the ‘ Ceremonial of the Coronation of George IV.,’ and
176 BIBLIOGRAPHY. et meen Dae
a piece of Roman pavement recently found in excavating in Buck-
lersbury.
Mr. J. How and Mr. Thomas E. Hooker entertained the company
in the “Dark Room:” the former, by an exhibition of photographs,
&e., from various parts of the world, photo-micrographs, kaleido-
scope effects, &c.; and the latter, with a series of electrical experi-
ments and vacuum tubes, &e.
The refreshments were on the most liberal scale, and the whole
entertainment passed off with more than the usual satisfaction. The
company included—The President of the Royal Microscopical Society
(the Rev. J. B. Reade, F.R.S.), Mr. James Glaisher (the ex-President),
the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, &c.
Friday, February 18th, 1870.—The President in the chair: about
sixty members and visitors present. Dr. Lionel Beale, F.R.S., deli-
vered a lecture “On Demonstrating the Living Matter of Living
Beings,” which he illustrated by means of numerous diagrams and
slides exhibited in his clinical microscope.
The thanks of the Society were unanimously awarded to Dr.
Beale.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Die Photographie als Hiilfsmittel mikroskopischen Forschung.
Nach dem Franzisischen des Prof. Dr. A. Moitessier. Von Dr. B.
Benecke. Braunschweig. Vieweg und Sohn.
Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Menschen. Von Dr. Hyrtl. Wien.
Braumiiller.
Rapport sur deux petites éducations de Vers a soie japonais suivi
de quelques réflexions sur Emploi du Microscope appliqué a la
Sériciculture. Par M. le Professeur Joly. Toulouse. Rouget.
Essai sur 1’Ciplesie lamineuse progressive (atrophie du tissu
connectif), celle de la Face en particulier (trophonévrose de Rom-
berg). Parle Docteur Louis Lande. Paris. V. Masson et Fils.
Les Métamorphoses des Insectes. Par Maurice Girard. 3° Edition.
Paris. Hachette et Cie.
Cryptogames vasculaires (Fougéres, Lycopodiacées, Hydropte-
rydées, Equisetacées) du Brésil. Par A. L. A. Fée, Professeur de
Botanique a la Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, avec le Concours
de M. le Docteur F. M. Graziou, Directeur des Jardins impériaux du
Brésil & Rio Janeiro. Matériaux pour une flore générale de ce pays.
Strasbourg et Paris. Berger-Levrault et Fils.
imp
W. West
* 700
x 150
x 150
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THE
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.
APRIL 1, 1870.
I.— Description of some peculiar Fish’s Ova.
By W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S.
(Read before the Roya Microscortcau Socrety, March 9, 1870.)
PiLate XLY.
More than thirteen years ago, when dredging in Lamlash Bay,
Arran, in the month of August or September, I brought up from
a depth of thirty or forty fathoms a fragment of a Bivalve Shell, on
the internal surface of which I noticed some minute bodies, whose
appearance under a hand-magnifier was so unusual as considerably
to perplex me. On submitting them to a higher magnifying power,
it at once became obvious that they were the Ova of a Fish; for
some of them contained embryoes in a state of advanced development,
whilst from others the mature embryoes were in the very act of
escaping, others, again, being entirely empty. Further examination
disclosed some very curious features in these Ova, which I should have
described long since (as Prof. Kélliker, to whom J showed them at
the time, urged me to do), if I had been able to find any clue to
their parentage. But having neither again met with them, nor been
able to obtain any information from the Lamlash fishermen that
could help me to determine this point, I deem it better to put on
record the results of my observations, in the hope that some other
Naturalist may be able to complete them by the discovery of the
Fish by which these ova are produced, and by the study of the earlier
stages of the development both of the ovum itself and of the embryo
_ which its fecundation generates.
The peculiarities which I have to describe have reference (1) to
the Shape of the Ova; (2) to the mode of their Attachment to the
surface of the Shell; (3) to the position and remarkable distinctness
of the Micropyle.
1. So far as I am aware, the Ova of Fish (save those of the Pla-
giostome family) have been hitherto described as either spherical or
ellipsoidal. These ova, on the other hand, are nearly hemi-ellip-
soidal ; having one surface plane and the other convex (Plate XLV.,
Figs. 1,2). The plane surface is an ellipse, the longitudinal diameter
VOL. III. N
178 Transactions of the Mourne, Apri T tere.
of which averages about 1-20th inch, and the transverse about
1-25th inch ; the proportion of the former to the latter being thus
as 5 to 4. But this proportion is lable to variation; some ova
being more elongated (Fig. 1), and others more nearly hemispherical,
than ordinary.
2. The Ovaof Fishes, if attached at all, are usually made toadhere,
either to each other or to solid surfaces on which they are deposited,
by an albuminous secretion formed around them during their pas-
sage outwards from the ovary, just as in the well-known case of the
spawn of the Frog. In some instances, however, the connection of
the ova with each other is formed by villous appendages, which may
either spring from the whole surface of the shell-membrane, as in
the Perch, or may be limited to one portion of it, as in the Stichle-
back. Such villous filaments are here found proceeding from the
under or flat side of the shell-membrane ; and whilst those arising
from the central portion of the area are very short, those developed
from its peripheral portion are of considerable length, forming a
fringe which extends itself far from the margin of the ovum (Fig. 2);
and these tie down the ovum to the subjacent surface by their
firm adhesion to it. The Shell-membrane itself appears to me a
simple horny pellicle of great transparence, possessing no structure
whatever. I have searched in vain for the fine tubulation detected
by Prof. Miller in the shell-membrane of the egg of the Perch,* and
by Prof. Allen Thomson in that of the Salmon and Trout.f And
the villous filaments proceeding from it seem mere extensions of the
same structureless substance, springing from little papillary eleva-
tions of its surface. In Fig. 3 is shown, under a power of 150
diameters, a portion of this villous shell-membrane from near the
centre of the flat surface; and in Fig. 4 a marginal portion with its
fringe of elongated fibres. I feel confident that these filaments are
not tubular, and that they have no epithelial investment; they
cannot, therefore, be in any way likened to the villi of the Mam-
malian chorion; and it is obvious that their function is simply
mechanical.
3. The Micropyle, or aperture in the investment of the ovum
through which the spermatozoa penetrate to its interior, was first
discovered in the ovum of the Stickleback (Gasterosteus) by Dr.
Ransome in 1854,{ but independently and almost contempora-
neously in the ova of two species of Salmo by Professor Bruch,
of Basle.§ Since that date it has been recognized in the many
other ova, both Vertebrate and Invertebrate. I doubt, however, if
it has ever been so distinctly seen as it can be in the ovum now
* “Miiller’s Archiv.’ for 1854, p. 186.
+ Art. “Ovum,” in ‘ Cyclopzedia of Anat. and Phys.,’ vol. v., p. 1
{ See Dr. Ransome, “ On the Impregnation of the Ovum of the Stickleback, <
in ‘ Proceedings of Royal Society,’ vol. vii. (1854), pp. 168-172. -
§ ‘Zeitschrift fiir Wissensch. Zool., Bd, vii., pp. 172-175.
eae en Shea Royal Microscopical Society. 179
under description (Fig. 5), in which its position is most peculiar,—
the centre of the flat or attached side (Fig. 2). Here we find a
perforation in the ordinary shell-membrane, having a diameter of
1-1800th inch, and surrounded by an area of about 1-300th inch
in diameter, which has somewhat of the funnel-like character
described by Dr. Ransome in the ovum of the Stickleback, and by
Professor Allen Thomson in that of the Salmonide. I have not
been fortunate enough to obtain such a side view of this depression
as is represented by the latter author ;* but from the slightness of
the focal difference between its marginal and its central portion, I
should infer that the depression of the latter is much less in this
ovum than in that figured by Professor A. Thomson. Not impro-
bably, however, the form of this part may have undergone some
change during the process of embryonic development.
Looking to the position of the Micropyle, and the closeness of
adhesion between the flat side of the Ovum and the subjacent sur-
face, I think it can scarcely be doubted that the fertilization of the
ovum by the entrance of the spermatozoa must have taken place
previously to its attachment to that surface.
* Op. cit., fig. 68, B.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLV.
Fic, 1.—Upper or convex aspect of hemi-ellipsoidal Fish’s Ovum, with contained
embryo. Magnified 40 diameters.
2.—Lower or flattened aspect of similar Ovum, from which the embryo had
escaped; showing the Micropyle in its centre, and its entire surface
covered with filaments, which are longest at its margin. Magnified
40 diameters.
3.—Portion of this surface near the Micropyle; and Fig. 4, marginal portion
of the same surface, showing the relative length of the filamentous
processes in the two situations. Magnified 150 diameters.
5.—Micropyle, lying at the bottom of a shallow funnel-shaped depression.
Magnified 150 diameters.
6.—Section of a portion of the shell of Fusulina, showing the large perfora-
tions in its chamber-wall. Magnified 100 diameters,
”
. 2, ’ Monthly Microscopical
180 Transactions of the fo ie
II.—On the Shell-structure of Fusulina.
By W. B. Carrenter, M.D., F.BS.
(Read before the Royau Microscopicau Socrery, March 9, 1870.)
Puate XLV.
THE Genus Fusulina was instituted in 1829 by Fischer de Wald-
heim for the reception of a group of fusiform Foraminifera, often
attaining a considerable size, which occur in such abundance in
certain beds of the White Carboniferous Limestone of Russia as to
constitute the principal part of their material; entire specimens, as
in the comparatively modern Nummulitic or Alveolina Limestone,
being imbedded in a matrix which is in great part composed of
fragments of the same organisms intermingled with other Microzoa.
In consequence of its very close resemblance to Alveolina, both in
external form and in general plan of structure, it has been ranked
by many systematists in close proximity to that genus; and this
position was assigned to it even by my excellent fellow-labourers
Messrs. Parker and Rupert Jones,* notwithstanding that they
remarked the essential difference between the single nummuline
aperture which D’Orbigny had long before shown to be character-
istic of Fusulina, and the multiplied pores which are distributed
over the whole septal plane of Alveolina. My own investigations
led me to the conclusion that the relation of Fusulina to Alveolina
is one of isomorphism only, corresponding to that which frequently
presents itself between types respectively belonging to the porcel-
lanous or Imperforate and to the vitreous or Perforated series.
For not only did they confirm the view of D’Orbigny as to the
essential conformity of Husulina, as regards its general structure, to
the Nummuline type, but also afforded what I regarded as distinct
evidence of perforation of the chamber-walls by closely-set parallel
tubuli, intermediate in diameter between the fine tubuli character-
istic of Nummuline shells and the coarse pores usually seen in the
Rotaline. That the indications of the tubuli are not more dis-
tinct, and that no determination can be made of their precise
diameters, arises from the metamorphic condition in which these
shells are usually found ; their ultimate texture having been greatly
altered by molecular change, as is the case with most of the fossils
imbedded in the Carboniferous Limestone.
It was with great satisfaction that I subsequently found that
Professor Reuss, having been led to adopt the ultimate texture of
the shell as the basis of his classification of Foraminifera, had
unhesitatingly ranked H’uswlina in his series of vitreous finely-tubular
shells, placing it after Nonionina in his family Polystomellidea, so
as to lead to his family Nummulitedea.t.
* «On the Nomenclature of the Foraminifera,’ Part VI., ‘ Anna. of Nat. Hist.,’
3rd ser., vol. viii. (1861), p. 161.
+ See my ‘Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera,’ pp. 304-7.
t ‘Entwurf einer Systematischen Zusammen stellung der Foraminiferen, in
‘Sitzungsberichte der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen. Classe des kais.
Akad. der Wissenchaften,’ Bd. xliv. Wien, 1861, :
ee ee Royal Microscopical Society. 181
About two years ago I received from Mr. Meek, of Washington,
US., through Mr. Davidson, some very well-preserved specimens of
Fusulina, from the Carboniferous Limestone of Iowa; an examina-
tion of which has fully confirmed my previous belief as to the per-
forate structure of its shell, whilst it has also enabled me to make
such a precise measurement of the size of the pores, and of their
distance from one another, as will settle, in my opinion, its precise
place in the Vitreous series.
The exceptional condition of these specimens arises from their
having been imbedded ina matrix—not of Limestone, but of a mix-
ture of Sand and Clay; from which they can be detached without
difficulty, presenting, when thus freed, an aspect which seems to
differ very little from that by which they were characterized when
living. ‘Those who are acquainted with the difference in condition
between the Nummulites of the Bracklesham Clay, and those whose
ageregation makes up the purely calcareous beds of the Nummulitic
Limestone of Southern Europe, will at once understand the import-
ance of the character of the matrix, when the question is one of minute
texture. My own early investigations into the structure of Nummu-
lites* were fortunately made upon Bracklesham specimens, kindly
placed in my hands by Dr. Bowerbank. Had I commenced with
studying sections of Nummulitic Limestone, I might have worked
long and toilsomely without discovering the fine tubulation, the
traces of which, in Nummulites imbedded in a calcareous matrix,
are usually almost extinguished by metamorphic action.
The Iowa specimens of Fusulina came from two localities, about
forty miles apart, but on the same Geological horizon; and they
form two series very distinct from each other, alike in size and in
complexity of structure. That this difference (which is comparable
to that which I have pointed out between the Simple and the Com-
plex types of Orbitolite) is not one of Age, seems very clear from the
fact that all the large and complex specimens come from one locality,
and all the small and simple forms from the other. And I cannot
help thinking that the results of the researches on which I have
lately been engaged, as to the diverse Temperatures met with on the
same sea-bottom at corresponding depths within a few miles, throw
considerable light upon cases of this kind, which, when the attention
of Palzeontologists is once directed to them, may prove by no means
unfrequent.
The general structure of the small and s¢mple type, of which the
largest specimens are about 0°18 inch in length and 0°05 inch
in diameter, corresponds so closely with that of the simple type of
which internal casts were figured by Prof. Ehrenberg + under the
designation Borelis, that there is no occasion for me here to say
* “Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,’ vol. vi. (1849), p. 22.
+ ‘Mikrogeologie,’ plate 37, fig. xi, See also ‘Introduction to the Study of
the Foraminifera,’ plate xii., fig. 24.
182 Transactions of the jon ee.
more in regard to it, than that it may be likened to a Nummuline
or a symmetrical Rotaline, of which the “alar prolongations”
extend themselves on either side in lines parallel with each other
and with the axis of the spire, instead of folding in towards each
other, as they do in discoidal shells. And m regard to the general
structure of the large and complex type, of which the largest
specimens are about 0°30 inch in length and 0°15 inch in
diameter, I have nothing to add to the description elsewhere given
(op. cit.); except that the irregularities which are noticeable in
sections made either longitudinally or transversely through the ter-
minal portions of the shell, seem-explained by the disposition of the
alar prolongations which is revealed by fracture; for this shows
that the alar prolongations, as they pass to a distance from the
median plane, tend to interdigitate with each other, in such a manner
as to produce great apparent confusion when they are brought into
view by section.
It is, however, of the minute textwre of the shell, that I have
especially to speak. This is generally much better preserved in
the Iowa specimens, than in specimens imbedded in a Calcareous
matrix ; but it is still often obscured by metamorphic action, the
calcareous infiltration which has penetrated the cavities of these
shells throughout, having also filled up the tubuli of their walls,
and so blended with the parietes of these tubuli that the line of de-
marcation between them is by no means distinct. Specimens occur
here and there, however, in which the shell-structure has been so
little altered, that the diameter of the tubuli, as well as their distance
from each other, can be accurately measured (Plate XLY., Fig. 6) ;
and I find their average diameter to be about 1-2500th of an inch,
and their distance from one another to be equal to their diameter.
Thus they are intermediate in both respects between the Rotalines
and the Nummulines ; approaching much more nearly, however, to
the former, whose tubuli are commonly about 1-2000th of an inch in
diameter, and somewhat more than that apart from each other, than
they do to the latter, in which the average diameter of the tubuli does
not exceed 1-10,000th of an inch, their distance from each other not
being much greater. usulina departs, however, from the typical
Rotalines, while it corresponds with the typical Nwmmulines, in
the perfect bilateral symmetry of its form, and in the position of the
aperture on the median plane; thus adding another to the cases
now accumulating in great numbers, in which an earlier type pre-
sents a combination of characters which in later periods are dis-
tributed among several.* This combination I have shown to be
especially characteristic of Hozdon ; the organic character of which
I have now the satisfaction of finding all but universally admitted.
* See ‘Principles of General and Comparative Physiology,’ 4th ed. (1854),
§$ 84-87.
Aloe. Royal Microscopical Society. 183
IlI.—On the Comparative Steadiness of the Ross and the Jackson
Microscope-stands. By W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.RS.
(Read before the Royau Microscorican Soctery, March 9, 1870.)
In most of the older Microscopes the Body was a fixture, and the
focal adjustment was obtained by giving motion to the Stage. This
plan, however, was very soon abandoned when the improvement of
the Microscope, in its Mechanical as well as its Optical arrange-
ments, was seriously taken in hand by men of real constructive
ability ; and the Stage bemg made a fixture, two different modes
were adopted for supporting and giving motion to the Body, of one
or the other of which nearly all the different patterns devised by
our now numerous Makers may be regarded as modifications. The
one in which the Body is attached at its base only to a transverse
Arm, borne on the summit of a racked Stem, I have elsewhere
termed the Ross model; not because Mr. Ross could in any sense
be considered its inventor, but merely because he was among the
first to employ it, and his original patterns are now in general use
with extremely little modification. The other, in which the Body,
having the rack attached to it, is supported for a great part of
its length on a sold Limb, to the lower part of which the Stage is
fixed, may with more propriety be distinguished as the Jackson*
model ; since it was originally devised by Mr. Jackson, and was
thenceforth almost uniformly adopted by the Firm which may be
considered as the representative of his ideas.
It has always appeared to me that the Jackson model is so
obviously preferable mechanically, that if it had been introduced
before the Ross model had come into use, it would have been the
one more generally adopted ; and having lately had an opportunity
of comparing the performance of two instruments, one constructed
on the Ross and the other on the Jackson model, under peculiarly
trying circumstances, and haying found my previous opinion most
fully confirmed, I have thought it well to bring my experience in
this matter before those whom it most especially concerns, namely,
Microscope-Makers and practical Microscopists. In order that the
bearing of that experience may be rightly understood, it will be
desirable in the first instance to examine the conditions on which
tremor of the Microscopic image depends.
When the building in which the Microscopist is at work is
thrown into vibration as a whole, as by the passage of a heavily-
laden cart in the street outside,—or the floor of the room in which
he is seated is made to vibrate by the tread of a person crossing it,—
the Microscope and the observer move together; and if the frame
* In the last edition of my ‘Microscope’ I inadvertently designated this as
the Lister model, having supposed it to have been devised by Mr. J. J. Lister.
184 Transactions of the phere iy
of the Microscope were perfectly rigid, there would be no tremor
of the image. For this tremor is the result, not of the vibration of
the Microscope as a whole, but either (1) of the difference between
the vibration of the Body as a whole and that of the object on the
Stage; or (2) of the difference between the vibration of the two
extremities of the Body, the ocular and the objective.
Now it scarcely seems to me possible to conceive a method of
construction which should be more favourable to this differential
vibration, especially at the ocular end of the Body, than that which
is adopted in the Ross model. The long tubular body, fixed only
at its base, is peculiarly subject to it; and although the oblique
stays with which it is sometimes furnished diminish the vibration
of the tube, they by no means prevent it. The transverse arm and
the stem which bears it, each have a vibration of their own; and it
is obvious that the nearer to the fixed poimt of the whole system—
which, in this arrangement, is the part of the racked Stem embraced
by the tube that carries the Stage—the flexure takes place, the
greater will be the vibration of the Eye-piece, which is at the greatest
distance from that fixed point. The only mode in which this vibra-
tion can be kept in check, is the giving great solidity to the Stem,
the Arm, and the Body, especially the two former ; and this, while
objectionable on account of the cumbrousness which it imparts to
the Microscope-stand, is by no means effectual for its purpose; as
every Microscopist knows to his cost, when using very high powers
under any condition but that of the most perfect stillness of the
support.
On the other hand, in the Jackson model, the support of the
Body along a great part of its length reduces to a minimum the
vibration of the tube, and the consequent differential vibration of
the eye-piece; and even in those modifications of it in which the
tube has but a short bearing, as the support is given to it in the
middle of its length, instead of at its lower extremity, the vibra-
tion equally affects its ocular and its objective extremities. The
form of the Limb makes the Body much less liable to vibration as
a whole, than when supported on the transverse Arm and vertical
Stem of the Ross model ; and as there is no fixed point from which
such vibration can commence, increasing in extent with the distance
from that point, the Body and Stage are much more likely to move
together, such motion imparting no tremor to the image.
In the ‘ Porcupine’ Expedition for the Exploration of the Deep
Sea, in which I took part last summer, microscopic inquiry had to
be carried on under conditions very different from those which
obtain on shore. When our ship was lying-to under sail, even if
the swell was sufficient to produce considerable pitching and rolling,
the motion, being imparted equally to the Microscope as a whole
and to the Observer, did not produce any tremor of the image ; and
aoe Ae ere Royal Microscopical Society. 185
the only difficulty lay in the maintenance of the observer’s own
position, which was most effectually secured by firmly grasping the
leg of the table (which was fixed to the floor of the cabin) between
his knees. When the ship was going under “easy steam,” with
either a fair wind or a light contrary breeze, there was enough
general vibration to produce a considerable differential vibration
in any Microscope liable to it, and thus to occasion a decided tremor
in the image even when only moderate powers were employed.
But when we were steaming with full power against a head-sea,
the general vibration became so great as to be the severest test of
the mechanical arrangements of our Microscopes. Now, it hap-
pened that whilst my own instrument—a portable Binocular Micro-
scope weighing Jess than seven pounds, which is my usual travelling
companion—is constructed on the Jackson model, Professor Wyville
Thomson was provided with an instrument of about the same scale,
but heavier by some pounds, made upon the Ross model; and we
thus had an opportunity of fairly testing the two plans of construc-
tion under circumstances peculiarly critical. The difference in their
performance was even more remarkable than I had anticipated. I
found that I could use a 1-4th-inch objective on my own Microscope,
with an even greater freedom from tremor in the image than I
could use a 2-3rds-inch objective on Professor Wyville Thomson’s.
In fact the image “danced” very perceptibly in the latter, even
when the 14-inch objective was in use.
Now I purposely abstain (for obvious reasons) from naming
the Makers of these two instruments. But I think it well to say
this much, in order to meet the possible objection, that the differ-
ence lay rather in the workmanship of the two instruments than
in their plan of construction,—that the advantage, if any, lay on
the side of the Ross model. And my own very decided conviction
is, that the adoption of the principles of the Jackson model would
be decidedly advantageous, alike for first-class Microscopes, in which
the steadiness of the image when the highest powers are being em-
ployed ought to be a primary consideration,—for those second-class
instruments, which are intended, at a less cost, to do as much of
the work of the first-class as they can be made to perform, porta-
bility being here of essential importance,—and for those third-class
instruments in which everything has to be reduced to its simplest
form, so as to permit the greatest reduction in their cost.
, Monthly Mi ical
186 Transactions of the eerily oe
IV.—A New Method of using Darker’s Films.
By Enwarp Ricuarps.
(Read before the Royau Microscoricau Society, March 9, 1870.)
I am desirous of bringing before the notice of the Society a new
and more exact method of working with Darker’s Films of
Selenite.
The instrument consists of three cells of brass cut out on the
edge so as to leave eight projections, two of which resemble the end
of an arrow denoting the positive axis, two semicircular at right
angles denoting 90°, and four smaller which stand for 45°, which
as signs cannot be mistaken ; and are rotated in three separate
arms while under a polarizing microscope ; and if the Selenite films
are turned round till their positive axes coincide they give the sum
of their combined retardation.
If any be turned till their positive axes are at 90°, or the semi-
circular projections to the positive axis or arrow-head of the others,
the lesser number is subtracted from the greater.
For instance when the positive axis of the 3ths is placed at nght
angles to the positive axis of the ths, the sum of the difference only
is obtained = ths.
If the jth is now added with its positive axis coinciding with
the positive axis of the {ths, seven quarters are obtained ; but if
placed to coincide with the positive axis of the ?ths, five quarters is
the result.
Therefore, by subtracting by the semicircular projection or
a ee Royal Microscopical Society. 187
adding by the arrow-head any number from th to 13ths, undula-
tions can be retarded, which include all the colours of the spectrum;
and I think the simplicity of this arrangement will be self-evident
to all.
I do not know of any method in which the number of quarters
in use can be seen so plainly as in this: it is no use to have thirteen
quarters in the Selenite films unless we can have them under com-
mand, to know what suits our object best. Messrs. Beck’s arrange-
ment is well suited for this form of cell (which I think is all that is
necessary), and the achromatic condenser caz be used without diffi-
culty. But in almost all the new methods of late, toothed wheels
have played an important part; and I have added six to mine, the
object of which is to rotate any number of quarters simultaneously.
They are put in gear by a small milled head at the side.
The instrument, including the cutting of the teeth of the wheels,
having been done by me (an amateur), it will be a sufficient apology
for the way in which the brasswork is finished.
TAN Q Monthly Microscopical
188 Transactions of the epee tee ely
V.—A New Tube-dwelling Stentor.
By Cuarues A. Barrert, M.R.C.8. Eng., F.R.MS.
(Read before the Royau MicroscopicaL Society, March 9, 1870.)
PiLaTteE XLVI.
In the autumn of 1867 I found on a piece of weed, taken from the
Thames at Moulsford, the animalcule that forms the subject of this
aper.
i ry was looking for Lagotia, which I had found before on weed
from the above locality (though Pritchard quotes Lagotia as a
marine animal). When I first saw the upper part of the expanded
head, just showing above the piece of weed, I thought it was one of
the lappets of the head of the animal I was in search of, but found
when it was quite extended that it was a stentor-like animal quite
new to me.
I turned the weed over to have a better view of it, and found
that it was inhabiting a case or tube. The creature was a young
specimen, and the tube was but slightly transparent. In older
specimens it becomes opaque. The case was of a light brown colour,
firm in consistence between that of the tubes of the Limnias and
Tubicularia, well formed and gelatinous. The form of the creature
could be just made out, but with difficulty. It was retracted, and
was of an ovoid shape at the bottom of its tube. After waiting
a short time, it extended itself, and was then a most magnificent-
looking animal. It was trumpet-shaped, having no division between
the body and that part within the case. It was filled with a bluish-
white sarcode, granular and having many vacuoles ; the head when
expanded was large, and shaped like the human ear. Just within
the edge of this was a thin membrane running round, at the edge of
which were placed the vibrating cilia, This thin membrane I shall
call the velum. These cilia were in active motion, and produced a
current that brought food, &c., from a comparatively long distance
to the animal’s mouth. There were no cilia over the body, but
standing at right angles to the body, and at equal distances from
each other, there were long fine hairs. These hairs were five or
six times the length of the cilia on the velum, and were perfectly
motionless. In fact, though I had the creature under examination
for a long time, and daily, I never saw them flash even, like the
sete: of the Floscularia and Stephanoceros do. These hairs were in
appearance like the sete of the Floscularia, and much added to the
beauty of the creature. These I shall call setae. These setee were
also placed round the edge of the ear-shaped head, but on a plane
external to the velum. From the centre of the expanded head were
radiating lines or fibres. These were again interlaced with other
Go
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The Monthly Vicroscopical Journal, April 11:
Sohail
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M? Barretts new Stentor.
eae a aoa Royal Microscopical Society. 189
lines running round parallel to the velum, giving it the appearance
of fine basket-work. JI examined the animal very carefully, with
carmine in the water and oblique illumination, using a power of
500 diameters, to see if I could see any cilia clothing the body of
the creature, like there always are on the body of the stentor, but
I failed to find any. The velum bearing the cilia may be said
to begin at the perpendicular part of the disc, near the mouth, and
running round the inside of the edge, continues uninterruptedly
till it reaches the same place again. From here two short procésses
are sent towards the centre of the disc, and in this grove is situated
the mouth, and I think the anal opening. These processes are
edged with vibrating cilia. The mouth is funnel-shaped, lmed with
cilia, and leading down to a short cesophagus. It is situated on the
left side of the disc, im the place the mouth of all this class of crea-
tures is. Below the cesophagus are a series of vacuoles, which
become very apparent when the animal is fed with carmine. The
two or three upper ones are small. Then there is a large one,
looking very like a stomach. Below this, even into the part within
the case, is a row of small ones, and some others leading up to the
cloaca which is in the centre of the disc. Close to this cloaca, and
not far from the mouth, is an oval-shaped body, having two fine
branches leading down the whole length of the body, one on either
side of the vacuoles containing food, giving them the appearance of
being enclosed within an intestine. It also sends a branch to the
mouth, and another to the ciliary edge of the disc. This latter
branch runs all round the edge. I think from its position, which is
the same as that of the nervous ganglion of the Polyzoa, that this
must be the nervous ganglion of this animal. It has the grey look
of nervous matter. That an animal having the power of protecting
itself within a case, and retracting readily on a jar being given to
the microscope stand or table, should have, and should require a
kind of nervous system is not much to be wondered at. This animal
being larger than the generality of these creatures, it can be seen,
whilst in many of them it cannot. In front of the large stomach-
like mass are three clear vacuoles that did not become filled with
the carmine, or even stained with it. What their office is I could
not find out. On either side of the same mass was a contractile
vesicle. The appearance of the expanded head of the animal, when
it has its oral side towards you, is most extraordinary, putting one
‘in mind of those old arm-chairs seen in the halls of large houses,
for the waiting-door porter to sit in. Fig. 2 is the animal in that
position, and it shows in side view the shape of the expanded disc.
The back is carried straight up in continuation of the body ; but
the front lobe is bent down, showing an expanded surface round
which the ever-moving cilia play. Fig. 1 is a front view of the
creature, and in that the peculiar ear-shaped disc is seen. I saw a
; , Monthly Microscopical
190 Transactions of the pre ere
young one either come from behind, or else out of a tube inhabited
by an old specimen. It swam away so fast that I had not the power
of making a sketch of it. It was like a small stentor or a young
tubicularia. I have compared it to these two, for the stentor, when
free swimming, takes so many forms.
My reasons for thinking the above animal is a stentor is its
general configuration, its having no trace of an alimentary canal,
and the total absence of a masticatory apparatus, there bemg not
any division in the body like there is in all the rotatoria, between
body and foot stalk, and its being filled with a granular sarcode,
containing vacuoles, like all the family of Vorticellina. The only
difficulty in the matter is, that, as a stentor, it ought to be clothed
with cilia, which these long hairs on this animal can hardly re-
present, for they are not thickly placed, they stand erect and at a
distance from each other ; and they are not vibrating. It is different
to the Stentor Mulleri in many ways: besides the absence of cilia over
the body, the disc is carried by this creature in a more erect posi-
tion, perpendicular to the body, whilst in 8. Mulleri it is horizontal
to it, and the shape of the expanded disc is very different. The
tube is in this creature a well-made, regular tube, and is opaque
when old. In 8. Mulleri it is floculent and transparent even when
stained with the foecal discharges of the animal. ‘That this animal
is not a wanderer that has taken possession of the case of another
animal is shown by their being social in their habits, and it would
be extraordinary that they should find a colony of tubes ready for
them when required. Then, again, the case is well made and fits
its possessor, which would not be the case if it were borrowed.
I have found this animalcule for three years in the same place,
from the end of summer to as long as any weed lasts in the river at
that place. It is on the north side of a wall built into the river
Thames, overhung by elms, therefore it is always in the shade.
This is just above Moulsford Ferry. They are always the same,
showing them to be, I think, animals sw generis. I will draw the
distinctive characters up as follows :—
The animal lives attached by the lower portion of its body
within a tubular case, which is firm, of a light brown colour when
young, slightly transparent, becoming opaque and of a darker colour
with age. The animal is trumpet-shaped when extended, ovoid
when contracted. ‘The body is covered with long hairs, standing
erect from it, and continued round the expanded head, on a plane,
external to the cilia, which are placed on the free edge of the velum,
which runs round within the edge of the ear-shaped disc. Where the
perpendicular portion is jomed by the lower portion on the left side
two ciliated processes are sent to the centre of the head, and between
these the mouth, which is funnel-shaped, is placed, and I think the
anal opening. The mouth is lined with vibrating cilia, and leads down
Monthly Microscopic'| Royal Microscopical Society. 191
to the stomach sacs through a short cesophagus. Close to the cloaca
and near the mouth is placed what I take to be the nervous ganglion.
It is oval-shaped, sends down two branches the whole length of the
body, one branch to the mouth and one round the ciliated head.
The body is composed of a semi-transparent bluish-white granular
sarcode, enclosing many vacuoles ; the contractile vesicles are placed
one on either side of the largest stomach sac. The body has no
division between it and a tail-like foot-stalk, and it has neither mas-
ticatory bulb nor teeth, both of which are present in tube-dwelling
rotifers. The length of the case is soth, and of the extended animal
ath of an inch.
I have shown the animalcule and the accompanying drawing
to many of my microscopical friends, and have called it provision-
ally ‘Stentor Barretti,” until a proper name and place has been
assigned to it.
, a]. Monthly Microscopical
192 Further Remarks on reer are Te Re
V1.—Further Remarks on High-power Definition.* By Roysron-
Picorr, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.P., F.R.A.S., F.R.MLS., formerly
Fellow of St. Peter’s College, Cambridge.
No. II.
Dovsttess there is a new field of observation opening to micro-
scopists with the improved magnifying power of modern glasses.
There is one point in particular to which I beg to direct the atten-
tion of the Society as worthy of closer investigation, for in it lies
the germ of great advances in accuracy of definition,—it is the
focal image of minute lenses or beading. I arrived at this con-
clusion lately from the following observation:—The image for
parallel rays lying nearly one-fourth of a diameter outside the
surface of a refracting spherule, it occurred to me that perhaps it
might be possible to form a diatom-lenticular image by selecting
beading sufficiently large, and under this impression I now placed
a black bar half an inch broad and six inches distant from a
diatom, so as to intercept some of the light reflected from an
ordinary mirror. After several trials and searching for a focal
point above the surface of the beading, I was rewarded for the
first time with a bar-image, which could be made to gyrate or
oscillate according to the movement of the bar; and subsequently
I formed an oval image of the mirror itself, which also moved from
side to side in the same direction as the motion of the mirror.
This is a perfect and unlooked-for demonstration of the convexity
of the beaded surface. The shadow test of sphericity alluded to in
my paper of last year as. crescentic, or rather crescent-like, was
conclusive; as only a spherical surface could give symmetrical
curvilinear shadows. But the position of the image, without and
above, the focus, at once settles the beaded question. The prophecy
might almost be ventured that the time is coming when the images
formed by lenticular beads in diatoms will furnish the most exquisite
test known for correcting and verifying microscopical definition
under high powers. The image was detected with a Wray ith of
excellent quality.
Already these beautiful objects may be regarded as a mass of
hichly-refracting spherules.t
Like a fairy rainbow of infinitesimal drops of solidified silica,
their play of colours is remarkable in the extreme. Doubtless,
* Dr. Pigott wishes us to state that this article was received by us on the 11th
of March.—Eb. M. M. J.
+ I may be allowed to add that I had the good fortune to discover yesterday
that the median line of the Formosum is formed of four parallel rows of beads,
about one-third the size of the general beading. Every part seems compounded
of cohesive spherules.
| EU eee ang High-power Definition. 193
besides the focal images of the Formosa and Angulata beading,
there emanates a rich bundle of iridescent rays from all these won-
derful little siliceous gems; small though they be, they are huge
compared with the wavelets that play around and within them.
As the falling drop refracts the sunbeam, reflects it twice internally
before returning it to the outer air and changes its colours simply
by new deflections, so the diatom beading plays with the ethereal
particles, dispersing its spreading rays in full prismatic glory.
Yet these colours, so evident even to the unassisted sight en masse,
vanish in achromatic vision! Should then these charming cha-
racters be destroyed? Dechromation of Nature’s own colours
resplendent in beauty 1s a chromatic crime.
The colouring of many objects is more exquisite and fascinating
as the perfection of high-power definition advances. We have a
wonderful example of this in the recently-discovered colouring of
Jupiter's disk, which can never be as well seen by achromatic—
artificially achromatic glasses—as by the non-chromatic mirrors. I
have lately seen the Formosum beading coloured with red, orange,
yellow, and blue. The beading has appeared wreathed with a
golden bronzing. Individual beads separated from their fellows
have appeared remarkably distinct. Destruction of colour reduces
the field to a spiritless picture. Objects which ought to be and, in
some cases, can be, lit up with a startling brilliance of hue, regain
with altered corrections the tame colouring of a dull prevailing
yellow and black. There is something recondite here beyond our
ken, to be patiently searched and understood.
The focal image of a brilliant flame may be distinguished just
above a spherical bead, in general only asa round disk. All change
in the shape of the flame is useless. The brilliant focal disk may
be found just above the surface of the bead. But I have observed
this singularity about it, that it expands the bead into an abnormal
size. ‘hus in observing the Podura beadings which are excessively
transparent and refractive, wherever a bead (considered as a refracting
lens) is so situated among the crossing rouleaus that its full aperture
allows a brilliant focal point to be formed (according to the direction
of the illuminating ray), there, it acquires nearly double its real size
and an exaggerated importance, and of course tells a delusive tale.
It is probable that the Diatom beading I now beg to urge our
Fellows to examine, will finally give up the focal images, of a
black cross (say a Maltese one), to an aperture varying from siaty
to ninety degrees according to the refractive index of the siliceous
spherules themselves. It can be readily demonstrated that aperture
has a peculiar effect upon the action and reactions (if I may so
speak) of refracting particles upon the light and pencils introduced
to the eye of the observer by the observing objective. I would just
remark that the focal images of convex lenses being inverted twice,
VoL. III. )
194 Teratology of Infusoria. ee, ape 1 BT.
will give a direct motion in the microscope from right to left when
the object is moved from right to left. As an encouraging practising
to those who desire to accomplish this microscopical feat for them-
selves, I beg to recommend the preliminary use of well-mounted
Beetles-eyes, in which the images can be well studied. Precisely
analogous effects in every respect may be looked for, in the convex
spherical refracting surfaces of diatoms. When the lens is concave
or double concave, the image I find by calculation lies beneath the
ordinary surface.
VII.—A Contribution to the Teratology of Infusoria.
By J. G. Tarem.
Puates XLVII. and XLVIIL..
Ir is sufficiently well known that the ciliated Infusoria, under like
phases of existence, maintain in each species a definite and constant
outline, and that differences of size or of colour, consequent on the
injection of food varying in quantity and character, are all which
distinguish one individual from another. These precise and fixed
forms are, however, occasionally, though rarely, departed from ;
and we meet with examples of malformation, dependent in these, as
in all other such cases, on hypertrophy or on arrest of development.
Of the few such instances as have from time to time come under my
observation I made careful drawings, and these I now beg to submit
to your examination.
In Fig. 1 we have a Trachelias anas, in which the lip, or brow
(as it is sometimes called), is inordinately prolonged, somewhat
spirally coiled, and clothed with longer and stouter cilia than
usual.
In Figs. 2 and 3, a Chilodon cucullulus, we have also a mon-
strous development of the same part, the lip projecting into an
elongated proboscis-like appendage, which, as seen waving to and
fro, and twisting with every movement of the animal, presented a
singularly grotesque appearance.
In contrast with the two preceding is a charming Vorticella,
Fig. 4. Elegant and attractive as are the several species of Vorti-
celle, it surpasses them all in beauty, and it is with reluctance only
that we can be brought to regard it as a monstrosity. Met with
on several occasions and in widely distant localities, we may fairly
question if it may not rather claim the importance of a named
variety, under that of Vorticella convallaria, var. monilata. I have
always entertained the opinion, though unable to assure myself of
the fact, that the transverse striations on the body of Vorticella con-
Pl. XIVIL.
i)
rel loucnal felt 7.
OSCOpL
=
cr
thy Mi
ve.
of ~infusoxr1
oy
Teratolo
“28 439M WazIHy,
—— ee ee i
<<
¥; = i
ee Se nO. Development of Monas Lens. 195
vallaria, like the markings of a Plewrosigma, are composed of
closely dotted, very minute, bead-like elevations of the surface, and
certainly the idea gains some colour from the example before us. In
it we find large transparent highly refractive beads, arranged circu-
larly in equidistant rows on the body of the animal. May we not
therefore infer that, diminished in number, but exaggerated in size,
we have the striations of Vortdcella convallaria made apparent ?
However this may be, no more striking object for microscopical
observation can be found in the whole range of Infusorial life than
is presented by a group of these exceedingly beautiful animalcules.
If these deviations from regular outline in ciliated Infusoria are
resultant on hypertrophy, arrest of development principally operates
in effecting such changes in the Rotifera—the Tubicolw being ap-
parently most subject to them. In Melicerta, through successive
degradations and the suppression of parts, several varieties are pro-
duced, which have been commented upon elsewhere. The Stephano-
ceros Hichornii here figured (5 and 6) presents, however, a generally
stunted and abortive growth. Instead of the graceful amphora-like
form, surmounted by a crown of elegantly incurved tenacula, bor-
dered by verticils of setee, we have a short squab body, planted on
an equally short, much corrugated foot, a narrow, though deep
infundibulum, supporting five short, obtuse lobes, clothed with rows
of long sete, and altogether comparing very unfavourably in appear-
ance with the Stephanoceri obtained from the same locality.
Malformations such as those I have cited have, in my opinion, a
value beyond that of mere curiosities, though as such they would be
worthy of notice and record; for may they not help to determine
the fixity or otherwise of a species through aberrant forms? and
thus a better knowledge of what is to be regarded as essentially
specific be ultimately arrived at.—A paper read before the Reading
Microscopical Society, February 15th.
VIII.—The Polymorphic Character of the Products of Development
of Monas Lens.
By Mercatre Jounson, M.R.C.S.E.
In the August number of the ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’
Art. VIL., it has been pointed out “ that the bearing of the facts there
recorded upon Speciology, Epidemiology, and Nature Scavenging
will be at once evident.”
Professor Tyndall has recently called pustic attention to the
second point, which has long been the subject of research to scientific
men. }
)
196 Development of Monas Lens. i Ae
Doubtless to his great and well earned fame we shall owe many
facts and opinions which will now be given to the world, but have
hitherto (like the researches of the alchemists) been confined to
the darkness of scientific studios, and transcribed in the cabalistic
abracadabra of such investigations.
But now that the subject is no longer caviare to the multitude,
it becomes the duty of all who are interested to throw the glimmer
of their lanterns (however small) upon the thief that is suspected of
such deadly intents and purposes.
The object of the present remarks is to draw attention to Monas
Lens and its kindred organisms, as a means of Nature’s scavenging ;
but to review the subjects in the order in which they have been put,
a few words must first be directed to Speciology.
The observations of Sir Charles Lyell,* Professor Phillips,t
Dr. J. B. Hicks, Mr. Browning,§ and other writers, may be quoted
in support of the opinion that “species is merely an abstraction of
the human intellect,” “not a real boundary set by nature ;”’ and
that “from one cell” many developments “can and do arise,” and
the facts recorded in the “ Jottings” give additional colour to this
opinion.
The transmutability of one form to another is important to a
subsequent consideration of the “Germ” theory of disease; indeed
to support the proposition that monads (from various sources) will
develop results varying as the “accidents” of their life, the pre-
vious opinion that species is an isolated collection of organisms within
a definite boundary, must give way to that more extended view which
arises from tracing the convergent lines of evidence to their necessary
point of incidence. ||
In order to trace the ‘‘ Germ” to its existence in the air, its
source must be examined, and if it is found to arise from plants
and (passing through stages varying with surrounding conditions)
to be capable of development to forms hitherto considered distinct,
the resultant forms (from still more widely differmg conditions of
pabulum, &c.) will again exhibit variety; and that if water gives
one result, air a second, ozone a third, mucilage a fourth, and so on,
then the effect of living mucous membrane must of necessity be
diverse from all. Always bearmg in mind the balancing effect of
“heredity ” and “ recurrence.”
But now, to address the remarks more especially to Epide-
miology and Nature’s scavenging.{] Professor Tyndall has referred
to the researches of Pasteur and others, and it may be added that
* © Antiquity of Man,’ p. 389.
+ ‘Life: its Origin and Succession, p. 199.
~ ‘Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science.’
§ ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ July, 1869.
|| See “ Higher and Lower Animals:” ‘ Quarterly Review.’
4 W. A. H. Hassall, Introd., p. 42.
a Development of Monas Lens. 197
Professor Sigri calls the attention of the French Academy to the
presence of Bacteria in the blood in typhus. Dr. Salisbury has
shown the connection of a Palmella with intermittent fever; Dr.
Lund, of Manchester, has called attention to “Germs ” in hospital
wards ; Professor Lister’s valuable researches on Carbolic Acid; the
question of Vibrio in Influenza ;* Mr. Dancer's paper “On Milk ;”
Mr. Staniland Wake’s observations on Mineral Infusions; Dr.
Angus Smith and Mr. Dancer’s Bottle experiments, and Mr. Spencer
Cobbould’s treatise on Entozoa—all bear upon the great subject in
question.
Empirical practice always precedes explanation, and the surgery
of the day, preserved meat practice, the stillette corking of wine,
and the occlusion of “preserves;” have already applied the facts
long before the modus medendi has been interpreted.
Abundant evidence of the presence of Monas Lens in all liquids
containing vegetable matter is found in every investigation, and in
the air in varying quantities at different times;{ also as having
been observed escaping from the primordial utricle of masses of
chlorophyll within the tubule into the vacuole in Confervee ; as
assuming its own rotatory movement on escaping from the primordial
utricle of isolated masses of confervoid growth; as escaping from
the bursting tubules of Vaucheria; as passing to forms which are
undistinguishable from those recognized as stages of Oscillatoria,
&c. For confirmation, see Franz Unger on Vaucheria, Berkley,
Brit Alge,’ p. 27; Agardh on Conferva Airea, Harvey, p. xxvii. ;
A. H. Hassall, Introd., p. 14; and Hicks.t In the last case the
germs are apparently more developed.§ I have seen full-sized
Euglena in the tube of Vaucheria in active motion.
These zoospores of Algze present an appearance precisely simi-
lar to that of Monads found in the air, as also to those found in
infusorial researches. The form is similar, their movements are
similar, and so far as microscopy at present teaches they are
identical. There is much evidence that Mucor Mucedo, Vibrio, and
Monas, result from, or, at any rate, are coincident with the presence
of more or less air and light, and it would appear that liquids or
substances (from which air is entirely excluded) do not develop
protozéal growths.
Feb. 6th, 1870.—Examined a bottle contaming crushed grass
and water, corked, in light, since November 17th, 1869. No signs of
moving life.
* My own observations on the nasal discharges in influenza have failed to
detect organisms, being constantly obstructed by the formation of crucial crystals
pa uedie chloride, called by the micro-photographers “crystals of the human
- + See “ Jottings.”
t “Gonidia of Mosses:” ‘Trans. Lin. Soce.,’ p. 581.
§ See “ Jottings,” Jan., 1870, p. 28. ‘ Observations on the Birth of Euglena,”
April 11.
198 Development of Monas Lens. Onenet, Ape To.
Where the quantity of air and light is limited, Mucedine arise.
Where air is freely and light sparingly admitted, Monas passing to
Parameecium is found ; but where air and light are freely applied,
Monas passing to Gonidium and Euglena may be expected. In
liquids where moisture is diminishing, Oscillatoria seem to arise.
The Soridium of Chlorococcus is white in moist dark holes, as
decayed elder trees and moist banks ; green in exposed surfaces, and
yellow on stone walls, passing either to green with Apothecia or to
yellow Thallus and subsequent Apothecia, forming Parmelia parie-
tana; in damp places, as bottoms of palings or doors, Lyngbya
results, while in very damp and rather shaded positions, Cladonia
pixidata.*
These, with numerous other modifications, as Collema Lecanora,
&c., afford infinite evidence of a tendency to variation, of what, by
tracing connections aided by microscopical research, would seem to
owe their origin to Monas Lens, or some other elementary germ,
whose difference is too minute to come within the reach of our
present microscopic vision.
It may be observed that Dr. Hicks traces the origin of the
lichens, &¢., no farther back than Chlorococeus ; but with all defer-
ence to so close and accurate an observer, it may be suggested that
experiments on Monads and their kindred organisms show that
they are entitled to further examination as the probable more
remote, though possibly (as Professor Beale suggests) by no means
the ultimate source of the Protozoa.t
Norr.—WNov. 30. The lungs of a rabbit, placed in two pints of
water in deep glass jar, in dark cupboard ten days; result, Mucor
Mucedo. Liver, heart, and kidneys, in two pints of water in glass jar,
exposed to light ten days; result, Vibrions, Monads, and Parameecia.
Professor Tyndall has shown that the rapidity with which air
passes through red-hot tubes causes much variation in the amount
of organisms and vegetal matter evidenced. This throws light on
the dispute beeween Pasteur and Jeffries Wyman. But the vitality
of germs is shown to be very tenacious by Vaucher’s observations on
frozen water.
Attention must also be paid to the pabulum afforded to these
organisms ; for we find that as ozone is present or absent so does car-
bonic anhydride vary in evolution. Certain substances prevent,
others admit of, while others, again, promote their growth.
Besides the experiments on various liquids, there is evidence,
from the varied states of growth which make their appearance on
inland stone walls, marine stones, trees, stagnant pools, running
water, shallow streams, deep seas (see Bathybius), drainage from
* See Hicks on Chlorococcus, Oladonia, Lyngbya, Nostor, &c.
+ Protoplasm, pp. 72, 3.
A A aero Development of Monas Lens. 199
manure-heaps and dark cesspools, that there are other “ choses
extérieures” which affect the cell in its future growth and develop-
ment.
The facts recorded in Parts I. and II., bearing on this subject,
will be found as follows :—
Presence of Monas in air—M.M. J., Aug., 1869, page 100, lines 10,
17, 20, 21; Exp., March 5, 1868; Exp., May 25, 1869. M.M.J., Jan.,
1870, page 25, line 21; Exp., July 21.
Monas in Vacuole.—M. M. J., Aug., 1869, page 99, line 27; page
104, line 4.
Escape of Monas from Chlorophyll blastoderm.—M. M. J., Jan.,
1870, page 25, line 17.
In November, 1867, I witnessed under a power of 700, round
masses of chlorophyll enclosed within a transparent primordial
utricle. I saw the utricle burst, and small transparent bodies,
having the appearance of Monas, escape into the surrounding
fluid, and at once assume their own rotatory movement.
Development of Monas to Paramecium.—M. M. J., Aug., 1869,
page 101, lines 1, 2, 8,9, 11, 12, 13; p. 102, lines 40, 42; page 103, line 2.
Monas to Gonidium, Euglena, and Chlorococcus.—M. M. J., Aug.,
1869; Exp., March 5, 1868, e.g. M.M.J., Jan., 1870; Exp., July
21, 1869.
Development of Mucedo.—M. M. J., Aug., 1869; Exp., March 5,
1868; b. Exp., May 25,1868; B, OC, D, G, and Exp., Nov. 30, 1869.
An interesting series of experiments might lead to more certain
results did time permit; but the occupations of an active profes-
sional life leave little leisure for more than desultory observations.
Thus experiments on results from air (passed through cotton wool)
(series of Woulfe’s bottles of potassic permanganate, &c.) to organic
solutions previously ascertained to be free from living organisms
would show how far the previous experiments are free from suspicion
or worthy of reliance.
The opinion that the organisms of this class (the dyalizers, so
to speak) have the power to change non-vitalized to vitalized matter
is supported by Mr. Hassall * and Mr. Browning.t It would seem
then that the condition of organized matter known as dead requires
an agent to convert it into the opposite condition known as living.
This is shown in the decomposition of organic matter, in which one
_or other of these protozdal forms seems to play the part of inter-
murciator, and in the case of disease where cells are passed from
life to death, this all-pervading “minister of health or goblin
damned” is ever ready to effect the process. . It may, therefore,
not inaptly be termed Nature’s scavenger; and while certain con-
* Introd,, p. 42. + ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ July, 1869.
200 Development of Monas Lens. Pee fare
ditions of the vital economy, known as “ low vitality,” seem requisite
to permit of the destructive change in the dead cell by the con-
structive change in the dyalizer. Evidence is everywhere abundant
that such changes can and do take place. Observation shows us
that plants in perfect health do not develop their parasites ; that
vigorous leaves are not the nidus for the growth of lichens; that
even between living and dead bark of trees the character of the
protozéal growth differs, therefore we may conclude that the parallel
condition of health in animals is associated with the power to resist
destructive change of which Monas and its congeners are the
dyalizers. In this sense, then, it is interesting to observe the rela-
tion of ozone to disease, and if we consider the chemical changes
in atmosphere, and the true nature of ozone, we shall at once
become aware of an apparent ratio operands.
In reply to a letter which I wrote to him in September, 1866,
the late Mr. Samuel Marshall, of Kendal (for many years a close
observer of ozone), writes as follows :—
“Tn reply to thy query, ‘ Have you any evidence as to its (ozone)
relation to health and disease ?’ This was the chief motive for these
observations. By consulting three or four of our medical men, we
have all long seen a manifest connection. My observations corro-
borate the following conclusion of Dr. Moffatt, who in a letter to
me says, ‘ Maximum of disease occurs with the maximum of ozone,
and vice versd. The maaimumn of deaths takes place with the
minimum of ozone.’ It will probably interest thee to find that, in
the last four months of 1865, we had a fever of a low typhoid cast,
and this continued on the first month of 1866. In the second (month)
it began to decline. In the last four months of 1865 the mean
quantity of ozone was very low; but it has gradually increased,
and the town become very healthy.”
Schénbein says, “ Air containing goo of ozone can disinfect
540 times its volume of air produced from highly putrid meat.”
What is this disinfecting? Is it not most probably the absorp-
tion of odorous gases by the Monads of the air which dyalize the
ozone and the odorous gas ? *
It will be evident to all who have observed the action of ozone
on dead animal tissues, that it is very easily destroyed. I have
made use of bladders to transfer it from one vessel to another, but
always found that the contact with the animal membrane at once
removed all traces of the ozone.
Professor ‘Tyndall has referred to the large particles of dust
which scintillate in a sunbeam as a cause of disease. These, as
shown by Pasteur, Pouchet, and others, as well as by my own ob-
rag ‘* Experiments on Yeast,” ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ Aug., 1868,
p. 100.
Otte Ap a Development of Monas Lens. 201
servations,* consist of angular masses of silex, soot flakes, pollen,
grains, starch granules, ligneous particles, Gonidia, Soridia, linen
cotton, and woollen fibres, hairs, &c., and may become traumatic
causes of disease, and give rise to bronchitis, influenza, knife-crinders’
and stonemasons’ asthma, as well as the bronchitis and consumption
of cabinet makers, moulders, sweeps, and cotton operatives ; but not
the critical diseases known as fever, rubeola, scarlatina, &c., which
so resemble the growth of living beings in their birth, perfection,
and decay.
Time will not admit of the consideration of the multitude of
questions which evolve themselves out of this series of observations :
such as Monas and its congeners as the source of Infusoria and pro-
tozdal growths; granular matter of Paramcecium as consisting of
Monads (evidence seems, however, to show that it is so of chloro-
phyll) ; the relation Monas has to Vibrio and to Mucor, or Vibrio
to Mucor, or Bacterium to Vibriot—the nucleus theory ; the con-
traction of cell-wall as a source of cilia; the shape of cells; the
change of colour in cells; the conjugation of cells as a Gamic
process; the vitality of formed matter;{ volition as the cause of
life;§ nutrition by Dyalysis; Amoeba as highly organized when
compared with Monas ; the relation of granular Mucor to Pus, and
the series of relations between Chlorococcus and Lichen and Moss
growths, between Palmella cruenta and Oscillatoria, Oscillatoria
and Lyngbya, Lyngbya and Moss; the relation of Paramcecia to
Conyallaria, Callidina elegans, Actinophyris Sol, &., and even the
relation of Diatoms to Alge.|| These and numerous other interest-
ing questions, of which evidence will be found in the “ Jottings,”
must give place to that of the relation of Monas to the great forma-
tive and destructive changes of life, called health and disease.
Evidence on this point, involving as it does all these other consi-
derations, and many more must of necessity at its onset be very
meagre and inconclusive. ‘The facts, so far as they go, warrant a
further investigation ; suffice it to say that this great subject of
world-wide importance cannot be elucidated with the rapidity that
is desirable by the efforts of private individuals, even though they
bring the talents and unwearied zeal of a Tyndall, a Beale, an
Owen, or a Huxley to the rescue; but it is not only worthy of
‘a State department, but can only be elaborated by the extended
experience of large bodies of special investigators.
Under this view, Monas and its congeners become at once im-
* See “ Jottings,” Aug., 1869, p. 101 ; Exp., March 6, line 43.
+ See ‘Fran Luders Botanisch Zeitung.” 1866.
t Beale, pp. 69, 70. § Ibid., p. 156.
|| In reference to a source of fallacy in microscopic experiments on motion as
a sign of “life,” and its relation to the chemico-vitai process of nutrition, it may
be observed that the movements of a piece of sodium on water, when in a state of
ignition, very closely resemble those of Monas in some of its forms.
202 Development of Monas Lens. Journal, April, 1 4370.
portant as agents in removing dead cells, and in their place supply-
ing us with the green verdure which is springing up around us on
every side, affording in their death, ike Mondamin (Hiawatha) the
pabulum whence the higher vegetal life arises, which in its turn
ministers to the wants of herbivora, carnivora, and man. A nobler
theme can hardly occupy our thoughts, a higher subject can hardly
stimulate our labours, and we can only say with our great Lau-
reate :—
“The sun, the moon, and the stars, the sea, the hills, and the plains,
Are not these, O soul! the vision of Him who reigns ?
The ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot see ;
But if we could see and hear this vision—were it not HE.”
Monthly Microscopical
eee April 1, 1870. ( 203 )
PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
The Peculiar Out-growths of Bridgesia Spicata.—At the meeting
of the Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, on
the 2nd of March, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters reported on the above
structures as follows :—“ The peculiar out-growths of this plant are
protruded from the young shoots above the axils of the leaves, and
above the branch proceeding therefrom. In the fully developed state
they are about the size of a large pea, of a yellowish colour, and have
a general resemblance to the tufts of hair found in similar situations
in Pereskia. In the youngest condition the excrescences occur in the
form of small, smooth, conical projections, covered with an outer
layer of small oblong cells, the outer walls of which are thickened ;
subjacent to these are four or five rows of small, spheroidal, densely-
packed cells, also cortical in their nature. These overlie a mass of
ordinary cellular tissue, the cells of which contain chlorophyll.
Running into this conical cellular projection are two rows of small
spiral vessels, which converge towards the apex of the cone, and form
a loop. These spiral vessels are continuous with those of the vascular
circle of the branch, and are surrounded on all sides by oblong thin-
walled cells, whose long diameter is parallel to that of the spiral
vessels, and more or less at right angles to the direction of the
parenchymatous tissue of the cortex and also of the medulla. The
constituent cells of the medulla are spheroidal, and destitute of
chlorophyll. Here and there spiral vessels traverse the medulla,
quite isolated from the general vascular circle. In the more fully-
developed excrescences the appearances are similar, except that the
outer epidermal cells now show themselves in the form of long
cylindrical cells (hairs), some of which are club-shaped at the
extremity. Some of these hairs appear to be uni-cellular, while
others show one or two transverse partitions. The hairs in question
are rather thick-walled, and contain a few scattered small highly
refracting granules (starch ?) resembling the granules found in autumn
when the leaves have assumed their autumnal tints in consequence of
the decay of the chlorophyll. From these appearances the inference
seemed to be that the growths in question were of the nature of
adventitious roots covered by hypertrophied epidermal hairs. ”
Icicles in Plant Cells—In the ‘Comptes Rendus’ for February
21st there is a paper by M. Prillieux on this subject. He has esta-
blished the existence normally of large icicles in the interior of all
frozen plants. These icicles form small columns, perpendicular to
the surface, and often penetrating the epidermis. The ice is formed
from liquids derived from the cells. The cells themselves remain
intact, so that there is no destruction, but simply a separation of
organs, and therefore what has been said concerning the death of
plants by freezing goes for nothing.
204 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. gic em
The Structure of Steel as seen by the Microscope —In a note pub-
lished in ‘ Scientific Opinion’ of March 2nd, a record of some of M.
Schott’s (of Ilsenberg) recent researches in the crystals of iron and
steel is given. M. Schott maintains that all crystals of iron are of
the form of a double pyramid, the axis of which is variable, as com-
pared with the base. The crystals of the coarser kinds, as compared
with those of the finest qualities of crystalline iron, are of about
twice the height. The more uniform the grain, the smaller the
crystals, and the flatter the pyramids which form each single element,
the better is the quality, the greater is the cohesive force, and the finer
the surface of the iron. These pyramids become flatter as the pro-
portion of carbon contained in the steel decreases. Consequently in
cast iron and in the crudest kinds of hard steel the crystals approach
more the cubical form, from which the octahedron proper is derived,
and the opposite extreme or wrought iron has its pyramids flattened
down to parallel surfaces or leaves, which in their arrangement
produce what is called the fibre of the iron. The highest quality of
steel has all its crystals in parallel positions, each crystal filling the
interstices formed by the angular sides of its neighbours. The
crystals stand with their axes in the direction of the pressure or per-
cussive force exerted upon them in working.
The Structure of Eozoon.— Professors Rowney and King, of Queen’s
College, Galway, still dispute the view propounded by Dr. Carpenter,
and now generally accepted among biologists, that the Hozoon
structure is the fossil relic of some protozoan animal. At a meeting
of the Royal Irish Academy held last month, the Secretary read a
note by Professors King and Rowney, of Galway, supplementary to a
former paper on “ Hozoon Canadense.” “ 'The note,’ say the authors,
“is descriptive of two specimens, one from Aker, Sweden, and the
other from Amity, New York. The Aker specimen is a crypto-
crystalline mass of calcite, enclosing numerous lobulated grains of
coccolite, respectively identified with the ‘supplementary skeleton ’
and ‘chamber casts’ of this reputed organism in its ‘acervuline’
form. Their presumed organic origin, however, is clearly a fallacy,
as the grains of coccolite display unmistakable evidences of having
been originally crystals that have had their edges, solid angles, and
faces, more or less rounded off by some dissolving agent. Imbedded
in the calcite are numerous long crystals of what appears to be
malacolite, lying about singly and in aggregations. In most instances
the crystals have lost some or all of their planes, angles, and edges, so
that many present themselves under the massive contorted cylindrical
forms peculiar to the so-called ‘stolons ;’ others, through prismatic
cleavage, are broken up into slender prisms, which, in numerous
instances, are reduced by erosion ; and further division, to simple and
branching configurations, assuming all postures and modes of group-
ings. The latter match in beauty the finest examples of the ‘ canal
system’ seen in typical ‘ eozoonal rocks’ occurring in Canada, The
Amity specimen consists of a similar calcareous matrix, holding
crystals of spinel, malacolite, and other minerals. In one of the
crystals of spinel, an octahedron, about 24 in. in its axial diameter,
Rar ae NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 205
the planes exhibit numerous irregular cavities and linear chinks filled
up with crypto-crystalline calcite; in the latter substance, thus situ-
ated, there are numerous beautiful examples both of ‘stolons’ and
‘canal system, —all clearly originating from crystals of malacolite.”
NOTES AND MEMORANDA.
American Microsespes.—The recent Report of the Judges (Mr.
Wightman, Dr. Curtis, and Mr. Stevens) on the Philosophical Appa-
ratus exhibited at the Exhibition of the Massachusetts Mechanic Asso-
ciation, held at Boston, in September, is highly favourable to Messrs.
Tolles. Of the specimens exhibited by the makers the Report says :—
“ The microscopes exhibited comprise a variety of instruments and
accessories, embracing much that is original and ingenious, and charac-
terized by nice workmanship and elegance in appearance.
“One large microscope with A and B Huyghens’ eye-pieces, and
Tolles’ patent solid C eye-piece, with micrometer, has a very ingeni-
ously constructed rotary stage, devised by Mr. Tolles, which is only
one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Its rotary movement is concentric
with the axis of the objective. It has also lateral movements by friction
rollers, and a sub-stage, movable by rack and pinion, for accessory
apparatus. :
“ There are several other instruments intended for students, whic
are much less elaborate. These are supplied with a one-inch and a
one-fourth inch objectives, both of second quality, and have coarse and
fine adjustments, and also the means for applying accessories. We
should also here mention a pocket achromatic triplet.
“Tn the list exhibited, we find a binocular eye-piece, and a solid
eye-piece, both invented by Mr. Tolles; and although the latter was
patented in this country by him several years ago, we were shown a
similar device, in fact nearly identical in every essential particular, by
a scientific friend, who has just returned from a sojourn in Europe,
where he purchased it as a new and valuable oculaire, one of the latest
improvements just invented by a microscope maker of celebrity in Paris.
“ Among the instruments on exhibition, we find first-class objectives,
as follows : a one-inch, having an angle of aperture of 27°; a half-inch,
with 60° angle of aperture ; a one-fourth, with 70° angle of aperture,
and constructed with a Tolles’ illuminator for opaque objects ; a one-
sixth immersion, with 150° angle of aperture ; and a one-tenth immer-
sion, having an angular aperture of 175°.
“ Tt is mainly to improved object-pieces or objectives, as they are
more frequently termed, that the world is indebted for the means of
extending the limits of our knowledge through the revelations of this
valuable instrument. Since the middle of the present century, im-
provements have been made, and a degree of perfection approximated
in the construction of microscopic objectives, which twenty years ago
were pronounced by the best authorities as utterly unattainable.
206 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. [yore Ape a
“Messrs. Powell and Lealand, Smith and Beck, and Ross, and
others of England; and Nachet, and Hartnack, and others of France,
besides many very reputable makers in Continental Europe, have
honourably vied with each other in advancing improvements upon the
higher order of objectives. But while such eminent practical skill has
endeavoured to meet the wants of scientific men abroad, in pushing
their research beyond that of their predecessors, there has been no less
demand by restive intellects in this country for the very best instru-
ments, and no less intelligence and skill in successful efforts to meet
such demand. Among those practical photonomers who have been the
most successful, whether at home or abroad, in the scientific construc-
tion of the highest order of optical instruments, the samples on exhibi-
tion from the Boston Optical Works well warrant the assertion that
their superintendent has advanced to the foremost rank.
“ In microscopic objectives, it is obvious that the extent of ampli-
fication, and the character of the light as well as the kind and degree
of illumination, are more or less common to all makers. Other things
being equal, the relative as well as the absolute merits of objectives
are commensurate with their degree of distinctness of delineation or
definition. This quality must not merely cover the outline of in-
finitesimal objects, so to speak, but extend to the minute details of
their structure and colouring. The higher powers of course more
largely magnify any and all defects or imperfections due to their own
imperfect construction; hence the true merits of objectives are in
favour of those of the lower powers, which under like circumstances
give equal distinctness in definition or resolution.
“The obstacles to perfection in this direction were various, nu-
merous, and enormous, so much so that those savans familiar with them
were generally the most decided in pronouncing them all but insur-
mountable. But for the high degree of perfection in our present make
of instruments, as well as our hopes for still better ones, we are largely
indebted to practical opticians, whose perseverance in their study of
the laws of light and the principles which prevail affecting the same ;
in the material of which the lenses are made, as well as mathematical
precision in giving them form, relationship, and combination, was
coupled with long series of laborious, but patient trials, studded with
discouraging failures, while on their tedious way to eventual success.
“The judges took as much pains as circumstances permitted to
compare the workings of the instruments on exhibition with others
of the most reputable makers in this country and Europe. The objec-
tive of the highest power was the one-tenth immersion, whose angle of
aperture is 175°. Under the observation of the judges, and others
whose assistance was invited, this objective {defined test-objects better
than any objective of the same power, and as well as many others of
higher powers, from other makers, which were at their command. The
usual tests were resorted to, such as the Pleurosigma angulatum, Suri-
rella gemma, &e., &c., among the Diatomacez, and Nobert’s test-plate
from artificial sources. The latter is par excellence the test of the qua-
lity of objectives. It consists of straight lines uniformly ruled on
glass, and is not subject to the variations which prevail in different
oh Bo reece ae NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 207
individual specimens of the same species, among natural objects. The
test-plate used was one of Nobert’s later make, containing nineteen
bands, the last of which, or the nineteenth band, was composed of lines so
fine and close that it requires over 112,000 to occupy the space of one
inch. These were clearly resolved by direct* light illumination from
a kerosene lamp, with the one-tenth immersion objective ¢ and a B eye-
piece. Among those invited who witnessed this performance may be
named Professor Wolcott Gibbs and Dr. B. A. Gould of Cambridge.
The true lines of this nineteenth band have never yet been seen by
Nobert himself, and their resolution has been pronounced both by him
and many European microscopists of eminence as physically impossible.
We cannot learn that anyone in Europe claims to have seen them, if we
except, perhaps, Nachet of Paris. At the U.S. Army Medical Museum
in Washington, D.C., with a one-sixteenth immersion objective, made
by Powell and Lealand of London, the sunlight being controlled by a
heliostat and rendered monochromatic, excluding all rays of the spec-
trum except those of the shorter wave-length, and condensed with a
one-sixth objective of Tolles’ make, the lines in question have been
photographed. Y
“ The one-inch objective on exhibition is constructed for use in water,
and seems admirably adapted for tank work where minute dissections
are to be performed. The prism arrangement of the one-fourth ob-
jective for illuminating opaque objects through its anterior combination
lens is new and worthy of special consideration. It is simple, its use
employed or readily cut off, and is free from the glare and other objec-
tions which have rendered nearly useless all former efforts to improve
the illumination of opaque objects under high powers.
“ The binocular eye-piece is also the invention of Mr. Tolles. It
not only seems to do well what any other form of binocular micro-
scope will do, but it is also suitable for use in those cases where all
other binoculars fail, their uses being limited to the lower powers in
consequence of the relationship of their binocular arrangement to the
objective. Mr. Tolles’ arrangement connects it with and makes it a
part of the eye-piece. It may also be used with telescopes.”
Belgian Prizes open to Microscopists.—Among the prizes offered
by the Belgian Academy of Sciences in 1871 are the following :—
(1) A determination, by new researches, of the position which the
genera Lycopodium, Selaginella, Psilotum, Tmesipteris, and Phyllo-
glossum ought to occupy in the natural series of vegetable families ;
(2) a description of the mode of Reproduction in Eels. The prizes
will be gold medals, each of the value of 321. (800 francs). The
essays are to be written legibly in either Latin, French, or Flemish.
The authors of the essays inserted in the reports of the Academy will
‘have the right to 100 copies of their essay free, and as many addi-
tional copies as they wish at the rate of four centimes per sheet. The
* Direct light should not be confounded with central light. The light was
direct from the lamp, unmodified ; of course it was very oblique.
+ This is the same instrument referred to by Dr. J. J. Woodward in his paper
in ‘The American Journal of Science’ for September, 1869, and in a communica-
tion to the ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ London, for December, 1869, and
called by him an eighth only.
e } ical
208 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. eT eee.
editions and pages of the works quoted must be given. ‘The essays
must not bear the name of the author, but a motto, to be repeated on
a sealed envelope containing the name and address. The essays be-
come the property of the Academy, but permission will be given to
take copies. They are to be sent, post-paid, to M. Ad. Quetelet, Per-
petual Secretary, before June Ist, 1871.
The Histology of the Petiole in Cryptogamia forms the subject
of a recent lecture by M. Trécul to the French Academy of Sciences.
The Development’ of the Flower in Pinguicula.—A very able
memoir on this subject has been written by Professor Dickson. This
was very favourably noticed by the Rey. M. J. Berkeley, F.RS., in a
late number of ‘The Gardener’s Chronicle.’
A New Edition of Mrs. Somerville’s Work on Molecular and
Microscopic Sciences. In a note written from Naples, Professor
Allman states that a short time since he paid a visit to Mrs. Somer-
ville. Writing to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, he says :—“I
paid a visit the other day to Mrs. Somerville, on her ninetieth birth-
day. She is a charming old lady ; her senses, with the exception of
slight failure in her hearing, are still perfect; she can thread her
needle without spectacles, and is in full intellectual vigour. She is
engaged with a second edition of her work ‘ On Molecular Science.’
The American Microscopical Society.—At the last annual meet-
ing of the American Microscopical Society the following officers were
elected :—President, Dr. J. H. Hinton ; 1st vice-president, Mr. Robert
Dinwiddie ; 2nd vice-president, Mr. T. F. Harrison; corresponding
secretary, Dr. 8. G. Perry ; recording secretary, Dr. J. S. Latimer ;
treasurer, Mr. E. C. Bogert ; librarian, Dr. John Frey ; curator, Mr.
8. Jackson. Committee on nominations:—Dr. D. H. Goodwillie ;
Mr. R. A. Witthaus, Mr. J. W. 8. Arnold.
M. Mouchet’s Wood-section-making Machine.—M. Mouchet
desires us to state that the “grande médaille d’honneur,” awarded to
him by His Majesty the Emperor of the French, was received at the
“ Regional Exhibition of 1866,” and not, as stated in our February
number, the late Paris Exhibition.
An Histological Entomological Prize-—The Council of the Ento-
mological Society offer two prizes, of the value of five guineas each,
for essays of sufficient merit, drawn up from personal observation, on
the anatomy or economy of any insect or insects. The essays to be
sent in before the end of November next. j
The Microscope in Silk-Worm Culture.— M. Pasteur, who has
done so much in this direction, proposes this year to carry out an
elaborate series of experiments on the subject of silk-worm growth,
health, and nourishment. These experiments will be carried out on an
estate of the Prince Imperial, situate between the Gulf of Trieste and
Carnero.
The Development of the Brachiopoda.—A very capital subject for
some enterprising microscopist is being investigated by Mr. E. Morse,
who is engaged in writing a monograph on the subject.
= a gaan NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 209
The Transmission of the Journal Abroad.—The communications
of Professors Vanlair, Van Beneden, and Masius have reached us, and
have been laid before the publisher, who has complied with the orders
expressed therein.
The Microscope in the Welsh Fasting Girl’s Case.— A curious
instance of the practical value of the microscope in many inquiries in
which its use would not be suspected by those not versed in its em-
ployment, was shown in the recent prosecution. Mr. John Phillips,
surgeon, in giving his evidence, mentioned that he also examined with
a microscope the contents of the stomach. He recognized starch
globules in abundance, and several small pieces of bone—either of
small fish or small birds. The starch was most probably taken from
arrowroot.
A New () Binocular Microscope.—A recent number of the
‘British and Foreign Mechanic’ contains a description, with figures,
of what is called an improvement in binocular microscopes, by Mr.
Samuel Holmes. The following is part of the inventor’s specification,
for we may mention that the instrument is patented :—
“ My invention consists in the use of two object-glasses or portions
of two object-glasses, or of one object-glass divided into two parts, to
supply through two eye-pieces a binocular and stereoscopic view of
opaque or transparent microscopic objects while illuminated by re-
flected or transmitted light, and also in the use of certain mechanical
means herein described, or their equivalents, for securing the motion
in required directions, or rest in necessary positions of the optical
parts of such combinations for obtaining monocular or binocular
vision. The objective—I take an ordinary object-piece, and by a
circular saw divide it along its line of collimation, and afterwards
rejoin the halves by screws and steady pins, until as an objective it is
in as perfect a state of adjustment as before division? It is then
capable of acting as an objective for one or two eyes, according to
the position assumed by the two halves under the control of the
mechanical part of the instrument when the direct light is stopped
out. According to another method, I work the lenses of an achro-
matic object-piece out of divided and rejoined dises of glass, which
when finished and fixed in a divided mounting temporarily held
together for that purpose may be afterwards separated by dissolving
out the cement by which the halves of the discs were originally con-
joined. Or lastly, I make two whole object-glasses, and fix one into
each half of a divided mount, cutting away only such portion as will
allow of proper approximation. This method is available for high
powers and for binocular use only. In all cases I cut the usual screw-
‘thread on the objectives to affix them to the body, and more surely
secure their halves in their respective places in the divided body tube
of the instrument by two small milled-headed screws.”
A Revolving Stage and a Tank Microscope,— Mr. Frederick
Blankley read the following note at the last meeting of the Royal
Microscopical Society :—“‘I have much pleasure, at the request of our
esteemed President, in bringing before this Society two small con-
VOL. Lit: Pp
210 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. hee eee cow
trivances which I hope will assist us in our pleasant microscopic studies.
The universal revolving stage consists of two plates of brass, in the
centre of which is a revolving disk, so constructed that different ap-
pliances may be placed in it.
“The one before you has a live-box, which can be placed in the
centre, and by turning the milled edge will rotate, so that the object
viewed may be seen at every
angle of light; also a cork
_ disk upon which may be fixed
/yp. any object wished to be seen
in various positions; and
an object-holder which does
equally well for transparent
or opaque-mounted objects.
This piece of apparatus is
the result of the desire to see
objects in different positions
and under every aspect. It
is made by Mr. J. Swift,
128, City Road.
“ The Tank Microscope
is constructed in a simple
and inexpensive way, which
may induce many to study
‘ Life as it is’ in the aqua-
rium, without having to ex-
pend a large sum of money
for the purpose. It will be
observed that the ordinary
condenser is used as the stand
or pillar for the microscope,
which consists of a sliding arm, into which the body of the instrument
is placed; and by having a revolving joint it can be moved in every
direction. On the pillar will be seen a small sliding, fitting into which
can be placed the stage forceps, leaf-holder, cork disk, &c., so that it
will be not only serviceable for tank work, but also for geological and
botanical purposes; and by placing it in a vertical position, and using
a mounting table of block of wood, can be converted into a dissecting
microscope: this also is made by Mr. Swift.”
A Diatom Committee.—Captain Lang, the President of the Reading
Microscopical Society, sends us a note, in which he makes the sugges-
tion that the Royal Microscopical Society should appoint a Committee
of Reference for those who are engaged in diatom inquiries. “In last
month’s number of ‘Science Gossip,’ in an entire article by L. G. Miles
“On Guano Diatoms,” there is a proposal worth consideration. After
giving examples of abnormal forms, and remarking on the tendency
towards extensive multiplication of supposed new species on insuffi-
cient grounds, this writer suggests that as the Royal Microscopical
Society, as a national institution, is now looked up to as a guide to
British microscopists generally, it would be well that a Committee
Penh MPH eae PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 211
of veteran Diatomists of that Society should be formed, to whom all
new or doubtful forms might be sent for examination or identification,
The recommendation appears to me to be a good one, and such a com-
mittee might easily guard themselves from the trouble of naming
common valves for tyros, by making a rule only to receive specimens
Se elaee to them through some member of the Royal Microscopical
ociety.”
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.*
Royat MicroscopicaL Socrery.
Kine’s CoLuece, Warch, 1870.
Rev. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., in the chair.
The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed.
A donation from the Royal Society was announced by the Secre-
tary, consisting of certain parts of the ‘ Philosophical Transactions,’
which would render complete the volumes of that work presented to
the Royal Microscopical Society by the President, and to which refer-
ence was made in the current number of the Journal.
Mr. Slack moved, and it was unanimously carried, “That the
thanks of the Society be given to the Royal Society for the parts
of the ‘ Transactions’ which had been so generously presented.”
The President said, the presentation of those parts now made the
volumes in the possession of the Society complete from 1751 to the
present time. They were therefore greatly indebted to the Royal So-
ciety for their contribution. He would just mention that the Council
had come to the conclusion to have the parts bound into volumes; and
that the volumes might be borrowed for the space of one month, on
condition that the Fellows submitted to a fine of 1s. per day for default
in returning them. It was necessary that regularity should be observed
on this head, and probably the penalty of incurring the fine would
ensure such regularity. He thought that such volumes could only be
studied satisfactorily by the Fellows at their own homes, and that with
this privilege of taking the volumes from the library before them,
many gentlemen would be glad to join the Society for the sake of
having free access to such a work.
Mr. Ladd, F.R.A.S., of Beak Street, Regent Street, exhibited that
evening a simple form of spectroscope and micro-spectroscope com-
bined. The maker described it as a form of spectroscope contrived
by him in 1868. Its size, when closed, is 2 inches long and 4%, inch
diameter. It can be applied to the microscope very effectively in the
following way:—The tube containing the direct-vision prisms is
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: H ydra—and by “ underlining ”
words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus
secure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedngs.—Ep. M. M. J.
Bee
212 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, [Monthly oa
mounted above the ordinary eye-piece of the microscope by means
of a tube adapted (taking the place of the eye-piece cap), in which
the prism tube will slide. An adjustable slit is made to take the
place of the micrometer in the eye-piece. When a second or com-
parative spectrum is required, it is only necessary to place below the
object-glass either a “ Reade’s” or a right-angled prism, or a simple
reflector, and the two spectra will appear side by side. By this
arrangement all the advantages of the more expensive forms of in-
struments are obtained at a small cost. It was as well a spectroscope
for non-microscopic work.
A new form of rotating stage of portable character was exhibited
by Mr. Blankley, and also a very convenient pocket travelling micro-
scope by Mr. Browning. This very portable form of instrument was
made for a gentleman connected with the Excise, who, being much
engaged in the examination of suspected articles, is obliged to carry
a microscope about with him in his daily duty.
Mr. Moginie also exhibited his monocular and binocular travelling
microscopes; and Mr. Richards his arrangement for working more
accurately with Darker’s selenite films.
Dr. Carpenter compared “The Steadiness of the Ross and Lister
Models of Microscopes under trying circumstances.” He also entered
into some interesting details “On the Shell-Structure of Fusulina,”
“The Micropyle of the Fish’s Ovum,’ and “The Reparation of the
Spines of Echini.”
Mr. Beck thought the real credit of carrying out the principle so
ably commented upon by Dr. Carpenter belonged to Mr. Jackson. He
did not think that in Mr. Lister’s improvements would be found the
full development of the principle. He had in his possession the first
microscope that had been made on Mr. Lister’s model, as brought out
by Tulley; and whilst the principle is firmly maintained of moving
the body, there is no approach to the beautiful movement for which
they were indebted to the mechanical skill, and thorough knowledge
and distribution of vibration, of Mr. Jackson. George Jackson was
the man who introduced the planing out that arm; and he thought
that he was correct in saying that it was planed out by Mr. Jackson
in an amateur planing machine of his own.
The President said Tulley’s microscope was the Lister model.
The supporting rods gave great firmness, but the form exhibited by
Dr. Carpenter was unquestionably the Jackson form. Still the ques-
tion is, which form is the most valuable for diminishing the tremor ?
Mr. Breese said, it seemed to him that the question of vibration
must be mainly dependent upon the steadiness of the object-glass and
object taken relatively, and consequently on the rigidity between these
parts, and had but little to do with the eye-piece, as spoken of by
Dr. Carpenter. He would contend that the Ross model is the steadier
of the two. The point of support for the object-glass is much nearer
the object, and there is no danger of motion in the tube interfering at
all. Without calling in question the experiments made by Dr. Car-
penter, he thought that a Ross model, which he had had in his own
hands, bore as severe a test, and exhibited no defect such as has been
a Apa ok PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 213
spoken of. He had to carry on some experiments at a railway station,
where everything was in a state of vibration (so much so that when
heavy trains passed small scalpels chattered on an earthen plate) ;
and he found that the Ross model with a } objective worked admir-
ably. He did not assert that the Ross model was the best in all
respects; but at the same time he could not see any logical inference
that the tremor was due to motion in the eye-piece; and while the
point of support was near the object-glass, this has but little motion.
Dr. Carpenter. any gentleman take the eye-piece between
his fingers and give it a touch, he will at once convince himself that
the tremor is from the eye-piece. You may touch the other portions
of the instrument and produce no tremor.
Mr. Lobb said, without reference to any particular make of micro-
scope, he would suggest that, having had considerable experience in
the use of high powers, unless the slow motion be excessively steady,
there must be a great vibration of the object under inspection. To
view the objects satisfactorily, not only must the instrument be steady,
but the slow motion also.
Mr. Ladd thought that it was scarcely fair to take two single
microscopes and compare them in the manner alluded to. He could
understand that if a microscope were taken which was a little worn,
the screw that tightens the bar and would make it steady might be in
fault. It was- quite possible, in selecting a microscope at random,
to account for all the shaking spoken of by Dr. Carpenter, since all
depends upon the way in which the instrument is screwed up. There
is the round bar at the bottom, and a little shake at that part would
account for all Dr. Carpenter had referred to.
Dr. Carpenter explained that the instrument used by him was not
worn at all; it was one recommended in the Canadian survey.
The President proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Carpenter for his
papers.
Dr. Carpenter said he ought to apologize for the mistake he had
made in his book. He had overlooked the fact that the particular plan
was Mr. Jackson’s; but he thought the title of his paper should re-
main, and he would add an explanatory note.
Mr. Slack said that he was sure the Society was much obliged to
Dr. Carpenter for the interesting subjects he had brought before them,
and that general regret would be felt that there was not sufficient
time to discuss them properly.
The President then announced that the soirée would be held on
the 20th April next, when he hoped a larger number of Fellows would
bring their microscopes than had done so on two or three previous
occasions.
' Mr. Beck inquired whether the soirée was to be of the same
character as formerly. Without wishing to say anything against the
plans which had already obtained, he should very much like to see a
new mode of conducting this annual entertainment. It was highly
desirable, he thought, that there should be one day in the year on
which the Fellows could meet for some useful purpose, and when they
can see the scientific exhibition of microscopes and microscopic objects.
214 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. cory ee
Mr. Lee said he desired to see the soirée carried out in a better
manner. He considered it a downright disgrace to the Society that
only four Fellows had replied to the inquiry respecting the objects
they intended to exhibit; and that only about a dozen besides the
Council had exhibited their microscopes on the last occasion. It was
merely a trade soirée. He said this without any disrespect to the
opticians who had supplied the chief attractions of the evening. He
was not prepared to advocate the abandonment of the soirée, but he
did think that the exhibition of objects and microscopes should be
more in accordance with the Society’s character.
Mr. Slack said that, in accordance with desires expressed to that
effect, the Council had endeavoured to give the soirée on the last
occasion a more scientific character. It was extremely difficult to
unite the requirements of a scientific gathering with those of a
crowded evening party. If the latter character were abandoned, he
hoped a good substitute would be found, so that we might not lose
the advantage of a friendly gathering cf Fellows with their wives and
daughters.
Mr. Beck said, what he wished to have was a separate evening
devoted to purely scientific purposes. They need not give up the
public meeting on this account.
Mr. Lee said if it was proposed to have two soirées, one of them
purely scientific, he should vote for the proposition.
Mr. Slack said he would not do away with the soirée, but he would
propose that an evening should be devoted to the completest possible
exhibition of the recent discoveries, new instruments, objectives, best
methods of showing difficult or disputed objects, &c., &e. This would
be a strictly scientific meeting, and the numbers could be limited to
about half those who usually attended, that the objects might be seen.
An excursion might then be organized for another day, to which ladies
could be invited to join, and when methods of collecting and examining
objects could be shown.
Dr. Carpenter fully coincided with the remarks that had been
made on the non-scientific character of the soirée, and the difficulties
of making it a scientific meeting were most apparent. But he would
just say that whatever plan might be adopted, he was willing to aid
the Council most cordially. He would engage to exhibit as many
objects as they could provide microscopes for, and would aiso be
happy to lend them large drawings which he had in his possession,
which would indicate the nature of the objects displayed,
The President said, he gathered from the remarks which had been
made, that it was the wish of the Fellows that there should be a purely
scientific evening, on which they could meet together, and also a more
social evening, conducted as formerly. ‘The scientific meeting would
have this advantage, viz. that it would be exceedingly inexpensive.
The President then put it to the meeting which of the two plans
should be carried out—the social excursion suggested by Mr. Slack,
or the evening party. The latter was adopted by a large majority.
After a few more remarks from Mr. Beck, the President announced
that the meeting was adjourned to the 13th April next.
Monthly Microscopical] PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 215
Donations to the Library from February 9th to March 9th, 1870 :—
From
Land and Water. Weekly Tenet tec Nat). fe, autor:
Dociesy of Arts Joumal, \Weekly yy 0-4 33. |S | SOCIELY:
Nature. Weekly .. . .. Lditor.
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, "No. 101 .. Society.
Scientific Opinion. Part XVI. : 50 eo WONT
Quekett on the Microscope, Dao ne a ie Millar.
Ditto ditto 3rd Edition... Ditto.
Philosophical Transactions for the Years 1813, 1836, 1837,
1838, and 1843... Royal Society.
Description of the Improved Achromatic Microscope. By W.
and T. Tulley. 1832 .. President.
Report of the Committee of the R. A. 8. on W. Tulley’ s first
large Achromatic Telescope, 1828, with an Chiecrens
6- 8 inches clear aperture ae President.
Report from the U. 8. Army Medical Department, on the
Magnesian and Electric Light for the Purposes of Micro-
photography nd 60) Jed Go Nc Gon “Bol eb a Won Uiaer Car, WES:
Peter Le Neve Foster, Esq., M.A., was elected a Fellow of the
Society.
Water W. REEvEs,
Assist. Secretary.
QueKeTt MicroscopicaL Cius.*
At the ordinary meeting of the Club, held at University College,
February 25th, 1870, P. Le Neve Foster, Esq., M.A., President, in
the chair, four new members were elected, four gentlemen were
proposed for membership, and several presents to the library and
cabinet were announced. Mr. M. C. Cooke read the translation of a
paper by Monsieur Alphonse de Brebisson, corresponding member of
the Club, entitled “ Critical Notes upon British and Normandy Dia-
toms.” The paper was of a technical and critical character, and of
much value as bearing upon the question of “ new species” of classifi-
cation; upwards of twenty slides in illustration of portions of the
paper were presented to the cabinet of the Club.
Mr. B. T. Lowne made some interesting observations upon the
structure of the cornea of the bee, founded upon some recent dissections
of the eyes of a large African species of carpenter bee. The Secretary
read a short paper descriptive of a number of varieties of Triceratium,
found upon a slide prepared from Jutland cement stone, a diagram of
the diatoms being exhibited. Some critical remarks upon the paper
having been offered by Mr. M. C. Cooke, the Secretary announced that
-Mr. Lowne was about to commence a class for members of the Club
who were desirous of studying microscopic zoology, and the proceed-
ings terminated by a conversazione, at which objects of interest were
exhibited by Messrs. Brown, Golding, Hainworth, Hislop, and White.
The annual soirée of the Club was held on March 11th, at Univer-
sity College, which was kindly lent for the occasion by the Council.
A large number of microscopes were exhibited in the library and
* Report supplied by Mr. R. T. Lewis.
216 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. pelos Beep ig
museum by the members. Interesting collections of photographs
were lent by the India Office, the Autotype Company, Messrs. A. E.
Durham, F. Good, and A. L. Henderson, and Flaxman’s studies were
open to the inspection of the visitors in the Shield room, whilst in
dark rooms, at frequent intervals, exhibitions of micro-photographs
were admirably shown by Mr. How. Mr. Solomon showed his process
of photography by the magnesium lamp, and Mr. Apps performed a
variety of brilliant experiments with induction coils and vacuum tubes.
Refreshments were served in the museum and in one of the class-
rooms. A numerous and brilliant company attended during the even-
ing, who were received on entrance by the President, Secretary, and
members of the Committee.
LireraARY AND PuimosopHicAL Socrety of MANCHESTER.
(Continuation of paper “ On the Natural Ropes used in packing Cotton Bules in the
Brazils,” from page 172.)
Bignoniacee.—Travellers in the Brazils tell us that by far the
larger number of climbing plants in the South American tropics
belong to the natural order Malpighiaces, and we should therefore
expect that this would be the family which furnishes the majority of
natural ropes. But this does not appear to be the case; the Bignoni-
acex stands pre-eminent as the natural order most largely used for
supplying lianas for packing purposes, both as regards the quantity of
ropes, and the largest number of species.
Most of them are readily identified by the remarkable and sym- .
metrical outlines presented by the cortical and woody systems of their
stems when seen in a horizontal section, the bark being projected into
the woody tissue, towards the centre, in the form of rays. These
cortical rays are wholly formed of liberian fibres, and they vary in
colour according to the species. In the majority of stems such pro-
longations of the bark are four in number, disposed after the manner
of a Maltese cross. Ina few species each of the four cortical por-
tions is very thick and perfectly square in contour, but in the larger
number they are long and slender, frequently reaching the pith
itself.
The yearly additions to these rays do not proceed after a uniform
method, and I shall notice two or three of the principal arrangements.
The more common is that where the four primitive rays are deeply
projected into the woody portion, the additions taking place each season
in the form of plates deposited on each side of the primitive cortical
ray. It is difficult without the aid of a diagram to convey a clear idea
of the sequence in which the various portions of bark and wood are
formed ; suffice it to say that each successive addition of bark is
projected into the wood a shorter distance than its predecessor, and as
the innermost extremity of every plate is truncate or rectangular,
it follows that the outline presented by each cortical mass is that of
a pyramid, whose sides are formed of a series of rectangular steps
like an ordinary stone staircase, It is difficult to account for this
SRE ero PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. OVE
singular appearance, but the more probable explanation seems to be
that a layer of wood is deposited for every layer of bark, so that by
the time a new deposition of the bark is about to take place the wood
has already surrounded the extremity of the previous plate, in con-
sequence of which the progress of the new plate inward is barred by
the previous season’s layer of wood. If this explanation be sound the
number of cortical plates on one side of, and including the primitive
cortical ray, indicates the age of the stem under examination. Each
annual layer of wood is thus broken up into four distinct portions by
the projecting bark, each portion filling up one of the spaces enclosed
by two of the arms of the cross. The number of plates formed on
each side of the four primitive cortical rays rarely exceeds six. The
peculiarity of arrangement, to which I here draw attention, is so
striking, that it isa matter of surprise to see this feature so badly
represented in Gaudichaud’s plates ; it is fairly drawn by Schleiden,
in his ‘ Principles of Botany,’* but a better figure is given by Duchartre,
in his ‘ Eléments de Botanique,’ p. 167.
Another arrangement of the cortical portion is also common. It
commences, as in the last method, with the projection of four slender
rays into the midst of the woody fibres, reaching about half-way to
the pith ; but the next additions which take place are not found by
the side of the four primitive rays, as in the first-noticed arrangement,
but occur as four new projections placed exactly midway between the
first four, so that the stem now exhibits eight of these rays arranged
like the spokes of a cart-wheel. At first, the four secondary rays are
very much shorter in length than the four primitive rays, but as the
stem increases in age all the eight rays become of equal length. Even
in this type some species exhibit an approach to the first type, by some
of the primitive rays in the older stems having one or two lateral
plates lying alongside them.
Perhaps the most striking form of all the Bignoniacez which I
have hitherto examined is one which unites the peculiarities of both
the preceding arrangements, but carried to such an excess as that the
cortical portion at last forms one-half the bulk of the stem. Origin-
ally, the woody portion is arranged in the form of a cross, the bark
filling up the whole space enclosed by the four arms of the cross.
According as the stem increases in diameter, new cortical rays are
projected into the four extremities of the woody mass, so that the arms
appear to be bifid ; these bifurcations also in their turn become bifid,
and so the wocdy mass has its primary, secondary, tertiary, and qua-
ternary divisions according to its age. Further, as the innermost
cortical deposit—that surrounding the woody tissue—is very dark in
colour, it throws into high relief the stellate outline of the woody
portion. I have met with only one or two species of Bignonia which
furnish this elaborate arrangement, and the specimens exhibited will
show its striking character.
The woody system of the stems belonging to this natural order is
by no means uniform, but it requires careful study before a detailed
description can be given. Nearly all the species, however, have
* Pp, 251, 252, of the English trans!ation.
218 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. — [Monthly Microscopical
numerous vessels of large diameter imbedded in the woody tissue,
so that the stems are for the most part very light and porous. Such
an arrangement might have been expected in plants whose stems are
only as thick as a finger, and whose sap has to travel a long distance
before it can reach the leaves, which are for the most part met with
only in the uppermost portions of the stems. In most of the species,
this woody tissue is traversed by a large number of fine medullary
rays, which give a beautiful figure to many of the sections. Their
internal arrangement does not manifest itself in any marked way on
their exterior ; their form is generally cylindrical, but some of them
exhibit four slight projections in the form of narrow raised bands
arranged lengthwise, which correspond with the outermost portions of
the four cortical rays. Some species have a square stem during their
early growth, and even the older stems do not altogether lose their
four-sided character.
The constancy of the figure four as the radical number is very
noticeable in the structure of the different parts of these stems, and
there can be little doubt that it originates in the decussate arrange-
ment of the leaves. The stems of the Mints, Sages, and many other
British plants furnish us with ready examples of a quadruple arrange-
ment of parts.
Malpighiacee.—If the lianas which belong to the Bignoniacee are
remarkable for the symmetry of their parts, the lianas of this family
may be said to be characterized by an absence of symmetry. In
general, their stems are singularly rugged in outline, a section pre-
senting deep sinuosities or irregular projections, while at other times
they appear to be made up of a number of separate branches which
have become consolidated in the progress of growth, so as to form a
rough-looking rope of many strands.
Jussieu gives a full and interesting account of the structure of one
of these stems, the Stigmaphyllon emarginatum,* and Gaudichaud} figures
an allied species; but I have not, as yet, identified either amongst those
coming with cotton. I exhibit, however, a stem which appears to be
the Tetrapterys Guilleminiana referred to by Jussieu, and figured by him
in his Monograph; { but this species does not exhibit the sinuosities
so characteristic of most of the lianas of this family.
As a general rule, the woody matter is developed unequally round
the central pith in the form of irregular lobes, the bark closely follow-
ing all the sinuosities of the stem. If the lobes increase on one side
of the stem only, the pith soon becomes eccentric ; but, on the other
hand, in many species, while the pith retains its central position, the
irregular growth of the woody lobes—each of which is closely invested
by the bark—causes some to grow beyond their neighbours, and these
latter, in the progress of growth, become imbedded, with their bark,
in the midst of the woody matter produced by the more vigorous lobes,
A stem in this adult state therefore presents the greatest irregularity
of form, particularly in the genera Banisteria and Heteropterys.
Sapindacee.—In this natural order we meet with some wonderful
* Memoire,’ &e., pp. 103, &e.
+ ‘Recherches, &c., pl. xviii, fig. 11, p. 129.
} Plate iii., fig. 5, p. 106.
Paine APE ae PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 219
aberrant forms of dicotyledonous stems, but I shall here notice only
two which are met with on cotton bales.
One of these is most probably the Serjania cuspidata figured by
Duchartre* and Schleiden,f and easily recognized by its triangular
form and compound character. It consists of a primitive stem not
specially noticeable for any divergence from the usual type of a
dicotyledonous stem; but round this stem are arranged three other
lateral stems, each of which has its own bark separate from the rest,
but united to the bark of the primitive central stem. These lateral
portions are circular in outline, save that they are flat on the side by
which they are attached to the central stem, which latter is in conse-
quence hexagonal. The attachment of the lateral portions to the
central mass is not very firm, as most of the ropes of this species reach
this country with their strands separated, but this is due to the rough
usage to which they have been subject in packing ; but Gaudichaud
points out that in certain parts of the stem—most likely at the nodes,
for he is not very clear upon the point—the lateral strands have an
organic attachment to each other, since some of the woody fibres of
the central mass are continued in one of the lateral strands, and vice
versa.
‘A still more remarkable example supplied by this family in the
form of a natural rope, is one which might have served our telegraph
engineers as the model of a submarine cable. Like the Serjania, there
is a central woody mass possessing a medullary sheath and pith, woody
layers, and a cortical system; but surrounding this central core and
arranged parallel with it is a series of eight lateral strands, each sur-
rounded by its own bark, the whole being consolidated so as to form
a rigid cylindrical axis, which presents no external manifestation of its
peculiar internal organization. It is represented in the last figure of
Gaudichaud’s ‘ Recherches, § and has been copied into most of our
text-books, in some cases incorrectly described as a Malpighiaceous
plant, as by Professor Balfour in his ‘Class Book,’ figs. 186 and
1429.
On examining such stems of this order as I have been able, the
pith and medullary sheath with its characteristic tracheal vessels
appear to be met with in the central mass only, and some botanists,
contrary to the opinion expressed by Jussieu,|| doubt the existence of
these organs in the lateral strands. Nevertheless, one of the most
recent observers of these stems, Herr Nigeli, has recently demon-
strated their presence in each of the surrounding woody masses.
A short summary of their mode of growth, communicated to the
French Academy by Monsieur Netto, will be found in ‘ Comptes Ren-
dus,’ t. lvii., pp. 554-557, 21 Sept., 1863, from which it would appear
that a young stem, two to three weeks old, exhibits a number of fibro-
vascular bundles in the midst of an outer zone of cellular tissue, one
bundle being formed opposite the innermost portion of each of the
* «Hlements,’ &c., fig. 82, p. 170. + ‘Principles, fig. 168, p. 253.
+ ‘ Recherches,’ pl. xiii., figs. 2 and 3, p, 110.
§ Pl. xviii, fig. 21, p. 130. || ‘Mémoire,’ pp. 116, 117.
4 Dickenwachsthum des Stengels... bei den Sapindaceen. Munich, 1864.
220 PROCEEDINGS OF societies. [Monthly Mictosson.
external groves of the stem; so that from its very earliest stage the
stem exhibits all the rudiments of the lateral strands which surround
the core. Around each of the fibro-vascular bundles a mass of liber
is formed, at first crescent-shaped, but afterwards annular; and by
the growth and union of these several parts the stem soon assumes its
peculiar composite character.
Leguminose.—Another group of lianas, presenting some external
resemblance to the sinuous Malpighiads, is met with in plants which
belong to this natural order of the genera Bauhinia and Schnella. In
the Brazils they bear the name of Cipo d’Escada, from their resem-
blance to a ladder, but Jussieu restricts this name to the Schnella
macrostachys.*
They are chiefly remarkable for depositing their woody fibres on
two sides only of the central pith, so that their stems have a singular
flat tape-like appearance, presenting in section the outline of an elon-
gate co, the position of the pith being at the intersection of the two
loops. The pith, however, by no means maintains its central position,
for according to the researches of M. Netto, the growth of branches
brings about a lateral deposit of woody matter, sometimes on one side
and sometimes on the other, so that the pith soon becomes eccentric.
The pith is generally in the form of a small Maltese cross, formed of
two unequal arms, the longest of which lies in the direction of the
largest diameter of the stem.
There are many other forms of Bauhinia, many of which will be
found figured in the standard works of Lindley, Schleiden, Richard,
Duchartre, &e.
Aristolochiacee.—It is very likely that this natural order has re-
presentatives amongst these ropes; at least to it I refer for the pre-
sent two species remarkable for their very striking medullary rays.
In both species these rays proceed from the pith to the bark,
increasing in breadth and volume as they recede from the pith, so
that by the time they reach the bark they become of considerable
thickness.
In one species, whose wood has a reddish tinge, there are about
nineteen or twenty of these magnificent rays in a stem exceeding half
an inch in diameter; the intermediate spaces are filled up with woody
fibres in which occur large vessels. In this species secondary medul-
lary rays rarely make their appearance. But in the other species,
which has a beautiful cream-coloured wood of the shade of our com-
mon holly, secondary and tertiary medullary rays make their appear-
ance, so that in a stem three-quarters of an inch in diameter there will
be as many as thirty primary rays, and as many more secondary rays.
In this, the commoner species of the two, the cortical system is much
thicker than in the first-mentioned species. Both bear much resem-
blance to a wood-section in my cabinet which is called “ New Zealand
Pepper,” a plant of which I am quite ignorant.
Ampelidee.—Gaudichaud in his memoirt gives a figure of the
Cissus hydrophora as one of the common lianas of the Brazil, but I
am not sure whether it occurs amongst the ropes which reach this
* Mémoire,’ p. 118. + ‘Recherches,’ pl. xiii., fig. 5, p. 109.
EE MCE BT PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 221
country. It is described by M. Netto,* and a short summary is worth
transcribing, as he had the advantage of studying the living plant.
In the section of a young stem, beginning with the bark, we have
first a suberous layer, then a thick cellular layer containing very little
chlorophyll; and having at the side nearest the bark a mass of dotted
cells whose walls become very thick. On the inner edge of this
cellular layer we meet with a number of liberian bundles in front of
some woody bundles; the latter are strikingly subdivided by the adja-
cent parenchyma into separate groups so as to cause it to look more like
the arrangement generally seen in a monocotyledonous plant.
M. Netto mentions that the structure of the woody mass is even
more remarkable, since in the place of the ordinary medullary rays,
cellular bands are projected from the bark towards the pith which
form cortical rays. Another peculiarity of the woody part is that,
notwithstanding it may be two years old, the woody fibres are so
loosely held together that they readily detach themselves from the
cellular tissue in which they are imbedded. The stem must be at least
three years old before it attains anything like consistency; this weak-
ness, as contrasted with other lanas, probably leads to its not being
so frequently used for packing purposes.
There is one histological character, however, presented by this
liana which will lead to its identification, and that is the abundant
quantity of raphidian crystals contained in all parts of the stem.
M. Netto describes the form of these crystals as needle-shaped, but
bifurcate at one extremity—which is peculiar.
However abnormal many of the stems belonging to these various
orders may become, and however difficult it may be to trace their
divergency from the normal structure, there can be no doubt that the
characteristic elements of the dicotyledonous stem are all present
during some portion of their lives. Their unequal development may
be brought about either by the vital energy of the growing tissue of
the bark being in excess of that of the wood, or vice versd, from
which circumstance will arise the curious outlines presented by the
relative distribution of each ; or else it may be produced by a much
more copious deposition of woody tissue at some points of the cir-
cumference than at others, from which evil will result the curious
forms presented by the Bauhinias and many of the Malpighiacen.
The monocotyledonous division of the vegetable kingdom has also
its representatives amongst these ropes. There are two species, per-
haps belonging to the grasses, which I have met with; but in neither
case is the entire stem used. One species is much larger than the
other, their diameters being about two inches and four inches respec-
tively ; both are hollow and are divided into strips for use.
There are many other species found amongst these ropes which
belong to other natural orders, such as the Menispermaces, Gneta-
cee, Asclepiadacee, &c., but our knowledge of them is too limited to
assign them to their respective orders. Most of my specimens have
come from cotton bales of Santos Cotton, and it would be as well to
* © Annales des Sciences,’ 5th ser. Bot. t. vi., p. 320; ‘Comptes Rendus,’ t. Ixii.,
p. L076.
, 7 Monthly Mi ical
222 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. Say April a0.
keep a record of the localities from whence they are derived. I am
very anxious to get some from the Pacific coast, where many species
differing from Brazilian species must be found. Gaudichaud mentions
the neighbourhood of Guayaquil, in Ecuador, as being particularly pro-
lific in these lianas.
I will conclude with a notice of another species which was sent
me from the Liverpool docks by Mr. Griffiths, whose structure is so
puzzling that I know not whether to call it dicotyledonous or mono-
cotyledonous. It consists of a central spongy mass of woody tissue
apparently without medullary sheath, pith, or medullary rays, and
arranged in the form of a pentagon formed of semicircular lobes,
the whole being surrounded with what appears to be liber which has
shrunk away from the very thick and hard external bark, so as to
leave the woody core isolated within it. The core consists of woody
fibres, but half its area is taken up with wide-mouthed vessels.
I may add that the whole of these lianas furnish beautiful objects
for the microscope.
Mr. Forrest suggested that useful dyes might be obtained from the
plants described by Mr. Bailey.
In reply to a question from the Rev. Brooke Herford, Mr. Bailey
stated that owing to a difference in the structure and general appear-
ance of some of the stems in his possession he had been led to suspect
that they were aérial roots of some of the plants he had exhibited and
described.
Microscopican Society oF LivERPOooL.
The second meeting of the present session was held at the Royal
Institution on February Ist.
The Secretary read a letter from Mr. Richter, forwarded by Mr.
T. J. Moore, descriptive of his published photograph of Infusoria.
Dr. Rickard then exhibited Mr. Richter’s photograph on the screen,
by means of the oxyhydrogen light, after which a paper was read by
Mr. G. F. Chantrell, “ On Winter Fishing in the Windsor Reservoir.”
The author, after a brief description of the reservoir of condensed
water at the Liverpool Corporation Pumping Station at Windsor,
enumerated the various species of Infusoria and Rotifera which he had
found in this pond on Anacharis alsinastrum and Potamogeton crispus
throughout the winter. j
Of the species illustrated in Mr. Richter’s photograph, Mr. Chantrell
stated that he had found within the last fortnight, and chiefly in the
lukewarm portion of the reservoir, Rotifer vulgaris, Dinocharis tetractis,
Pterodina patina, Floscularia ornata, Macrobiotus Hufelandii, Stentor
Miilleri, and Vorticella nebulifera ; and at an earlier period he had
also found Stephanoceros Hichornii, Melicerta ringens, Aecistes longi-
cornis, and Cothurnia imberbis.
Other species, not figured by Mr. Richter, that were found in the
same place during the winter were, Floscularia cornuta, Brachionus
urceolaria, and B. Bakeri ; Scaridium longicaudam, Epistylis nutans, and
E. anastica ; Actinophrys Eichornii and A. Sol ; Podophrya fixa, Acineta
a FROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 223
tuberosa, Vorticella microstoma, Vaginicola crystallina, Kerona mytilus,
Astasia limpida, Amceba princeps.
The paper was illustrated by large drawings from life of the
various species alluded to.
A very beautiful Rotifer, not figured either in Pritchard or the
Micrographical Dictionary, was also described by the author, its cilia
being as fine as those Melicerta ringens. It is generally found en-
sconced in a gelatinous matter, combined with decayed vegetable
substance, in the fork of the leaves of Anacharis.
The habits of a voracious parasite, Trachelias vorax, which attacks
Brachionus Bakeri, were illustrated by diagrams. The Trachelias in
a quarter of an hour entirely destroys the interior of the Rotifer, and
leaves only its empty shell; and in one instance the Trachelias was
seen to divide itself into four while in the interior of the Brachionus,
quitting the empty shell in sections.
The author, in conclusion, hoped that the short sketch he had given
would tend to awaken an interest in this easily accessible pond, and
that other members might be induced to examine for themselves the
life-history and developments of these interesting living forms.
The meeting concluded with the usual conversazione,
TunBRIDGE Wenis MicroscopicaAL Socrety.*
The monthly meeting took place on Tuesday, March 1, at the
Rev. W. W. Elwes’ residence; the President, Dr. Deakin, in the chair.—
The subject for consideration was Diatoms, which was opened by a very
interesting address from the chair, explaining their peculiar structure
and appearance under the microscope, and their mode of reproduction.
Some very beautiful specimens were exhibited. The same subject will
be pursued at the next monthly meeting.
Two new members were elected.
ABERDEEN Microscopic Socrery.t
The Aberdeen Microscopical Society met in the grammar-school
on Tuesday, 8th March, Dr. Ogilvie in the chair.—After the ordinary
business, Mr. Clark and Mr. Leys occupied the evening, the former
on the classification and arrangement of the Society’s Cabinet and
Catalogue, the latter on the Sea Urchin (Hehinus lividus), giving a
brief outline of the shell spines and other appendages of the skeleton.
He then described his mode of cutting and grinding the spines as
longitudinal and transverse sections. After some remarks by the
chairman and other of the members, a vote of thanks to Messrs. Clark
and Leys was unanimously recorded.
Reapinc MicroscopicaL Socrery.t
15th March, 1870.—Captain Lang presided, and exhibited speci-
mens, mounted in balsam, of his Diflugia triangulata, and of another
* Report supplied by Rey. B. Whitelock.
+ Report supplied by Mr. W. J. Johnston.
{ Report supplied by Mr. B. J. Austin.
224 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, _ [*onthly Microscopteal
flask-shaped species, still unnamed, as far as he is aware. In both
cases the surfaces of the tests, which are evidently of a chitinous and
not siliceous nature, have a beautifully-regular, hexagonal reticulation.
Tt is a curious fact that, though the bodies of such animals appear
to be nothing but sarcode, and though the specimens shown had been
subjected to the intense heat of the flame of a spirit-lamp, yet, in each
case, the scarcely-shrunken body of the animal could be seen suspended
within the diaphanous test, exactly as in its living retracted state, but
surrounded by a ring of agglomerated thorn-shaped particles, appa-
rently of a denser nature.
Captain Lang at first thought these were Diatoms on which the
creatures had fed, but examination proved that they were not; and as
this outer ring is present in each specimen, and of similar form, it is
not likely to be expressed food.
Collins’ dissecting compound microscope, with erecting prism, and
Miller’s test-slide, were brought before the notice of the meeting; and
specimens of Podocystis spathulata, Asterionella, parasite of owl, elaters
and spores of Pellia epiphylla, were exhibited by various members.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Régénération des Vers A soie et notablement des Vers a soie de Pays.
Rapport présenté & la Chambre de Commerce de Lyon. Par L. G.
Delerue, Ingénieur du Service municipal de Lyon. Lyon. Storck.
Eléments de Botanique. Par le Docteur Léon Marchand, Aide
d'Histoire naturelle 4 la Faculté de Médecine de Paris. Ouvrage_
rédigé conformément aux Programmes officiels de 1868 pour l’Enseigne-
ment secondaire spécial (année préparatoire). Paris. LL. Hachette
et Cie.
Quain’s Lehrbuch der Anatomie. Bearbeitet yon C. E. Hoffmann.
Erlangen. Besold.
Programme du Cours d’Histologie professé a la Faculté de Médecine
de Paris. Par Prof. Ch. Robin. 2e Edition, revue et développée.
Paris. J.B. Bailliére et Fils. ;
Ueber die Entstehung der Arten durch natiirliche Zuchtwahl, oder
die Erhaltung der begiinstigten Rassen im Kampfe um das Dasein.
Von Charles Darwin. Stuttgart. EH. Schweizerhart.
Untersuchungen aus dem Institute fiir Physiologie und Histologie
in Graz. Von Alexander Rollett. Leipzig. Engelmann.
fn) dpe
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PINEs. -
THE
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.
MAY 1, 1870.
I—On the Reparation of the Spines of Echinida.
By W. B. Carrenter, M.D., V.P.BS.
(Read before the Royau MicroscoricaL Society, March 9, 1870.)
Puate XLIX.
In my ‘Report on the Microscopic Structure of Shells’ com-
municated to the British Association in 1847, in which the first
detailed account was given of the structure of Hchinus-spines
derived from the examination of transparent sections,* I described
and figured appearances} which seemed to me to indicate that a
power of reparation exists in these bodies, notwithstanding the
very small amount of soft tissue they contain when living, and the
remote connection which this has with the nutritive apparatus. I
further expressed the opinion that the reparation is effected by the
investing membrane of the spine, which appears not only to possess
the power of depositing new concentric layers of the calcareous
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLIX.
Fic. 1.—Spine of Echinus trigonarius, showing partial reparation at its truncated
extremity.
,, 2.—Section of a similar spine, showing the termination of the pillared
structure at the line of demarcation between the stump and the new
growth.
3.—Section of a spine of Acrocladia, showing the derivation of the new
growth from the outer layer of the stump.
, 4.—Portion of a transparent section of the same spine, through the line of
fracture, magnified six diameters.
» 5.—Section of a spine of Echinus trigonurius, of which the normal length
and shape have been almost entirely restored by a new growth.
» 6.—Portion of a transparent section of a spine of Acrocladia, through the
line of fracture, magnified thirteen diameters; showing the contrast
between the pillared structure of the stump, and the simple reticula-
tion of the new growth.
* The fullest description previously given of these beautiful structures was
that of Professor Valentin, in his ‘Monograph on the Anatomy of the Genus
Echinus.’ Neuchatel, 1842.
¢ Loe. cit., § 115, Fig. 65, dd, ee.
vou, II. Q
226 Transactions of the Bet Aig
network, like the concentric layers of Exogenous stems, at certain
regular periods, but also to have the power possessed by the mantle
of Mollusca of furnishing an extraordinary supply of the requisite
materials when they are required for the reparation of an injury.
Not very long afterwards, my friend Mr. John Quekett showed
me a specimen of Echinus trigonarius in the Museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons, which had sustained an extraordinary mutila-
tion ; a large proportion of its spmes having been broken or cut across,
apparently by the bite of some strong-toothed fish, such as a Scarus
or Sparus, of .which the stumps that remained also bore marks, as
shown in Plate XLIX., Fig. 1. Many of these spines had the conical
termination here represented ; and I was at once impressed with the
conviction that this termination was a new growth, produced by the
reparative power inherent in the organic substance of the spine.
This conclusion became a certainty when a longitudinal section was
made of one of these conical-tipped spines (Fig. 2); for it then be-
came obvious that the regular pillared structure was terminated at
the base of the cone by an abrupt line of demarcation, and that the
substance of the cone was formed of that simple or non-differen-
tiated calcareous reticulation, which, as I showed in my ‘ Report,’
constitutes the elementary type of the skeleton of Echinodermata
generally—a generalization which all subsequent observations on
its character have tended to confirm.* It further appeared from
this section that the new growth proceeds mainly, if not exclusively,
from the outer layers of the spine; a distinct continuity of struc-
’ ture being there traceable, whilst there is a complete interruption
between the calcareous reticulation of the central part of the base
of the cone and that of the truncated end of the spine on which it
rests.
An account of these spines, with some details of the structure
of their new growths, was given by Mr. Quekett, in his ‘ Histo-
logical Catalogue of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons ;’ t
and this was repeated in his ‘ Lectures on Histology, } with a
notice of two spines that had subsequently come into his possession,
one of which showed a new growth 14 inch long, so nearly replacing
the part that had been lost as to restore the general form and pro-
portions of the spine; whilst in the other there was seen on vertical
section the evidence of four successive reparations. Though his
sketch (Fig. 123 8) of this last specimen plainly indicates that these
reparations were effected by ingrowth from the superficial layers, he
does not notice the circumstance ; but remarks (p. 228) that he has
not been able to find, by treating with acid spines that have never
* See Chap. xu. of my ‘Microscope and its Revelations;’ Mr. James Salter’s
Memoir “On the Structure and Growth of the Tooth of Echinus,” in ‘Philos.
Transact.’ for 1861; and my own Memoir “On the Structure, Physiology, and
Development of Antedon rosaceus,” in ‘Philos. Transact.,’ 1866.
{ Vol. i., p. 304, plate xv., fig. 18. t Vol. ii., pp. 229-231.
es re en ae Royal Microscopical Society. pve
been dried, any trace of the soft cuticular investment which has
been stated by most writers on the anatomy of the Echinodermata to
cover not only the surface of the shell but that of the spines. In this
remark, as will presently more fully appear, I now entirely concur ;
my former assumption that the reparation is effected by the investing
membrane of the spine having been based, not on my own observa-
tions, but on the doctrine then current as to the existence of such
a membrane.
Before the publication of Mr. Quekett’s description, I had made
sections of several spines which I had obtained from different
Museums, showing external appearances more or less distinctly
indicative of reparation. One of these (Fig. 5), from a specimen of
Echinus trigonarius, very closely resembles the spine figured by
Mr. Quekett, in Fig. 123 a of his ‘Lectures on Histology. The
new growth is nearly 2 inches long; and only differs externally from
the basal portion of the spine, in being of rather smaller diameter.
The principal part of it is composed of the ordinary calcareous reti-
culation, which has obviously grown inwards from the outer layers of
the basal portion; but this is covered with layers of the pillared struc-
ture, continuous with those of the basal portion, showing that the
_ new growth, as originally formed, has been invested by exogenous
layers produced in the ordinary mode. Another spine (Fig. 3), which
T obtained from a large Acrocladia, has a new growth 1} inch long ;
but this has a pointed shape, very unlike the cylindrical or somewhat
club-shaped figure of the ordinary spine. A transparent section of
this spine, of which a portion is represented in Fig. 4, enables the
derivation of the new growth from the outer layers of the stump to
be very clearly traced. And the same is the case in another spine,
also from an Acrocladia, of which a portion is represented in Fig. 6,
In my Memoir on Antedon rosaceus* I have stated that the
reticular calcareous skeleton of that Crinoid, when a fresh specimen
is treated with dilute nitric acid, is found to possess a homogeneous
organic basis, apparently of a sarcodic or protoplasmic character ;
through which are dispersed little granular glomeruli, that seem to
have occupied the open spaces of the reticulation, and are partly
composed of oil-molecules. By treating the spines of freshly-
captured Echini in a similar manner, I have found them also to
possess a similar organic basis-substance; and it can scarcely be
doubted that it is in the portion of it which occupies the interspace-
system of the calcareous network, which is continuous throughout
the spine, that the formative capacity resides ; that which forms the
basis of that network, when once consolidated by calcareous deposit,
probably losing its reproductive power. Now in the small and
simply constructed spines of the Hehinus miliaris and 1. Ple-
mingii of our own coasts, in which alone I have as yet examined this
* ¢ Philos, Transact.’ for 1866, p. 703.
Q 2
228 Transactions of the Nae eae
basis-substance, it seems to be diffused throughout the spine, though
more tenacious and membrane-like in its external portions. But in
the large spines of those species which add layer to layer by exo-
genous growth, it seems to me not improbable that the sarcodic
basis-substance may after a time cease to occupy the interspace-
system of the older and inner portions of the spine, and that
it may be for the most part restricted to the newer and outer
layers; just as we know that in an ordinary Exogenous stem, the
outer layers only of the wood take an active part in its functional
changes. And it is a confirmation of this idea, that such is cer-
tainly the case in the segments of the arms of the fully-developed
Antedon ; in which I have often found the sarcodic basis-substance,
after the decalcification of the segment, to form a mere shell,—
scarcely any trace of it being discoverable in the interspace-system
of the central part of the calcareous reticulation. And thus,
although the notion of an “investing membrane” to these spines,
performing the functions of the periosteum of bone, proves to be
fallacious, we seem justified in regarding the organic basis-substance
of their outer last-formed layers as the part essentially concerned in
effecting these remarkable reproductions. 'The marvel is that they
should be able to derive the materials of their work from such a
remote source as the nutritive apparatus within the shell, no vessels
of any kind having been found to pass through its walls to convey
nutrient fluid to the spines borne upon its exterior.
geese ran a Royal Microscopical Society. 229
Il.—On the Colowring Matters derived from the Decomposition
of some Minute Organisms. By H. C. Sorsy, F.RBS., &.
(Read before the Royau Microscorricau Society, April 18, 1870.)
Tue Rey. J. B. Reade, in his address as President of the Royal
Microscopical Society, when speaking of the blue dichroic fluid
exhibited at the last soirée, said that I had clearly proved that a very
different spectrum is produced by the addition of albumen to the con-
fervoid mass, to that formed without any such addition. Since these
substances have excited much interest, and are moreover a very good
illustration of the value of studying the various changes that occur
on slow decomposition, it may perhaps be well to publish an account
of the facts which led me to communicate my conclusions to Mr.
Reade.
The first specimen I examined was a portion of that exhibited
at the soirée of the Microscopical Society in 1867, the spectra of
which were described by Mr. Browning in the ‘ Quarterly Journal
of Microscopical Science’ for the following July. My observations
entirely agreed with his, in showing that the transmitted light con-
tained two well-marked absorption-bands, one in the orange, and the
other in the yellow end of the green; and there appeared to be no
reason to suspect that these two bands were due to two independent
colouring matters. Such, however, turns out to be the fact, as I
have since been able to prove by a comparison of the blue fluid formed
by the decomposition of the confervoid mass in water alone, with
that due to decomposition along with albumen.
I was indebted to Mr. Bohler for a most excellent specimen of
the colour formed without albumen, by the decomposition of the
conferyoid growth from a spring depositing much carbonate of lime,
which occurs in the valley of the Wye below Kingsterndale, near
Buxton. It transmitted a magnificent blue light, and reflected a
fine red, owing to its being very fluorescent. ‘The spectrum of the
transmitted light showed a single dark absorption-band in the orange,
lying just on the red side of the line D, There wasa slight shading
from it to the yellow end of the green, whilst the extreme red and
the whole of the blues were very bright. ‘This absorption-band
corresponded in position and width with that which occurred in the
orange, in the case of the specimen first examined and described by
‘Mr. Browning and myself, but the second band was entirely absent.
When examined by a strong side illumination in a narrow tube fixed
into a brass foot with black sealing wax, so that no light not dependent
on fluorescence could pass up the instrument, the spectrum showed
that the extreme red was very bright, but the blues very dull, and
the absorption-band was only just visible.
Through the kindness of Mr. Reade, I was able to examine a
230 Transactions of the eS ae
second specimen due to decomposition along with albumen. Origin-
ally it was of a purple-blue colour, but after keeping it for a couple
of months in a corked bottle it had become a fine pink by transmitted
light, with strong fluorescence of orange-red colour when illuminated
at the side. The spectrum of the transmitted light showed only one
absorption-band, extending from just beyond D over the yellow end
of the green, corresponding in position and width with the second
band in,the colour first described by Mr. Browning and myself.
The red and orange were quite free from absorption, but the blue
rays were only partially transmitted when the thickness of the
solution was considerable. The spectrum of the light of fluorescence
showed a very bright narrow band in the yellow, just on the green
side of the line D, the green and blue rays were absent, and the red.
comparatively faint. Adopting as the scale of measurement the
interference spectrum described by me in previous papers, which
divides the visible spectrum into twelve portions of equal optical
value, and is so adjusted that the line D is situated at 34, and F
at 74; and expressing the intensity of the absorption, whether
slight, moderate, or great, by dots, hyphens, or dashes respectively,
which when printed between numbers signify that there is a more
or less strong absorption between those points in the spectrum, as
measured by the scale, and when printed wnder numbers signify that
there is a more or less distinct absorption-band, the centre of which
is situated at the point indicated by the figures, we may express the
above-named spectra in the following manner, so that they may be
easily compared :—
|
Spectrum of the trans- Spectrum of the Light of
mitted Light. fluorescence.
Decomposed without ame 23 pi: 13 at eee
men at ache tical! Pac 25 a ia
A a
Decomposed with albumen 2 3200 4-—
Specimen described by Mr. 23 42 94 2: tes a
Browning and myself . a .: “ 2 =
It will thus be seen that the spectra of the blue colour prepared
without albumen are quite different from those of the colour pro-
duced by keeping for a few months with albumen, whilst the spectra
of the original blue colour are precisely like what would result from
a mixture of these two. On keeping the colour formed without
albumen for about nine months in a corked bottle no pink colour
was developed. It gradually became paler, and at length greenish
brown, showing a mere trace of the original absorption-band, but no
other ; and hence it should appear that the pink colour is not formed
by the simple decomposition of the blue. In a similar manner the
ne paee ere Royal Microscopical Society. 231
pink solution gradually faded to pale orange, even when hermetically
sealed, and showed only a faint trace of the band originally seen in
the green. On the whole, therefore, the facts seem to show that
when decomposition takes place with much albumen present, both
colours are generated, and then the blue is decomposed in such a
manner that the pink colouring matter is left by itself; and thus we
have a good illustration of the value of studying the changes that
occur during: slow decomposition, and of the importance of our care-
fully examining whether any particular spectrum is due to a single
substance or to a mixture of several.
Since writing the above, Mr. Sheppard has kindly sent to me a
specimen of the liquid prepared with casein. This gave a spectrum
with the same two absorption-bands as when albumen had been used.
Having thus, as I believed, proved that it was a mixture of the two
coloured substances, I thought it would be interesting to ascertain
whether they could be separated, or one decomposed without chang-
ing the other. After trying various experiments, I found that by
mixing the liquid with an equal bulk of absolute alcohol a precipitate
was formed; and when this had been removed by filtration, a clear
pink solution was left, which gave exactly the same spectrum as that
of the pink colour obtained by slow decomposition, as described above.
On evaporating this alcoholic solution at a gentle heat, so that nearly
all the alcohol was removed, and a more concentrated aqueous solu-
tion left, I was able to examine the spectrum to greater advantage
than heretofore. The transmitted light showed the narrow and dark
absorption-band at the yellow end of the green, and also another,
very faint, nearer the centre of the green, but there was no trace of a
band in the orange. The light of fluorescence gave a single, narrow,
bright-yellow band. These different bands corresponded in every
respect with those characteristic of the pink colour already described,
and also with the equivalent bands in the spectra of the mixed liquid.
The aleohol seems to decompose the blue colour; for when the
precipitate was redissolved in water, only a turbid brownish-grey
liquid was obtained.
On agitating the mixed solution with ether, it rose to the top
coloured pink, leaving the water blue; but the separation is unsatis-
factory, on account of both solutions being very turbid, and the
colouring matter im great measure precipitated.
Through the kindness of Mr. B. D. Jackson, I have also been
‘able to examine another specimen of the blue fluid, prepared without
albumen or casein. ‘This gave, like the specimens previously exa-
mined, a single absorption-band in the orange, but none in the green ;
and thus it appears that the production of the pink colour depends
on the presence of albumen or casein in a state of decomposition, and
whatever difference there may be in the result is apparently due
to a variation in the relative amount of the two colours.
oa¢ 5 Ss Monthly Microscopical
232 Transactions of the pear neti
Ill.—Cercarix, parasitic on Lymnxa Stagnalis.
By Janez Hoaa, Hon. Sec. R.M.S., &e.
(Read before the Rovau Microscoricat Society, April 18, 1870.)
Puiate L. (upper half).
THE superior means, and increased facilities, for microscopic in-
vestigation which we now possess, over observers of a former
generation, offer some temptation to young and enthusiastic workers
to go over ground apparently exhausted, or at least well worked.
This is often useful, if for no other purpose than that of comparing
notes, weeding out supposed new species, rooting out old theories,
and perchance clearing up some obscure or doubtful point in the
history of an animal or vegetable. It will be readily conceded that
owing to the imperfections of the instrument employed up to within
the last quarter of a century, and the method of preparing and
mounting objects, many inaccuracies have crept into our scientific
descriptions, and have been accepted for no better reason than because
presented under the authority of some well-known name.
Such thoughts were passing through my mind as I was leisurely
observing the movements of some water-snails near the edge of the
lake in the Botanical Gardens towards the end of the autumn of
last year. I stooped to pick upa fine specimen of Lymnezus stagnalis,
and observed suspended from its pulmonary cavity a mass of minute
thread-like bodies, which my pocket lens enabled me to dete: mine
were of a parasitic nature. I put the specimen in my pocket, for
more careful examination at home. Before depositing the snail in
my aquarium, I gently detached a few of the little animals, and put
them into a shallow cell. On viewing them with a half-inch objec-
tive I was arrested by their wonderful activity ; they plunged in
the water and lashed it about in their wild attempts to escape.
Finding all efforts to do so impossible, they violently tore their
tails from their bodies, swam about for a few moments, even more
vigorously than before, and at length growing weaker, died appa-
rently from exhaustion. I had no doubt that my specimens were
the larvee of a trematode worm; but as I had not previously: seen
any exactly like these, which differed in some particulars from those
figured by various authors, and was so very different from one given
in my paper ‘‘On the Water-snail,” * I was rather inclined to believe I
EXPLANATION OF PLATE L. (upper half).
Fie. 1.—Cercaria furcata, seen when first removed from the Lymnzeus.
2.—A profile, or side-view, of animal at perfect rest, and suddenly killed.
3.—Seen in the act of breaking or dividing into two portions.
”
”
* “Trans.,’ vol. ii., p. 102, 1854.
iy
=
al Journal. Mayl.1870.
3,copic
The Monthly Micro
W.West mp.
Tuffen West Sc.
Regeneration of nerve -structure.
Cercarice
Monthly Microscopical
Thames Mae 1 ete. Royal Microscopical Society. 233
had discovered a new species. My search for either a description or
drawing was unavailing, until Dr. Baird directed my attention to
Dr. Nitzsch’s small volume, in which I found a very badly-drawn
specimen of Cercaria furcata, somewhat resembling mine. It is
there grouped among some strange companions, and seemingly
placed by this author among infusorial animalcules. It is quite
unnecessary to dwell upon the remarkable metamorphoses which
trematode Hntozoa undergo during development into flukes ; but as
every species of animal appears to be lable to be infested by a fluke,
it will, I am sure, be considered not out of place if I attempt to call
more particular attention to a point or two in the history of this
cercaria which I think has hitherto not been dwelt upon with
sufficient care.
Early writers on the parasites of molluscs look upon them as a
disease, and this view is held to the present day. It is, however,
somewhat remarkable that the hundreds of these little animals which
are seen to cluster around the body of the strongest and healthiest
snails, produce no apparent discomfort to their nurses. They like-
wise take possession of the smaller and younger snails, whose growth
is In no way impeded, nor health deranged ; but after having com-
pleted this phase of existence, they are weaned without difficulty,
and only wait the opportunity to begin a new life in the stomach of
a higher order of animals. When the snail is kept in a confined
space, and without a sufficient supply of vegetable food, the cercarize
slip from their hiding place, swim about freely, and are soon lost sight
of ; this would scarcely be the case if they sucked their nurse and
depended upon her fornourishment. It is questionable, then, whether
it is right to regard their presence as a condition of disease ; possibly,
they bear no other relation to an abnormal condition than the spores
of the mushroom do to the stomach of the horse, through which
viscus they must pass before they are in a fit state to germinate.
Réaumur took cercarie to be “mites;” Miller, “worms.” The
latter called them “vibrio Malleus;” Bory “ Histrionella fissa ;”
and Steenstrup first noticed their transformation to Distoma.
Among the earliest writers who seem to have understood these
curious hair-like worms, was Dr. Christian Ludwig Nitzsch, who in
1817 published a small monogram, entitled ‘ Bertrag zur Infusorien-
kunde oder Naturleschreibung der Zerkarien und Bazillarien.’ Among
other badly-executed drawings of infusorial animalcules is one which
is intended to represent Cercaria furcata. Its peculiar forked-like
tail is almost sure to induce anyone who sees it for the first time, to
think that it should be properly placed among Rotifers. V. Baer in
an excellent paper* enters more fully into the peculiarities of this
species, and of the various forms it assumes. He discovered cercariz
on Paludina vivipora. Diesing, in his ‘ Systema Helminthum,’
* Nov. Act. Nat. Cor. xiii. 2. p.627. 1827.
234 Transactions of the ge i aig on
1850, shortly describes it among twelve other species, under the
name of “ Malleolus furcatus Ehrenberg. Corpus elongatum de-
pressum, Os subterminale, Acetabulum centrale tubuliforme, Cauda
teres simplex, Apice fureata. Habitaculum Limneus stagnalis.”
Siebold described a species of cercarize, which he says are to be
seen in thousands upon specimens of large fresh-water snails, the
body of which is of an elongated form, head triangular, and ventral
sucker scarcely visible. ‘The swimming movements are restless and
characteristic, and chiefly performed by the tail. The tail tapers
from the body downwards, but is not acutely terminated. This
member is thrown off in its change to the fluke. It is, I believe,
the remarkable way in which these creatures when in a confined
space are seen to break off this appendage, which has led to a belief
that the tail is not absorbed into the body of the future animal in
its subsequent metamorphosis, as we know occurs in the analogous
transformation of the tadpole into the frog. I venture to think
Siebold’s description in this particular an error. Some naturalists say
the ova of cercariz are developed within the body of the snail; this is
scarcely consistent with what 1s stated regarding the healthy state of
infested snails. I believe what has been seen are simply gregarine,
which are sometimes found in abundance in the alimentary canal of
the Lymneus. The parent may find it convenient to conceal her eggs
in the folds of the mantle, or in the pulmonary cavities, where they
will be secured from the attacks of enemies; or they may be at-
tached to the internal portion of the shell, just as vorticella are to
the outer. I am of opinion the eggs are hatched here that the young
animals may find a ready means of subsistence; a careful nurse,
who gently carries them among plants which afford an abundant
supply of food, and ata certain period of growth is sure to deposit
them where they instinctively await the thirsty mammal, whose
stomach they must occupy before they attain to a more perfect stage
of development.
The nervous trunk runs continuously through the tail and body,
and when the animal can be kept sufficiently still is seen to present an
unbroken chain. The remarkable bi-furcated tail-like process enables
this species of cercaria to move about with extraordinary rapidity
of action; it is so articulated to the body, that it can be brought
up to a very acute angle, and when broken off the broken extremity
presents a concavity in which the convexity of tail accurately fits.
The body and tail are equally active when detached from each other,
and continue to swim about as if nothing unusual had happened.
When exhaustion commences, the contents of the stomach are
ejected through the broken extremity or the mouth, and therefore I”
was unable to satisfy myself whether the nipple-like process placed
near the centre of the body is used as a vent. This nipple is pecu-
liar to the species. The larva always attaches itself by this
Gace ram Royal Microscopical Society. 235
sucker to the snail, and thus its mouth is left perfectly free to secure
its food. The mouth, armed with more than a pair of mandables,
might be used as a formidable weapon of offence. It occurs to me
that if these epiphytes were solely nourished by the snail, a colony of
them must prove a formidable army of blood-suckers.
Unfortunately my further investigations were suddenly inter-
rupted by an accident which broke the aquarium and killed the
Lymneus, and I have not since been able to renew them. But I
may add, in conclusion, that I was at first inclined to regard my spe-
cimen as new. Upon a more careful comparison I am disposed to
believe that it is no other than Cercaria furcata of Nitzsch, although
from the imperfect character of his drawings I might have been
betrayed into the error of supposing that I had indubitably dis-
covered a new species.
236 Experimental Researches on the — [Monthly Mise
1V.—Experimental Researches on the Anatomical and Functional
Regeneration of the Spinal Cord. By MM. Masrus and Van
Larr, Professors in the University of Liege.
Puare L. (lower half).
Vorr has recently proved the reproduction of the cerebral tissue in
the pigeon, and the coincidence of this reproduction with almost
complete renewal of the cephalic functions. ‘The facts which we have
collected tend to show that in the frog this regeneration of the spinal
cord also takes place.
A certain number of authors have proved before us the cicatri-
zation of the spinal cord when simply divided, but no one has as
yet observed the reproduction of a segment of excised cord. We
thus formulate the principal deductions which have resulted from
our experiments.
The spinal cord in the frog can recover instantaneously a loss
of substance which has taken place in its own tissues, and repair
its primitive anatomical and physiological properties. ‘The grounds
upon which we base this assertion are of two kinds, anatomical and
physiological.
T.— Anatomical Facts.
The reproduction of the nervous elements takes place very
rapidly. This we have observed in a frog which had undergone
the excision of a medullary segment of 2 millimetres in size, a
month after the operation. The two ends are united by a cylin-
droid mass of yellowish translucent substance. A portion of this
gelatinous substance examined under the microscope mounted in
serum shows :—
1. Very delicate cellules, some of which appear spherical or
ovoid, and devoid of prolongations. Some of these are bipolar,
whilst others possess prolongations which can sometimes be traced
easily from one cellule to another. All the cellules are composed of
a finely granular protoplasmic mass, of a relatively large spherical
or ovoid refractive nucleus, surrounded by a membrane with very
clearly defined double contour. ;
The nucleolus is brilliant, small, spherical, and always very
apparent, the prolongations are fine and pale, and appear to proceed
from the protoplasm (Fig. 3).
EXPLANATION OF PLATE L. (lower half).
Fic. 1.—Nerve-cells of forms met in the gelatinous substance, magnified 350
diameters.
5, 2.—The same, undergoing pigmentary degeneration x 350 diameters.
» 3 —Cells of the gelatiniform substance with their anastomosing prolonga-
tions x 350 diameters.
,, 4—Fibres of Remak and varicose fibres found in the gelatinous substances.
son Marin | Regeneration of the Spinal Cord. 237
These are the sizes of these elements :-—
Millimétre.
Spheroid and stellate cellules: diameter of the cellule .. .. 0°0128
es = 5 nucleus .. .. 0°0096
BS - 3 nucleolus .. 0°0016
Bipolar cellules: great diameter .. .. .. «.. «= «= « 0°0208
x smallidiameter ts ce ee es an ess OCO080
These cellules are perfectly identical with the cellules taken
from different portions of the grey substance of the spinal cord in
healthy frogs. These are therefore nervous cellules. They differ in
nothing from the cells of the hwman cord, save in some secondary
characters; they are smaller than the latter, but this reduction
affects only the protoplasm; the mean dimensions of the nucleus
are nearly equal to those of the human cord cells.
2. Besides the preceding cellules we find corpuscles of different
dimensions (but nearly always greater than those of the cellules) ;
they are generally of a round form, and are composed of an accu-
mulation of angular granulations of a deep yellow, or sometimes
even quite black colour. These are very probably nervous cells
attacked by pigmentary metamorphoses (Fig. 2).
3. Certam elements intermediate between the two preceding.
Some of these are like nerve-cells, devoid of prolongation, but
already containing, grouped around the nucleus, granulations like
those which compose the large pigment corpuscles. The others,
larger and apolar, are almost completely invaded by the pigmentary
matter; the nucleus appears as a circular uncoloured spot, and the
nucleolus has disappeared.
4, Thick and slightly-flattened fibres, in which may be seen
elongated nuclei. In all respects they resemble the fibres of Remak.
5. Slender varicose fibres, far less numerous than the preceding.
They are identical with the amyline fibres of the nervous centres.
If one completely removes the gelatinous substance which unites
the ends of the cord, it is found that the two surfaces of the section
have changed form. ‘That of the cephalic extremity of the cord is
in some measure efalée, and recalls the appearance of the surface of
the section of a healthy cord still surrounded by its pia-mater.
The caudal end affords an opposite form, and resembles a sort of
stump (mozgnon).
Microscopic examination shows in both ends of the cord altera-
tions which extend to two millimetres beyond the surface of the
section. The large fibres appear still normal; but the slender
fibres are more varicose, and are nearly entirely decomposed (near
the surface of the section) into globules of myelene. The cellular
elements present the same appearances as the cells which are met
in the uniting gelatinous substance.
Py, +7 ay Monthly Micr ical
238 Ezperimental Researches on the {Monthly Microscopica
IT.—Physiological Phenomena.
The physiological phenomena are more marked even than the
anatomical observations.
A certain number of frogs selected for these researches were
operated on below the reflex centre of the roots which compose the
sciatic plexus in a manner to destroy all spontaneous and reflex
mobility in the hind limbs. Another series were operated on above
this centre so as to preserve the reflex mobility.*
In both cases, at the end of a month, we have seen the voluntary
movements reappear in the previously paralyzed parts, and the
conscient sensibility soon after exhibits itself. At the end of six
months the frogs move away spontaneously, and perceive impres-
sions just as they did before the operation. The portion of the
cord removed was about two millimetres.
The conclusions to be drawn immediately from our researches
are the following :—
1. The spinal cord in the frog may repair the loss of substance
sustained in its proper tissue by the aid of a new medullary tissue.
2. The return of the functions of the cord which had been
suspended by the operation coincides with the regeneration of its
anatomical elements.
3. This anatomical and functional regeneration takes place
gradually. In the histological repair it is the cells which first
appear, and the fibres after. And in the case of the functional
repair it is voluntary motility which is first restored.
If now we proceed to an analysis of the data furnished by our
researches, we are led to compare the mode of regeneration of the
cord with that of the brain and of the nerves. In regard to the
anatomical conditions, the reparation of the cord resembles that of
the brain—as Voit and Kollman have demonstrated it—by the new
formation of nerve-cells m the reparative tissue; but it offers a
still greater analogy with the reproduction of the nerves (as de-
scribed by Schwann, Vulpian, Philippeaux, Robi, and Laveran),
because of the funicular form of the new tissue which removes the
“ solution of continuity,” and by the appearance of the two stirfaces
of the section in the first phase of regeneration.
As regards the physiological phenomena, the reappearance of
the conductibility of the cord for voluntary impressions tends to
assimilate the cord to a root of a spinal nerve, whilst the alterations
found in the two segments of the cord demonstrate that the portion
of the cord remaining takes up—with regard to the elements anterior
and posterior to the part excised—the functions of a nutritive centre.
The method of regenerating the cord would therefore occupy an
* These researches are to be found in a memoir entitled ‘De la Situation et
de l’étendu des autres réflexes de la nouvelle épiniere chez la grenouille.” Extrait
des Mémoires de J’Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique, t. xxi. 1870,
MOU Mant eie | Regeneration of the Spinal Cord. 239
intermediate position between the regenerative process of cerebral
matter, and that of the nerves. However, if we consider the general
configuration of the cord, and the clearly-marked difference between
the forms of the two medullary ends during the early period of the
reparative process; if we remember that the znitzal phenomena,
which have revealed the existence of a nervous union, were almost
exclusively phenomena of conductibility ; if, finally, we consider that
the white portion of the cord may, up to a certain point, be com-
pared to bundles of roots, we shall be disposed to group the regene-
ration of the cord with the reproduction of the nerves, rather than
with that of the cerebral hemispheres. The brain would then fulfil,
with respect to the cord (so far as the regeneration of the latter is
concerned), the same function that the cord fulfils with respect to
the rachidian nerves.
We have yet to explain certain peculiarities noted in our obsery-
ations.
1. The difference proved to exist between the date of the return
of voluntary motility, and that of conscient sensibility.
The theory of trophic centres may give us the key to this fact.
The spinal ganglia are, in fact, looked upon as the nutritive centres
of the sensitive rachidian fibres, while the cord is the common nutri-
tive centre of the anterior roots. It is extremely probable that the
same holds good with regard to the two kinds of intra-medullary
fibres which constitute in the interior of the spinal axis the direct
or indirect prolongation of the roots. Now, in every transverse
section of the cord, affecting at the same time a sensitive root be-
tween its medullary insertion and its spinal ganglion, the fibres that
remain attached to the cord, and those also which continue the root
into the cephalic segment of the cord, will cease to be in communi-
cation with their trophic centre (the spinal ganglion), whilst, on the
contrary, the corresponding motor fibres will not have been sepa-
rated from their centre (the grey matter of the cord). We can now
understand that the intra-medullary motor fibres degenerate less
and are repaired more quickly than their neighbours ; which explains
~ the earlier return of voluntary motility.
2. The presence in a tissue invaded by a neo-formative process,
of cells laden with pigment and frappées @inertie.
This fact is not surprising, seeing that nervous cells present,
even in the physiological condition, a great tendency to pigmenta-
tion, and that besides, a necro-biological action is almost always
found combined with the neo-formative process. In a process
closely related to this—the regeneration of the nerves—the two
phenomena are constantly observed progressing simultaneously.
3. The predominance of the cellular elements in newly-formed
tissue, and the maturity of those elements compared with the em-
bryonic state of the fibres.
This circumstance may be accounted for by comparing the new
240 Observations on some points in — | Myths, Microscopical
matter to embryonic nervous tissue. It is well known that in the
primary phases of the development of the cord, it is the cells of the
grey matter that are first formed, and then the fibres.
4, The apparent improbability of the generation in an adult
animal of organites occupying, in the series of histological elements,
so high a rank as that of ganglionic cells.
This improbability disappears when we consider the favourable
conditions found united in the frogs operated on, and previously-
observed facts. The production is in fact entirely homoplastic, and
the protection afforded to the cord by the vertebral canal prevents
any external influence from checking the reparative process. Besides,
Voit and Kollmann have already proved the neo-genesis of the
nervous cells, and Beale has seen in the ganglia of the adult frog a
continuous formation of the same cells.
The want of success of previous experimenters is due to their
having neglected certain essential conditions, which we have our-
selves been able to determine only after repeated trials.
When desirous of obtaining regeneration, we operated on active
and healthy and well-nourished frogs in the beginning and middle
of the winter. The operations tried in summer never succeeded.
V.— Observations on some points in the Hconomy of Stepha-
noceros. By Cuartes Custrt, Assoc. Inst. C. E., F.R.MLS.
In submitting the following remarks on such a familiar subject as
Stephanoceros, I am stimulated to offer them with some confidence
on the encouraging incentive held out by Mr. Gosse to “ observers
with good instruments ” in the closing paragraph of his description
of this exquisite form, on which he says “there are many points in
its economy on which we need further light ;”* and to the investi-
gation of certain points that are manifestly irreconcilable with, or
unrecorded in the descriptions of himself and others, I have directed
much attention ; and should these remarks fall under the notice of
these acute observers, I trust they will acquit me of any motive be-
yond a desire to eliminate a little of the ight their teachings have
shown us to be wanting.
I hope to show that there exists a closer relationship between the
aberrant and normal forms of the Rotifera than has been hitherto
recognized by many who object to Ehrenberg’s arrangement of the
Family Mlosculariz on less important points than those which exist
in support of the intuitive correctness of his classification.
A consideration of the functions of the T'’rochal Disc is the first
* “Popular Science Review,’ vol. i.
et
The Monthly Microscopical Journal, May1!.1870. i ae boa
Viewed Vertically
‘ Ventral aspect.
Viewed from above
TR.
Pellet Cup
C Cubztt del Taffen West Se Gro: as
Diagrams
Tastrating the Courses of the Currents produced by the
Dise of Melicerta.
Myournal, May ive | the Economy of Stephanoceros. 241
point, and with the view to form a true comparison with that organ
of the normal forms, the nature and effects of the currents produced
by their marginal cilia first claim our attention; and the diagrams
(Plate LL, Figs. 1, 2, 3,4), which were constructed in the summer
of 1867 to illustrate their courses in the disc of Melicerta are now
submitted to facilitate such a comparison ; and to prevent any con-
fusion of terms requiring: to be frequently repeated throughout these
remarks, it is to be understood that the word cilia is used to express
the active vibratile hairs in contradistinction to the more quiescent
sete, and bristles as distinct from both.
In the dise of Melicerta, let us first consider the action of a
single marginal cilium (Figs. 1 and 2, a,a). Its point describes
a circle from a centre (b,b), in the direction indicated by the small
arrows, which at first sight would appear to drive particles away
from, and not to the ventral surface of the disc, and 7m vacuo such
_ would be the inevitable result ; but here the motion of the particle is
subservient to that of the medium supporting it, in fact to the water.
Consider therefore, the point of this cilium to represent one of the
teeth of a small pinion working into a large wheel whose diameter
is proportionate to that of the pinion inversely as the resisting power
of the water is to that exerted by the cilium, and the course of this
wheel will be in the direction indicated by the arrow (ce), precisely
that of the current actually produced by the motion of that cilium,
by which means particles are conveyed to, and impinge on, the ven-
tral surface of the disc at a tangent perpendicular thereto (e, f); the
same thing occurs with each individual cilium all round the margins
of the four frontal lobes (¢' ¢ ¢’), and the lobes being deflected from
the plane of the disc, form an irregular funnel, and so produce by a
confluence of numerous currents a resultant volume which escapes
in part through the upper sinus, and then, meeting a current from
the dorsal lobe (g) (the chin of Gosse), is thereby deflected more or
less from its primal course, according to the varying angles assumed
by the frontal lobes, as indicated by arrow (h), passing off in a dense
stream to be dispersed around or to be brought again and again
unappropriated over the same course; clearly showing that the
rotary organ by the currents it creates does not convey particles
within its range to the mouth.
In considering the process by which food is actually carried to the
mouth, let us see how far these marginal cilia are concerned. They
possess a certain power of prehension, and are seen 40 whip those par-
ticles that, impinging on the disc, are so brought within their limited
range, over the margin into the channel formed by the second range of
cilia; and here their function ends. If further proof be needed, it is
found in the fact that while their onward procession, or the appearance
of such, is in one and the same continuous direction (Fig. 3, n, 7), the
particles that do find their way to the mouth course along from the
VOL. III. R
242, Observations on some points im — [Months Microscopie
lower sinus in opposite directions 0, 0’, and consequently could not
possibly be under the influence of those marginal cilia.
The courses produced by this second range meet in confluence
at the upper sinus (Fig. 3, 0, o'), and their continuation to the dorsal
lobe is interrupted at this point by two small ciliated processes (@, 2),
which exercise such marked discrimination im their rapid selection
of particles from the general mass that are specially appropriate
for alimentary or building purposes, and in rejecting others as
waste; the whole mass passing beneath these processes into a
bilateral cavity (4), consimilar with the “arched” pair in Lacinu-
laria, and which we shall see has its representative in Stepha-
noceros ; and although the whole orifice and accessory organs
about the mouth appear to be one confused mass of cilia, the
introduction of carmine, or even an excess of the natural materials,
shows three distinct courses emanating from this cavity, first and
most important the refuse, in a dense volume, passing off and
blending with the current through the upper sinus (/) ; next a pro-
fuse percolation through the cesophagus (/) on to the manducatory
apparatus, and thirdly, a comparatively sparse and tardy current,
diverging along well-defined channels or chases beneath the lateral
margins of the dorsal lobe (Fig. 4, m, m), passing downward into
the pellet-cup beneath (7).
The dise of Stephanoceros, with its five frontal lobes, is accepted
as an aberrant form of the trochal disc that characterizes the higher
forms of Rotifera; and it is stated that these five arms act like “a
common trochal disc by producing a vortex directing all particles
within its range to the mouth ;”* a statement based on an imperfect
acquaintance with the functions of the disc, either aberrant or nor-
mal, and haying already shown their extent and limit in Melicerta,
we shall see that, though the methods here employed are in ante-
position, they serve the same general purpose, there by means of the
currents created by their marginal cilia, and here by means of the
great expanse of their setigerous lobes placing the animals respec-
tively in command of an extensive feeding area, They are both
constituted to act as prehensive appliances, and not as the imme-
diate cause in conducting nutritive particles to the mouth. __
The action of the Setz on the lobes both of Stephanoceros and
Floscularia is spasmodic, it creates no vortex, and it is only by
actual contact with these seta that floating particles are whipped
within the area enclosed by the lobes, where by the same whipping
action they are twitched from point to point irregularly downwards
until they come within the range of a vortex that is due, not to any
action of the see, but to a range of minute cilia in the funnel,
distinct from the foraging appliances.
In Stephanoceros the immediate control, together with the power
* ¢ Prit. Infus.,’ p. 399,
MOU Ma ie | the Economy of Stephanoceros. 243
of selection of various matters from the general mass, is effected by
organs manifesting great similarity with those of the normal forms,
first by an internal belt of cilia situated in the neck (Plate LIL., Figs.
2, 3, a,a), springing from two ciliated processes (b, b), seated bilate-
rally in the contractile membrane which recedes from the walls of the
body immediately beneath the bases of the lobes; the belt slopes at
a considerable inclination, in a ventral direction, to meet and form
attachment with bands descending from the two lobes that in their
pentagonal disposition face the dorsal lobe (Fig. 2,¢). From these
processes clear fibres d, run off towards the brain, and are lost in
the mass of that most conspicuous object (e). To this belt then is
due the vortex that m the funnel acts as the primary process in
conveying to the mouth the nutritive matters that have previously
been secured and brought within its influence, and is the represen-
tative of the second range of cilia in the higher forms.
Here also we see that the particles do not pass uninterruptedly
into the cesophagus ; they are subjected to the same scrutiny that
obtains in the higher forms, and this is here effected by similar
organs. The dorsal lobe is produced in a free end or tongue (f ), pro-
jecting considerably into the funnel, its under-surface is abruptly
returned forming an “arched cavity” (g),in connection with a per-
manent ridge of the cesophageal septum (/). A similar ridge and
cavity are seen on the opposite side just below the attachment of the
belt with the bands descending from the ventral lobes ; nevertheless
these ridges are not continuous, they support the highly contractile
septum at four points ; and although I have not been able to detect
them after treatment with potash, they represent the four hooked
spines whose existence is referred to by Leydig.
Both the dorsal lobe and the ventral attachment of the belt
create a considerable departure from a true cylindrical form at the
neck, the dorsal lobe forming a gap in the collar, apparently to
accommodate the incessant working of the tongue beneath, which is
actively intruded on the approach of the more minute Infusorial
particles which at times are retained in the cavity for periods of
varying duration, and at others either swallowed or rejected on the
slightest contact, apparently not requiring such careful scrutiny.
In the act of swallowing, the tongue approaches simultaneously
with the ventral projections, and in conjunction thus direct the par-
ticles to the orifice of the mouth, which is protruded to meet those
projections and to pass it with that gulping action through the ceso-
phagus on to the manducatory apparatus.
Gosse has evidently taken an “artist’s licence” in representing
three teeth in the detached figures of the nucus of this organ in
Stephanoceros. The laws of geometrical projection show at a glance
that these figures are hypothetical and do not represent the same
things shown by the figure of the dorsal aspect of the ek in the
R
244 Observations on some points in [ep ea
illustrations to his elaborate paper “On the Manducatory Organs
of the class Rotifera, communicated to the Royal Society in 1856.”
There are only two teeth to each nucus, the ventral bemg much
stronger than the dorsal tooth. They are thickened near their
points, where they give attachment to membranes that connect the
one tooth with the other, and form a kind of frame, hinged by one
corner to one of the pair of members forming a rudimentary ramus,
which also works on what must be accepted as a bona fide fulerwm ;
these together permit of a combined backward and lateral move-
ment. The malleus is very distinct in the living animal, but
vanishes beyond recognition on the application of a weak solution
of potash, and the whole apparatus takes a skeleton appearance, the
several parts at once forsaking their normal positions under such
treatment, and hence the difficulty in arriving at its true character
Fig. 10).
We ish come to a consideration of the visual organs, and when
we find that all the facts which natural and physical science have
made us acquainted with go to prove that light is absolutely neces-
sary to organization, we may fairly assume that the development of
the functional organs of animals requires in some way the influence
of the solar rays, even in these minute forms, when we find them
possessing organs eminently calculated to supply it, though not
necessarily to ensure the perception of objects; and though the eyes
of the Rotifera have received much attention, have been admitted
to possess a refracting medium, and to be placed immediately above
the homologue of the brain, the tendency hitherto has been to re-
pudiate Ehrenberg’s acceptance of them as characteristics, and to
assign to them only a secondary rank as such, on account of the
assumed “ curious fact” of their disappearance in the adult stage of
certain species.
Stephanoceros is universally understood to possess only one eye
in the adult stage after having had two, both in the ova and young;
even the careful observations of Gosse led him to suppose that the
two eyes of the newly-hatched young became by coalescence changed
into one in the adult. This is certainly not the case, they do not
coalesce, or become changed by any phase of metamorphosis from
their normal condition of two to a single eye; they all possess two
eyes. I have during the last nine months examined some hundreds
of adult specimens, and have found, without exception, two eyes.
The adult eyes are easily recognizable with the Wenham para-
bola, in a dorsal aspect, and with a little careful focussing in almost
any other—at least as far as the red pigment spot is concerned, they
require a different illumination to resolve the details. They are
seated, not immediately above, nor like a wart upon it, but one on
each side of the bradn, a little below its anterior surface, as seen in
a dorsal aspect (Plate LII., Fig. 1), generally in the same horizontal
Monthly Microscopical the Economy of Stephanoceros. 245
plane, but at times very irregularly placed, one eye being far below
the other, and almost hid from view by the interposition of the
granular masses that obtain on each side of the brain (Fig. 1, J, 2).
Their true character is difficult to determine, they resemble in
a marked degree the eyes of Vertebrates, consisting of a globe,
sending off posteriorily a fibre to the brain, and possessing ante-
riorily a pigment spot, which, while favouring the form of the
compound type (Fig. 4), contains within itself a central refracting
medium ; but whether this be a simple expanding orifice, like the
aris (Fig. 7), or annular (Fig. 5), or whether it consist of a number of
facets, like the compound eye (Fig. 6), I am somewhat doubtful :
these several appearances have, under conditions beyond my appre-
ciation, presented themselves, but I believe Fig. 7 to be the true
representation ; of this, however, we may be certain, that whether
they incline to the simple or compound type, they are eminently
calculated to fulfil the purposes they are required to serve, in simply
conveying light, though not the perception of objects to the brain,
for they possess no choroid.
I will take this opportunity of mentioning that, amongst other
Rtotifers, I find ¢wo eyes in the adult Mloscularia coronetta, which
at the date of my description* of that species I had failed to notice,
owing to the tutored impression under which I then laboured as to
their disappearance in the adult stage in the whole genus.
Stephanoceros manifests a marked resemblance to Lacinularia
in the arrangement of the vessels and sacs composing the water
vascular system, and in tracing the courses of these vessels up from
the region of the cloaca, I came, to my gratification, upon a rudimentary
antenna provided with the characteristic bristles, and at once found
its companion on the opposite side, each in connection with a pulsatile
sac (Plate LIL, Fig. 2). From these antenne the vessels send
off anteriorily two branches, one to each of the processes of the
ciliated belt (a), thence continuing horizontally and uniting with its
fellow at the base of the dorsal lobe; the other branches run in the
direction of the adjacent lobes alongside the brain and anastomose
with the horizontal branch ; the vessels each contain a sac, just below
the stomach, one at each antenna, one at each of the ciliated processes
of the belt, one in each of the vertical, and another in each of the
horizontal branches ; that is, five on each side as in Lacinularia.
I have adopted the term pulsatile sac, in preference to that of
vibratile or tremulous tag, from the fact that in Stephanoceros they
do not occur as pensile bodies projecting into the body cavity, and
are not capable of being swayed about with every movement of the
fluid with which the body is filled; they occur as swellings in the
vessels, similar to what Huxley describes in Lacinularia, in which
he states the flickering appearance to be produced by “along cium
* ¢M. M. Journ.,’ Sept. 1869,
246 Observations on some points in [Monthly Microscopical
attached by one extremity to the side of the vessel, and by the other
vibrating with a quick undulatory motion in its cavity.”* I have
watched with absorbing attention this undulating appearance, and
it is with much deference to such weighty evidence that I venture
to suggest the possibility of such an appearance to be an optical
illusion, and to be produced by a rhythmic contractility of the vessel
itself; in short, by a pulsation.
Pulsation in the higher animals is due, if not to the direct
influence of the brain, to an independent nervous system of the
heart ; for the heart beats long after it has been severed from the
body, and any separated portion beats for a period so long as it
contains its own ganglia; separate such part however, from its own
ganglia, and its pulsation at once ceases ; its stimulus is removed.
Then we have the perplexing statement that there is no evidence of
nerves either in the embryonic heart, or in these pulsatile sacs of the
simpler animals. This, however, is but negative evidence ; no motion
can be produced without some agency, some stimulus to generate it ;
and as these peculiar motions occur in vessels which represent arteries,
and as the tissue of arteries is both contractile and elastic, in varying
degrees such rhythmic contractility will account for the pulsation in
the sacs, whatever may be the nature of the stimulus.
Now what have we before us? The arteries, if I may so call
them, pulsating at their connection with a fibre that runs off to the
brain, from the two processes that support both the ciliated belt and
the pulsatile sac, and what is most interesting to observe, is a perfect
harmony between the rhythm of the sac and the beat of the cilia on
the belt. It therefore appears that the pulsations do derive their
influence from the brain, and further that, in the face of the accepted
singular fact of ciliary motion being “ entirely imdependent of a
neryous system,” it is also in this particular imstance dependent
on such a stimulus, either directly or through the agency of the
coincident pulsations.
The connection of the antennz with the vessels of the vascular
system is clearly apparent: these organs were first considered by
Ehrenberg, under the term “ calcar,” to subserve the generative
process as intromittent organs. He subsequently corrected this
notion, and promulgated the more reasonable one of their being
“respiratory tubes,” through which water might enter to act on
the “vibratile tags.” The correctness of this has been admitted by
Siebold and others ; but we read in Pritchard’s résumé that subsequent
researches “render such a conclusion untenable, and demonstrate their
analogy with the antennz of insects.” Dr. Williamson mentions, in
respect to Melicerta, the fact of the inversion of the tube “ forming
a double sheath protecting the sete,” and offers this, with the inci-
dent of their being the first parts that make their appearance on the
animal emerging from its tube, in support of his deductions, but is
* ¢Trans. Micro, Journal,’ 1851.
Monthly Microscopical] the Economy of Stephanoceros. 247
compelled nevertheless to admit that “‘ they are not directed in an
exploratory manner from side to side,” like the antennz of insects.
Dujardin states that “no trace of the entrance or exit of water is
perceptible even when particles of colouring matter are diffused
through the liquid calculated to indicate the shghtest current ;” and
Perty, Gosse, Huxley, and Leydig coincide as to their non-perforated
character.
Admitting at once the non-perforated character of these organs,
the foregoing arguments offer themselves as corroborative evidence
in proof of their being subservient to respiration. Now, the antenna
of the tube-building Rotifera are not only first exposed in emerging
from the tubes, but they always remain exposed to the water, even
during the animal’s retreat. Once aware of their existence in P’os-
cularia coronetta, this fact became most manifest ; so that while other
functions may be suspended, that of respiration, which is vital in the
higher animals, is permitted to continue uninterrupted.
It is not necessary that these organs should be perforated to
admit water from without, this, being ofa different density to that which
permeates the vessels of the body, would enter the tubes or tubercles
by the process of Hndosmosis. Leydig adopts this hypothesis, but
hampers his conclusions with the assumed necessity for palpable
orifices. Hndosmosis operates through membranes such as even the
blood-vessels of the slug having a layer of chalk; through the more
delicate membranes of the capillaries ; and with animals that exist in,
and respire an element abounding in particles whose intrusion or
contact would be detrimental, if not fatal to the due performance of
the process, the general integument of the animal may be impervious
to its action, while these protuberances may be specially constituted
to promote it, under the protection from accident these accompany-
ing bristles are eminently calculated to afford, so as to ensure the
uninterrupted action of Hndosmosis, whose gentle and constant
operation of molecular intrusion would create no current sufficient
to influence anything so gross as visible particles of colourmg
matter ; while on the other hand the fluid thus induced and circu-
lated by the agency of the pulsations, collects in, and after inflating
the cloaca, is discharged by the intermittent action of systole, which
has been observed in the case of Notommata to disturb the adjacent
particles of floating matter by a palpable jet d’eau.
It would therefore appear that these processes involving motions
must be of necessity dependent on some force ; and seeing their in-
timate connection with the brain, we may safely assume them to be
due to nerve force. The brain has been referred to as such, and
also as a ganglion. It is seated in the anterior regions in a dorsal
aspect ; it is pear-shaped, constricted in the middle, where it sup-
ports certain small processes which traverse its substance as well as
project beyond (Figs. 1, 2, #). In active individuals the brain 1s
large and prominent, but less conspicuous in others whose sluggish
248 Observations on Stephanoceros, _ [Mynthls Microscopical
movements indicate disease or age; its structure is not granular,
except at its internal attachment, and is in no way related to the
granular layers that occur on each side of it (Fig. 1, U1). It
presents more the appearance of a cellular structure, but differs
essentially from the character of such structure, however much it may
on first sight resemble certain vegetable cellulose, the divisions incline
to a pentagonal arrangement, and each junction or union of the
fibres is distinguished by a definite nucleated swelling, faintly re-
sembling Gratiolet’s figures of the nerve cells of the spinal cord
(Plate LIT., Fig. 8).
What the office of the projecting processes can be I am at a loss
to surmise ; its analogue occurs in Fliscularia coronetta as a single
projection, furnished with a knob at its extremity like a tentacle of
Coryne.
In concluding these remarks I must briefly refer to a point in
reference to the case. I find from numerous instances afforded me
in detaching specimens from their support, that the case is not
attached to such support arownd the foot, but to the foot itself; and
under such conditions it shows with every retraction of the animal
that the tube is so attached, by reason of its bemg inverted in the
manner represented by the dotted lines (Plate LIL, Fig. 1), assuming
the foot to be withdrawn to a point (m), which would not happen
without some connection with the foot, nor would the outer coating
be so drawn in if the case were of the same consistency throughout,
for then the retraction of the foot would induce an effect similar to
that of “taking a dip” of Canada balsam ; then, taking into account
the appearance of the foot itself exhibiting a swelling containing
a nucleated body (Fig. 9), which in all probability is a secerning
gland for the secretion of the substance of the case, we may con-
clude that there is an organic connection between the animal and
the case.
Beyond these minor considerations, we have seen from the fore-
going remarks that, notwithstanding the great difference in external
appearance, there exists a very close relationship between these
higher and abnormal forms. The trochal dise of Stephanoceros and
Floscularia, with their accessory processes, are truly the homologues
of that of the higher forms with theirs; they perform precisely the
same functions, and this second range of cilia exists, to my certain
knowledge, in each of the following genera, viz. Melicerta, Limnias,
Tubicolaria, Giscistes, Lacinularia, and Conochilus—in fact in
each of the Loricated genera of Ehrenberg ; we have seen that their
respiratory system is parallel with, and that on the point of the
constancy of the visual organs they are superior to the higher forms,
unless future observation prove their constancy to exist in the whole
Family ; and we see, moreover, that the manducatory apparatus is
of a much higher type than has hitherto been admitted ; and when
Q7(
The Monthly Microscopical Journal, May.11870
lateral aspect
slightly oblique.
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SoamaiMay Eo. Notes on Diatomacezx. 249
these relations are thus closely established, we cannot but feel, not-
withstanding the disadvantage he laboured under in the possession
of an inferior instrument, that Ehrenberg manifested more scien-
tific and practical acumen in his arrangement of this Family than
subsequent writers, who, fortified both with superior appliances and
with the ground to work upon that he had previously cleared, have
sought to upset this for modifications of their own, and that under
less excusable conditions they are equally at fault with the great
Professor whom they have twitted with the frequency of his mis-
takes in insisting on unimportant and inconstant particulars as
generic and specific characteristics.
VI.—Notes on Diatomacez.
By Professor Arraur Mrap Epwarps.
My notes are of observations made by means of the microscope, and
the first is relative to one of those curious atomies of the vegetable
kingdom, the Diatomacez. Some time since I made a gathering
in a ditch communicating with the salt water of the Hudson River,
opposite the city of New York, at Weehawken, N.J. Of course
the water in the ditch was salt, and, in fact, in it last spring I had
caught specimens of Stickleback (Gasterosteus) which had come up
there from the river to spawn, as is their wont to do. The Ten-
spined Stickleback (G. pungitius) I had found very plentiful, and
mixed with it a few individuals of the Three-spined (G. aculeatus) ;
in fact these fish occurred in such numbers that when the water
became foul, as it did by evaporation, the bottom of the ditch was
literally covered with their dead bodies. The gathering, however,
I have to speak of at the present time was made for the purpose of
procuring Diatomacez, and consisted of specimens of an alga be-
longing to the genus Hnteromorpha, having attached to it more or
less firmly numerous Diatomacez and animals. The commonest
form of diatom was a Cyclotella, and seemingly fixed in some
manner to the Enteromorpha, for it was not shaken off by pretty
rough usage. How it was fixed I could not detect; most likely
by means of a mucous envelope of such tenuity that it is not readily
seen.
The next most common form is the truly wonderful, inexplic-
able Bacillaria paradoxa, the paradoxical bundle of sticks. Often
and often have I spent hours looking at this marvel of nature; the
motion without apparent cause or mode, an invisible joint which, as
a friend of mine, an engineer, once remarked, would be a fortune
to any one who would discover it, for here we have several sticks
forming the bundle, moving over each other without separating,
250 Notes on Diatomacex. ee ie
and yet the use of the highest powers of the microscope has failed
to detect the means of their union into one mass or composite group
of individuals. This grouping of individuals together, which we so
commonly find among the Diatomacez, as in Schizonema, Ach-
nanthes, Melosira, and a host of other genera, appears to me to
have its analogue in the animal kingdom in the Polyzoa; which,
although generally fixed, yet at certain periods throw off motile
forms by means of which the species is distributed. Do not the
Diatomacex do likewise? I am of opinion that they do, and I
shall produce evidence on that point farther on. As to the Bacil-
laria paradowa, the oftener I watch it the more it puzzles me.
Not long since I saw one specimen (of course I mean one bundle
of individuals) slide out to its utmost limit across the field of view,
and then, becoming entangled with two others, which likewise were
made up of many individuals, some eight or ten of its frustules (as
the complete individuals are called) were twisted around almost off
from the rest, so as to lie at right angles to them, and when the
group containing the largest number of frustules receded to their
former position, which they soon did, the eight or ten seeming by
the act of twisting to lose their power of motion among themselves
for the time being, were dragged along in a helpless condition, and
twisted completely around one revolution, so as thereafter to fall
back again into their places, when all went on as usual. That is
to say, the regular motion of all the frustules over each other suc-
ceeded. Now what kind of a joint can it be that permits of such
eccentric movement! As I have already said, I am more puzzled
than ever.
For some time back a discussion has been taking place in some
of the European journals as to whether this plant be an inhabitant
of fresh or brackish water. What I have observed poimts to the
fact that it will live in either. I have collected it im brackish
water at Hoboken, N.J.; my Weehawken collection was from a
ditch connecting directly with the salt water of the Hudson River
at its mouth, and some years since I gathered it in the sweet fresh
water of the Fishkill creek, along with desmids and other truly
fresh-water plants which, as far as we know, will not live in water
containing any appreciable amount of salt, and then, also, in winter
and under the ice, but nevertheless in an active condition. And I
have taken my salt water Weehawken gathering and diluted it with
several times its volume of fresh water, and yet it seems to flourish
after many days, and the Bacdllaria is apparently more active than
when first procured.—Paper read before the Boston Society of
Natural History, February 9th.
(To be continued in our next No.)
Monthly Mi ical
Journal, May 1, 1870. ( 251 )
PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
Ttalian Fossil Bryozoa.—At the meeting of the Vienna Academy,
on the 10th of March, Dr. Reuss presented the fourth part of Dr.
Manzoni’s ‘Italian Fossil Bryozoa.’ It contains the description of
twenty-four species of chilostomous bryozoa, of which two belong to
each of the genera Salicornaria, Hippothoa, and Eschara; one to each
of the genera Lepralia, Retepora, Lunulites, and Cupularia; six to
the family Cellepora; and, lastly, eight to the Membranipora. Nine
of them are quite new. The species described occurred partly in the
Pliocene of Calabria and Castellarquato, partly in the Miocene of
Turin, and other places. At the conclusion of the paper the author
is led to notice three species of cyclostomous bryozoa, and through
this to comment on the general zoological value of many genera
founded only on the different arrangement of the tube-cells.
Staining Dental Tissues.—A recent number of the American ‘ Dental
Cosmos’ contains an interesting paper on this subject by Mr. J. 8.
Latimer, in which he gives the result of various experiments with
Dr. Beale’s carmine solution, and points out results which support
Dr. Beale’s theory of “ germinal matter.”
The Microscope in the Examination of Meteorites.—In a paper lately
read before the Royal Society, Professor Maskelyne gave an account
of his microscopic observations on the Busti Aérolite. Speaking of
the presence of augite in the mineral, he says that associated with it
throughout, and otherwise forming the chief mass of the stone, is a
mineral which, in microscopic sections, presents the appearance of
a number of more or less fissured crystals of varying transparency,
some clear, some nearly opaque, and usually presenting a not very
unsymmetrical polygonal outline. Those crystals are imbedded in a
magma of fine-grained silicate, itself often entangled in an irregular
meshwork of opaque white mineral. Amongst these ingredients, when
mechanically separated, what seems to be three different minerals can
be distinguished. The rarest of them is transparent and colourless,
and very irregular in the form of its fragments; a second is of a
greyish-white colour, translucent, and offering an even less hopeful
problem to the crystallographer than that presented by the first. The
third is an opaque mineral with a distinct cleavage following the faces
of a prism of about nd with a second imperfect cleavage per-
91-27 *
pendicular to the former. From a few fragments of the two former
kinds some measurements were obtained, which conduct to the con-
clusion that, like the last-mentioned silicate, these minerals are
enstatite.
The Development of Echini.—The ‘Bulletin of the Museum of
Zoology, No. 9, contains an account of the results of the deep-sea
dredgings between Cuba and Florida, and includes Mr. A. Agassiz’s
252 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPIOAL SCIENCE, [Mpnthly, Microscopteal
observations on the young stages of Echini made upon the collections
of Count Pourtales. With these Mr. Agassiz has been able to study
the young of thirty odd different species belonging to as many dif-
ferent genera. These observations are important and interesting.
Among other points of interest, the author states that the changes
some species undergo are so great that nothing would have been more
natural than to place the two extremes of the series not only in dif-
ferent species, but often in different genera, and even in different fami-
lies. The different stages of growth of Toxopneustes drobachiensis Ag.,
represent in the younger stages Cidaris, then Hemicidaris, then Pseu-
dodiadema, Echinocidaris, and Heliocidaris. In Cidaris, Diadema,
and Garelia, the changes are less marked, and in Echinometra they
are greater than in any other genus of the regular Echini. “ We fre-
quently find,” says the author, “specimens of the same size, where in
one case the outline is almost circular, the test flattened, covered with
long slender spines; while in the other the test is lobed, swollen, high,
surmounted by numerous short stout spines. Among the Clypeas-
troids we find in the young during their growth great changes of form
and structure taking place.” The transformations of Mellita testudi-
nata and Encope emarginata are described as identical, whilst those of
Mellita testudinata and Mellita hexapora are not so much alike, although
both of the same genus. “The development of Stolonoclypus prostratus,
and flat Clypeastroids of the type of Clypeaster placunarius is most
instructive, tending to show that in connection with the development
of the Scutellide, we must probably introduce a complete reform
among the genera recognized as Lemtia, Scutellina, Runa, Echino-
cyamus, and other minute Echinoids, which may eventually prove
to be nothing but the young of other Clypeastroids, as Mellita,
Scutella, Laganum, Stolonoclypus, Clypeaster, Encope, and the like;
but want of sufficient material prevents me from entering into this
comparison more in detail. Though we know now, from what has
been said above, that the Scutellide pass through phases which cannot
be distinguished from Moulinsia Fibularia, Runa, Scutellina, and the
Clypeastroids proper pass, through a stage of growth identical with
Echinocyamus. The development of Echinolampas has thrown unex-
pected light upon the affinities of the toothless Galerites and of the
Cassidulide. It shows conclusively that Echinoneus is only a per-
manent embryonic stage of Echinolampas, thus becoming allied to the
Cassidulide, and that it has nothing in common with the Galerites
as I would limit them, confining them entirely to the group provided
with teeth.”
Structure of Fossil Fern-stems.—Mr. Carruthers, who continues his
laborious researches on the subject of fossil plant-structure, recently
read a paper before the Geological Society, “On the Structure of a Fern-
stem from the Lower Eocene of Herne Bay,” and showed the great
value of the microscope in inquiries of that sort. He stated that the
structure of the plant in question most closely agreed with the living
Osmunda regalis, and certainly belonged to the Osmundacex. The
broken petioles show a single crescentic vascular bundle. The section
of the true stem shows a white parenchymatous medulla, a narrow
on May co | PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 253
vascular cylinder interrupted by long slender meshes from which the
vascular bundles of the petioles spring, and a parenchymatous cortical
layer. The author described the arrangement of these parts in detail,
and indicated their agreement with the same parts in Osmunda regalis.
He did not venture to refer the Fern, to which this stem had belonged,
positively to the genus Osmunda, but preferred describing it as an
Osmundites, under the name of O. Dowkeri. The specimen was
silicified, and even the starch-grains contained in its cells, and the
mycelium of a parasitic Fungus traversing some of them, were per-
fectly represented.
The Diagnostic Value of Blood-corpuscles in the Urine.—An important
paper, illustrating the value of the microscope in its application to
medicine, which was published some time since in the ‘ American
Journal of Medical Science,’ has been sent to us in reprint form by
the author, and we commend it to the notice of our medical readers.
The paper is one containing a great deal of original observation, and
supplying a number of details not to be found in even the best treatises
on Renal diseases.
Microscopic Crystals in Gems.—In connection with the excellent
paper which Mr. Sorby some time since communicated to our columns,
we would call attention to a very instructive memoir which, though it
was read nearly twelve months since before the Philadelphia Academy
of Natural Sciences, has only recently been published, and unfor-
tunately too without figures, if we may judge from the proof-sheets
which have reached us. In a previous paper the author describes his
observations on Garnets. In this he remarks on the microscopic
structure of Sapphire, Garnets, Labradorite, Black Felspar, Barite,
Amethyst, and Ruby.
The Egg of Sacculine.—Those interested in this subject will be
glad to know that M. Ed. Van Beneden has replied to the obser-
vations of M. Balbiani, which were some time since reprinted in these
columns.
The Foraminifera obtained during Dr. Carpenter’s last Expedition.—
In contrast with the specimens obtained during the ‘ Lightning’s’
dredgings, Dr. Carpenter, in his recent lecture before the Royal Insti-
tution, says that the Foraminifera collected in the ‘ Porcupine’ ex-
pedition present features of no less interest, though their scale is so
much smaller. The enormous mass of Globigerina-mud (sometimes
almost pure, sometimes mixed with sand) that everywhere covers the
deep-sea bottom in the region explored, save where its temperature
is reduced nearly to the freezing-point, may be judged of from the
fact that in one instance the dredge brought up half a ton of it from a
depth of 767 fathoms. The resemblance of this deposit to chalk is
greatly strengthened by the recognition of several characteristically
Cretaceous types among the Foraminifera scattered through the mass
of Globigerine of which it is principally composed; as also of the
Xanthidia, frequently preserved in flints. Not many absolute novelties
presented themselves among the Foraminifera that form true calca-
reous shells ; the chief point of interest being the occurrence of certain
254 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. _ [Mpnthly, Microscopteal
types of high organization at great depths, and their attainment of a
size that is only paralleled in much warmer latitudes, or in the Ter-
tiary or yet older formations. This is especially the case with the
Cristellarian group, which has a long geological range, and also with
the Milioline, of which specimens of unprecedented size presented
themselves. The most interesting novelty was a beautiful Orbitolite,
which, when complete, must have had the diameter of a sixpence, but
which, from its extreme tenuity, always broke in the process of col-
lection. Of Arenaceous Foraminifera, however, which construct tests
by cementing together sand-grains, instead of producing shells, the
number of new types is such as seriously to task our power of inventing
appropriate generic names. Many of these types have a remarkable
resemblance to forms previously known in the Chalk, the nature of
which had not been recognized. Some of them throw an important
light on the structure of two gigantic arenaceous types from the
Upper Greensand, recently described by Dr. Carpenter and Mr. H. B.
Brady, an account of which will appear in the forthcoming part of the
‘Philosophical Transactions ; and there is one which can be certainly
identified with a form lately discovered by Mr. H. B. Brady in a clay-
bed of the Carboniferous Limestone.
NOTES AND MEMORANDA.
Nobert’s Nineteenth Band.—With reference to the observation
of this band, we beg to call the attention of our readers to two im-
portant letters on this subject which appear in our Correspondence,
Doubtless our English microscopists will have much to say in reply,
and we shall be glad to publish their answers in our next issue if
possible.
The Spontaneous Generation Theory,—In connection with the
somewhat fierce controversy on this subject which has taken place
between Professor Tyndall and Dr. Bastian, the latter states some
facts of interest. Dr. Bastian says that from his investigations he
has come to the conclusion that organisms are to be met with in
hermetically-sealed vessels from which all air has been removed, and
after the contained fluids have been raised to a very high temperature.
He and Dr. Frankland have placed solutions containing organic matter
and other ingredients in flasks, exhausted the flasks of the air they
contained, by means of Sprengel’s pump, and then hermetically-sealed
the drawn-out necks of the flasks in the blow-pipe flame. The airless
flasks containing then the fluid itself, as the only possible germ-con-
taining material, were submitted in a suitable apparatus by Professor
Frankland to a temperature varying from 148° C. to 152° C. for four
hours, and yet after having been placed under the influence of suitable
conditions, in the course of a few weeks living organisms—many of
ae en NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 255
them altogether new and strange—were found in these fluids. He
abstains from mentioning all details as to the nature of the materials
used, and many interesting facts observed by him in his experiments,
as he hopes soon to lay a full account of his researches on the subject
before the Royal Society.
A History of British Diatomacez, by Dr. Donkin, Lecturer on
Forensic Medicine to the University of Durham, is preparing for pub-
lication by Mr. Van Voorst.
Fungi and Disease.—We observe with satisfaction that at the
meeting of the American Medical Association, which will be held at
Washington on the 3rd inst., among other papers will be one by Dr.
Lemuel J. Deal, Pennsylvania, chairman, “ On the Cryptogamic Origin
of Disease, with Special Reference to Recent Microscopic Investigations
on that Subject.”
Recent Works on the Embryology of Articulates.——The ‘ Ameri-
can Naturalist’ gives the following useful summary in its April
number :—“ Professor Claparéde has published a paper, richly illus-
trated, ‘On the Embryology of Worms,’ especially Spirorbis, in Siebold
and K6lliker’s ‘Journal. Melnikow writes in ‘ Wiegmann’s Archiv’
‘On the early stages of Tenia cucumerina, with a few figures. Dr.
Richard Greef publishes in the same number of the ‘ Archiv’ some
most interesting researches on certain remarkable forms of Arthropoda
and worm-types, illustrated by four plates. Dr. Anton Dohrn has
lately published the first part of his ‘ Researches on the Structure and
Development of Arthropoda’ (Insects and Crustacea), with nine excel-
lent plates. It is extracted from Siebold and Kélliker’s ‘ Journal.’
He here records his observations on the embryology of Cuma and
allied genera, of certain sea spiders (Pycnogonidz), and thinks that
embryology shows that these curious animals, classified by many
naturalists with the Arachnida, are really Crustacea ; and of Daphnia,
Praniza, and Paranihura Costana. A paper of the greatest interest to
entomologists is M. Ganin’s ‘ Contribution to a Knowledge of Develop-
mental History in Insects’ in Siebold and Kolliker’s ‘ Journal.’ It is
fully illustrated.”
Croydon Microscopic Club.—The Croydon Club owes its delivery
so much to the skilful nursing of many of the leading Fellows of the
Royal Microscopical Society, that the following account from the
‘Lancet’ of April 23rd will interest all our readers :—
“A large meeting has been held at Croydon for the purpose of
organizing a body of gentlemen interested in the microscope and its
revelations. The chair was occupied by H. Lee, Esq., who was sup-
ported by a number of savants well known for their proficiency in
science. In his introductory remarks, Mr. Lee dwelt on the gratifying
circumstance that the Club commenced with upwards of eighty mem-
bers, including three Fellows of the Royal Society, four of the Lin-
newan Society, three of the Geological Society, and several of the Royal
Microscopical Society, along with members of the Quekett Club. Mr.
Lee, after illustrating the combined pleasure and profit to be gained
256 NOTES AND MEMORANDA. pes hg aes
from such pursuits as the Club proposed to itself, called on Dr. Bower-
bank, F.R.S., to address the meeting. In the course of his remarks,
Dr. Bowerbank referred to the time, now forty years ago, when there
were but four achromatic microscopes in existence, one of which
belonged to himself. Very early in his studies he saw, by means of
Tully’s microscope, the valves in the dorsal vessel of the Ephemera
pumping the blood and sending it through the arteries; but, on pub-
lishing his discovery, its authenticity was questioned by no less a man
than Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Dr. Bowerbank, however, succeeded in sub-
mitting an admirable specimen of the insect to that distinguished
naturalist, who had hardly gazed at it five minutes through the micro-
scope when he exclaimed, ‘Ah!’ and continued poring over the field,
till at length, when the insect made a plunge and escaped, he threw
up his arms with a loud ‘ Magnifique!’ Such delightful surprises were
quite within the reach of every microscopist who had access to any
pond in the neighbourhood. The Rev. J. B. Reade then followed, and
illustrated the advantages which the microscope might confer on every
cultivator of the soil. By its teachings he had been enabled to grow
Swedish turnips reaching 88 inches in diameter, one of which he
scooped out, and after inserting in the cavity a hare, a pheasant, and
a brace of partridges, and replacing the top, he sent the turnip to an
agricultural friend. By his microscopical investigation of the soil, he
had doubled the value of his living, which enabled him to sell for a
good round sum twenty acres for the erection of an asylum, of which
his friend Dr. Millar was the first physician. Mr. Reade next referred
to the dung-heaps in farm-yards, which were intended as manure
during the winter; but which on being turned over lost a great deal
of muriate of ammonia by evaporation—a fact which he discovered by
the microscope, after pouring on to a slip of glass a drop or two of
muriatic acid, and applying it to the steam which was escaping from
the manure. Great loss is sustained through this evaporation by the
farmer, the quantity of wheat grown being in proportion to the quan-
tity of ammonia in the manure. To prevent the escape of this most
valuable nutrient agent, he poured upon his dung-heaps a large quan-
tity of dilute sulphuric acid. The hints which the scientific cultivator
of whatever class might obtain from the microscope are as remunera-
tive as they are manifold—a conclusion which was still further en-
forced by the next speaker, Mr. Glaisher, F.R.S., and particularly by
Mr. Frank Buckland, who described the advances made in pisciculture
by the microscope, insomuch that opposition oysters might be grown
to Mr. Reade’s turnip, capable of holding not only one pheasant, but a
brace of them, in addition to the other game mentioned by that gen-
tleman! The arguments in favour of the Club and its objects derived
yet fresh illustration from the President of the Croydon Farmers’
Club, Mr. Fuller, who indicated the check that might be put to the
ravages of insect life by microscopic research and its teachings. With
much interesting discussion to the same effect, the Croydon Micro-
scopic Club closed its first and highly auspicious meeting.”
Monthly Microscopical 5
Journal, May 1, 1870. ( E 257 )
CORRESPONDENCE.
Tue Resotution or Nopert’s NinereentH Banp.
To the Editor of the ‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal,’
Boston, Massacuusetts, U.S.A.,
March 31, 1870. :
Str,—In the Journal for February last, p. 104, you have a note
from Mr. Lobb, in which he refers to a discussion on Dr. Woodward’s
paper (in the December No.), in which discussion Mr. Lobb “ ex-
pressed a doubt whether the lines on Nobert’s test-plate could be
clearly defined beyond the 16th group.” I trust that I may be able
to remove Mr. Lobb’s doubt; though he was, I think, justified in ex-
pressing such doubt, if he had had no other evidence of the fact than
the photographs of Dr. Curtis.
On the other side, in the March No. of your Journal you publish
the Address of the President of the Royal Microscopical Society. In
this address the following passage occurs: “It is proper to remark
that Colonel Woodward has resolved the 19th band of Nobert’s lines
with a Powell and Lealand ;1,th immersion. He is the only observer
who has succeeded in resolving 112,688 lines to the inch with a power
of 1000 linear.” * In this passage the President, unlike Mr. Lobb,
expresses no doubt; but asserts, as of his own knowledge, not only
that the lines were resolved, but goes farther, with another assertion
that he, Dr. Woodward, is the only observer who has succeeded with
that amplification. For all this the President relies on Dr. Wood-
ward’s own assertions and claims. Yet in the ‘Quarterly Journal of
Microscopical Science’ for July, 1868, copied from the ‘ American
Naturalist’ of April, 1868, was printed a communication from me,
stating that Mr. R. C. Greenleaf and myself had, in the autumn of 1867,
both seen the lines of the 19th band, with a Tolles’ immersion {th
objective, power 550. Also, that Dr. F. A. P. Barnard, President of
Columbia College, N.Y., had seen and counted the same lines in
January, 1848. Dr. Barnard informed me a few months ago, that he
was satisfied that he did see the true lines at that time, and that he then
believed that Nachet of Paris had also seen them. Why should the
President ignore that paper, and admit, unqualifiedly, Dr. W.’s two
years’ later claim? He surely cannot say that he did not read my
paper; if hedid read it, then he was in fairness bound to at least state
the fact, even if he could give noreason for adopting Dr. W.’s and
rejecting Dr. Barnard’s and my claim.
With your permission I will offer some statements that may relieve
Mr. Lobb’s doubt, and show the unsoundness of Dr. W.’s claims, as
adopted by the President.
Mr. Greenleaf and myself both believe that we saw the lines of the
19th band in the autumn of 1867, with the first immersion objective
* Does the President know of anyone that has succeeded in doing it with any
power other than those named in this letter.
VOL, III. Ss
258 CORRESPONDENCE. Moni een
made by Tolles, as described in my paper, before referred to. We
were both familiar with the appearance of the lines (and of the “ spec-
tral” lines), having worked on them a great deal, and being conver-
sant with all that had been published by others. Unfortunately that
objective was broken befere other experts had seen its performance.
Mr. Tolles subsequently, in the winter and spring of 1868, made other
immersion objectives, and put immersion “fronts” to “dry ” objectives
of his own and of A. Ross’s make. One, a jth, was made in June, 1868,
for Herr Th. Eulenstein, of Dresden. This, I think, resolved the lines
in Mr. Tolles’ hands; but of this instrument more anon. Another
one, originally a 1th of Tolles’ make, had an immersion front in July,
1868. This showed the lines of the 19th band unmistakably, clear
and well defined. The performance was seen by the owner, by Mr.
E. Micknell of Salem, by myself, and perhaps some others. This was
nine months before the Powell and Lealand sixteenth was made.
After this other objectives were made by Tolles, which did the same
thing.
In the spring of 1869, Dr. W. received his Powell and Lealand
,,th, and then for the first time he resolved the lines of the 19th band.
I will not doubt but he saw the lines; but the photographs do not
show them as I have seen them. In May, 1869, I sent to Dr. Wood-
ward the ,,th immersion objective, which he refers to in his paper in
the ‘American Journal of Science’ of September, 1869, and in the
communication to this Journal, in December, 1869, which objective he
calls a 1th, and in a letter to me states that it is only about one-half the
power * of the Powell and Lealand th. With this he saw the lines
of the 16th band; a feat that had not then been certainly accom-
plished in Europe with any instrument that I have any account of.
This objective was returned to me, and was put into the Exhi-
bition of Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association in Septem-
ber. A competent board of experts were selected to examine instru-
ments. In their presence, and in the presence of Dr. B. A. Gould and
Professor W. Gibbs, of Harvard College, the lines of the 19th band
were clearly and plainly resolved with that same objective. Two of
the gentlemen who witnessed this had also seen Dr. W.’s resolution
with the Powell and Lealand, and had no compunctions in saying that
the ,/,th did as well, if not better, than the ;),th, with all the elaborate
aids used at the United States Army Museum.
Let me hope that this detail of facts in chronological order, will
settle all questions of priority, both of observers and makers.’ If Mr.
Lobb has any doubts remaining, if he will just step over to this side
of the Atlantic, I shall be happy to show him the lines finer than the
16th band “clearly defined” with a ,},th.
I have referred to a 1th made for Herr. Eulenstein in June, 1868.
He has expressed great approbation of this instrument whenever he
has referred to it; but in the last month, February 11th, he writes to
me from Dresden as follows: “I have sent the 1th to Nobert. We
* It has since been measured by two experts independent of each other and
of the maker ; one made it a large 3th, the other a 3th, consequently the Powell
and Lealand is either a 2th or 3.th.
Sea ae omer CORRESPONDENCE. 259 —
have both seen the lines of the 17th band [over 101,000] with it; no
more at present; but this is an extraordinary feat fora 1th, and ismore
than any other objective of that power that I know of can possibly be
stretched to do.”
Messrs. Nobert and Eulenstein both saw the lines of the 17th band
with Powell and Lealand’s ;,th immersion, but curiously enough they
think they got the best effect with both objectives dry! I am con-
vinced that the 4th will do best wet, and therefore that they did not
accomplish all that they might have done with it, but that by perse-
verance they could have resolved the 19th band.
As only two years previously Nobert had never seen the lines of
his test-plate finer than the 14th band, and then doubted the visibility
of any finer lines, his having now seen the 17th band with the Tolles’
4th is conclusive evidence of the merits of the instrument, and may
relieve Mr. Lobb’s doubts, and Dr. Woodward’s disbelief as to what
had been seen.
On the value of Nobert’s lines as a test, the President says, “the
visibility of the lines is a function of the breadth of the groove ploughed
in the glass,—the depth to which it is cut,—the section of the groove
itself,—and the direction and character of the illumination employed,
—all these variable conditions in some measure detract from the fixed
value of this test.”
Of course they do; and the same variable conditions affect all
natural objects in the same manner, and in the case of the Diatomacez
in a much greater degree. I do not know what Mr. Powell calls “ Acus”
(there is no such genus in Pritchard), or what he has to prove that it
is a “sharper and safer test;” but I can say confidently (and other
observers confirm me), after years of work on the diatoms, and on the
test-plates, no less than four of them, that the plates are more uniform,
more reliable, and hence “safer” than any diatom I have yet seen, for
testing different instruments, in different places. It needs no argu-
ment to show that if all observers could use the same one object,
whether natural or artificial, that such is the only absolute test. That
being of course impossible, I contend that the “test-plates” of Nobert
are more uniform, more reliable, and “safer” for comparison, than
any other object yet known to microscopists.
Cartes STODDER.
To the Editor of the ‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal.
Boston, U.S.A., April 5, 1870.
Dear S1r,—I have read Mr. Stodder’s very full and clear paper,
which will be forwarded by this mail for publication in your Journal,
on the subject of resolving the 19th band of the Nobert test-plate, and
fully agree with his statements, which, as nearly as I can remember,
are correct in detail and dates.
I have not kept the close run of this discussion that Mr. Stodder
has, although personally interested, and was not present at the trial of
objectives before the Committee of the Mechanics’ Association, but at
a meeting of the “Section of Microscopy” of the Boston Natural
s 2
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, May 1, 1870.
260 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
History Society, soon after the award was made, two of the members
of that Committee stated the facts, as Mr. Stodder has reported in his
communication to you in regard to the resolving of the 19th band by
the ,!,th objective made by R. B. Tolles.
It is no easy matter to resolve their infinitely fine lines. No one,
unless he has educated his eye and hand to this intensely fine work,
can bring about all the delicate arrangements of light and adjustments
of objective absolutely requisite to the performance of seeing the
sreooa ths of an inch.
Not long since I endeavoured to show to a gentleman, considered
an expert in microscopy, the lines in the 14th band by Tolles’ 3th
immersion. It was with difficulty he could see the band, and failed
of seeing the lines composing it, when to my eye they were as clearly
defined as the ruled lines on a sheet of music paper; he therefore stated
“that the lines had not been resolved! ”
My friend Mr. Stodder and I have given much time to this work
upon naturally and artificially lined objects, and with objectives of
almost every maker, and think we know when we see true and when
spectral lines. y
I do not personally wish for any credit to be given me as an ob-
server; but I do greatly care for the honour of our American optical
instruments.
Most respectfully yours,
R. C. Green LEAF.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.*
Royaut MicroscoricAL Society.
Kine’s CoLtece, April 13, 1870,
Rey. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
A list of donations which had been received was also read, and a
vote of thanks passed to the respective donors. ;
It was announced that the question as to the best day for holding
the meetings of the Society had been brought before the Council. Many
Fellows of this Society were also Fellows of the Geological, which held
its meeting on the same evening; they were thus unavoidably absent
from the one or the other. Moreover, as the second Wednesday in
the month often fell late, it was attended with much inconvenience to
the Editor of the Journal. The Council therefore suggested that the
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: Hy dra—and by “ underlining”
words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus
secure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings.—Ep. M. M. J.
Mourns, May i tee | + PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 261
day of meeting should be altered from the second to the first Wednes-
day in each month, and in accordance with this suggestion, notice
was given of a motion at the next meeting of the Society, that the
20th bye-law should be so amended as to enable the Council to carry
out the alteration.
Mr. Slack said that in consequence of the want of time at the pre-
vious meeting, there had been no proper discussion of the papers by Mr.
Barrett “On a New Stentor” and Dr. Pigott “On High-Power Defi-
nition.” He thought it undesirable that Mr. Barrett's paper should
pass without some protest being made against the creature he had
described being called a Stentor. The animal was undoubtedly an
interesting object, but the description given of it did not justify the
appellation bestowed upon it. Mr. Barrett says, “There were no
cilia over the body; but standing at right angles to the body, and at
equal distances froma each other, there were long fine hairs.” Stentors,
according to the best authorities on the subject, had two kinds of cilia
on their bodies. Stein, in his arrangement of Infusoria, divides the
ciliata into Holotrichia, cilia of one character, and Heterotrichia, cilia
of different characters. Stentors belonged to the latter, having small
cilia thickly covering the body; and larger cilia forming an oral
wreath. A creature which had no cilia on its body was a wide de-
parture from the Stentors recognized by all the authorities. True
Stentors had also characteristic body stripes, but Mr. Barrett’s animal
had no stripes. Mr. Barrett mentioned indications in his creature of a
nervous system said to be similar to the Polyzoa; this would indicate
a much higher rank than a Stentor, at least as high as a Rotifer.
With reference to bristles on Stentors, so conspicuous in Mr. Barrett’s
figure, Stein speaks of objects of this description in true Stentors,
which were protruded from the sarcode and disappeared, leaving no
special mark of their entrance and exit. He supposed them organs of
touch.
Mr. T. Charters White said it might be interesting to the Fellows
to know that at the recent excursion of the Quekett Club to Wands-
worth Common, he had found large numbers of an animal similar to
the new Stentor described by Mr. Barrett, but inhabiting a transparent
case. The longitudinal bands of cilia usually seen in Stentor were
absent, and it had not the projecting bristles as figured in Mr. Barrett’s
drawing. The oral disc was of the shape of the human ear, surrounded
by well-marked cilia. The body was granular, but with distinctly-
defined vacuoles filled with Desmids. It was found abundantly on
Ranunculus aquatilis, together with very large specimens of Stepha-
noceros.
’ Mr. Hogg explained that the case of Mr. Barrett’s Stentor had been
rendered opaque by the use of carmine. He had generally found the
case of Stentor transparent, and believed that Stentors vary in appear-
ance at different periods of the year. He had seen Stentors without
striations through the sarcode body; but did not, however, regard the
animal described by Mr. Barrett as a Stentor. From some observa-
tions he (Mr. Hogg) had made of Stentors, he had observed a process
resembling conjugation in some of the Desmids, in which condition
262 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. tas lo
one animal was seen occupying the .case of the other; drawings of
this supposed sexual process was exhibited to the Society, and Mr.
Hogg suggested the value of a systematic and careful examination of
these animals throughout the year, and during their various stages of
development, which might possibly show many departures from the
common type.
Mr. Slack then read a paper by Mr. H. C. Sorby “On Colouring
Matter derived from the Decomposition of Minute Organisms.”
The President said that Mr. Sorby had sent him two letters last
year on the subject of his present paper, and had promised a fuller
account of his experiments in a future communication to the Society.
This interesting communication had just been read. The specimens
of the dichroic fluid forwarded some little time ago by Mr. Sheppard
gave two essentially different spectra dependent on the presence or
absence of albumen, and hence Mr. Sorby was led to conclude that the
first dichroic fluid, which had given the same remarkable spectrum both
to Mr. Browning and himself, was in point of fact a mixture of the
albuminous and non-albuminous fluids. He (the President) had been
able to report that such was the case. It would be in the recollection
of the Fellows that Mr. Sheppard had given us an account of his own
early experiments, and that Mr. Ray Lankester had made some rather
stringent criticisms upon it, inasmuch as he had stated that Mr.
Sheppard had gone out of his way to conjure up a mystery quite un-
necessarily. Now, though he (the President) had a great respect for
Mr. Ray Lankester’s zeal, and valued the results of his microscopical
investigations, he could not but think that in this instance his zeal had
been allowed to outrun his discretion. It did really appear, as was
acknowledged by Dr, Cohn in a letter to Mr. Sheppard, that Mr. Shep-
pard had produced a new dichroic fluid, new to English microscopists,
and new to Mr. Sorby. The natural colour, which has a spectrum of
its own, was probably due to the small amount of albumen naturally
present in the confervoid mass, but Mr. Sheppard’s artificial addition
of albumen produced a new fluid characterized by a new spectrum ;
and Mr. Sorby, speaking of the chemical effects of reagents on this
colour, says in his note of June 12, 1869, “ Neither ammonia, citric
acid, or sulphate of soda produce any change. It is a colour entirely
new to me,’ The President observed, in conclusion, that the whole
series of experiments was very interesting, as showing the accuracy
of spectroscopic work and the dependence to be placed on first-rate
observers.
Mr. T. Charters White said that about a fortnight ago a friend of
his had brought up a bottle of dichroic fluid, which he had collected at
St. Leonard’s and sent to Mr. Sorby for his inspection, and he affirms
that it is identical under spectroscopic examination with that found by
Mr. Sheppard. It was observed in a stream in which there was a con-
siderable ferruginous deposit. With reference to the changes of colour
produced by the presence of albumen, he would remark that a very
peculiar action takes place between vegetable substances and albumen,
and it was a point to which he should like to see Mr. Sorby’s attention
directed.
Monthly) Microscopical] PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 263
Mr. Hogg said it occurred to him that it would be a very useful
and accurate test of the presence of albumen either in vegetable or
animal infusions. We want to know what substance, in conjunction
with the albumen, tends to impart this remarkable colour in these
dichroic fluids. It would be of great value in medical investigations
if it could be determined by the spectroscope, whether in any par-
ticular fluid, say urine, albumen was present or not.
Mr. Slack thought that as Dr. Pigott’s paper contained some points
of great interest, and that gentleman was not present to join in the
discussion, it would be better to defer the discussion for the present.
Mr. Slack called the attention of the meeting to a series of micro-
scopic objectives made by Herr Gundlach, of Berlin, whose agent in
England was Mr. Winspear, of Hull). The Gundlach objectives were
remarkable for combining a very considerable amount of merit with
unusually low price. The lower powers, 2-inch, 1-inch, 14-inch, were
sold by Mr. Winspear at 17s., and ;4,th and ;!,th immersion lenses at
dl. 12s. 6d., including the Society’s standard screw and brass boxes.
Mr. Slack said that in comparing the prices of competitors with those
of the great English makers it would be necessary to ascertain how
far the former were careful in maintaining that uniformity of quality
by which the best English glasses were characterized. It must also
be remembered that extraordinary skill was required to excel beyond
a certain point. He was not able to state the exact limits of the
performance of Gundlach’s ;1,th and ;1,th immersion lenses, but they
well deserved attention. A good form of student’s microscope with
rotating stage by Mr. Winspear, and Gundlach’s objectives was like-
wise exhibited.
Mr. Hogg then read a paper “On Cercarie infesting Lymneus
Stagnalis.”
Mr. Lee said he would mention a fact in confirmation of what had
fallen from Mr. Hogg, respecting the prevalent opinion that parasites
are universally a condition of disease. He had examined a great
many fishes on which parasites were found, and had found that gene-
rally these fish were in the best of health. A nobleman of his
acquaintance had recently told him of his experience in his fishing
expeditions in Ireland. He had caught several fine salmon, but as
some of them had parasites attached to them, his attendant, labouring
under the popular delusion, had thrown them back into the water, and
reserved only a few miserable fish on which parasites did not happen
to be present; and he (Mr. Lee) took the opportunity of removing the
erroneous impression from the mind of his friend. This fact with
respect to parasites, he must mention, had relation to external parasites
only.
Mr. Slack quoted the opinion of the distinguished naturalist,
Van Beneden, in reference to parasitism. The term parasite, he
(Van Beneden) says, can only be used when the creature lives upon
and is really detrimental to the animal to which it is attached ; and
unless this evident mischief results from their contact, the term
parasite cannot be properly applied. Mr. Slack then adduced some.
instances of animals (such as the Meduse and Soldier Crab) which
264 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. TORE Mana si.
possessed what were usually called parasites, but which did not appear
to suffer in the least from the animal they carried; on the contrary,
they lived harmoniously together, and even appeared to consult each
other’s convenience.
The President moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Sorby and Mr. Hogg
for their papers; and announced that he had received a paper from
Dr. Bowerbank, containing some of his early reminiscences of the
microscope. It was impossible that it should be read that evening ;
but as he had no doubt that it would be regarded with much interest
by the Fellows, he would give a month’s notice that it would be read at
the next meeting of the Society.
The President then mentioned the fact that a Microscopical Club
(an offshoot of our parent Society) had been most successfully inaugu-
rated at Croydon. The club consisted of nearly a hundred members,
and they had unanimously elected Mr. Henry Lee as their president.
The President then made some announcements with regard to the
arrangements for the soirée, and the meeting was adjourned until =
11th May.
Donations to the Library from March 9th to April 13th, 1870 :—
From
Land and Water. Weekly se Ge, ee | ele) | ele eRe EEs
Society of Arts Journal. Weekly TTA Ome son) oc}. SING z)-
Nature. Weekly .. . cis, wie. lan” at) tem felon
Scientific Opinion. Part XVID... o.cets neo eco. oo eee
Bed of the Atlantic. By Wm.Chimmo ,, .,. .. .. .. Jd. Glaisher, F.R.S.
Popular Science Review. No.3) ~ =. 1. sd be soe
Journal of the Quekett Club ass, Sy) tue. wit el ureter mn nt
The Student. No.2. New Series .. Publisher.
The Terraces of Norway. es Professor Kjerul. Translated
by Marshall Hall... Marshall Hall, Esq.
Le Globe.
Withering’s Arrangement of British Plants, 3rd LEdition.\ A Friend, through
a5 KOR ant, or - . W. W. Reeves.
Francisci Redi’s Experimenta circa generationem Insectorum. Ditt
2 vols. 1685. Se a) ii
The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society :—
Thomas Sanders Crossley, Esq.
Frank Crisp, Esq.
Thomas Greenish, Esq.
John Anthony, M.D., Cantab., M.B., M.R.C.P., &e.
Water W. ReEEvzs,
Assist. Secretary.
Annual Soirée of the Royal Microscopical Society.
The annual soirée of the Royal Microscopical Society was held at
King’s College, by the kind permission of the authorities of that
Institution, on the 20th April, and was very numerously attended by
Fellows and invited guests.
Tables round the great hall and down the centre were occupied
Spa aa PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 265
with a special collection of 100 microscopic objects, selected to iHlus-
trate the invertebrate sub-kingdom, by Charles Stewart, Esq., F.1.S.,
member of the council of the R.M.S., who prepared a descriptive
catalogue, a copy of which was sent to each Fellow some time previous
to the soirée, accompanied by an explanatory letter inviting co-oper-
ation. Many Fellows of the Society lent microscopes and objects, and
many other gentlemen kindly assisted ; but a large portion jof the
objects, including many of rarity and beauty, were supplied by Mr.
Stewart. The list comprehended characteristic specimens of Rhizo-
poda, Spongiade, Hydrozoa, Actinozoa, Scolecida, Echinodermata,
Annelida, Crustacea, Arachnida, Myriapoda, Insecta, Polyzoa, Brachio-
poda, Ascidioida, Lamellibranchiata, Gasteropoda, and Cephalopoda.
The interest of this collection was much enhanced by a series of draw-
ings illustrating the various orders and families of the objects exhi-
bited, lent for the occasion by Prof. Rymer Jones, F.R.S., and Mr.
Mummery, and arranged by Mr. Stewart.
A special department was occupied by Dr. Carpenter with a
remarkably interesting collection—of which he contributed a descrip-
tive catalogue—illustrating his Deep-Sea Dredgings. The first series
contained Arenaceous Foraminifera, “to which the additions made by
Deep-Sea Dredgings have been most remarkable.” In these, “the
shells of other Foraminifera are replaced by tests, which are built up
by the animals constructing them from the materials furnished by the
sea-bottom whereon they live; particular kinds of materials being
selected and cemented together, so as to make particular forms of
tests, with the most marvellous regularity and exactness. It is very
curious to note that one and the same dredging will often yield a great
number of types of these Arenaceous Foraminifera, differing not merely
in the form, but in the materials of their tests, and also in their mode
of aggregation; thus showing a selecting and constructive power in
creatures which may be said to be mere particles of animated jelly
(sarcode or protoplasm), possessing no ‘organs’ save the soft filaments
into which this jelly extends itself.’* Dr. Carpenter observes that
“the most rudimentary forms of this series consist of spherical
masses of Protoplasm, throughout which sand-grains are uniformly
diffused, without any distinction of the containing wall and internal
cavity. The next stage is presented in Astrorhiza, in which type there
is a containing wall composed of sand-grains loosely aggregated
together, surrounding a cavity occupied by sarcode ; but there is no
distinct mouth, the filamentous extensions of the sarcode-body probably
finding their way out between the sand-grains, especially at the ends
of the finger-like projections.”
In the long tubes of the Botellina (from botellum, a sausage or
pig’s pudding) “an advance is shown. The wall of the cylinder is
composed of sand-grains firmly cemented together; while its cavity is
traversed by extensions of the like structure, intermingled with sponge-
spicules, forming a rude labyrinthic arrangement.”
* ‘Descriptive Catalogue of Objects from the Deep-Sea Dredgings,’ exhibited
at the Soirée of the Royal Microscopical Society, King’s College, 20th April, 1870.
By Dr. Carpenter, F.RS., &e.
266 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. oe
In Saccamina “the test is of very regular spherical form, with a
flask-shaped neck, and it is composed of large sand-grains firmly
cemented together so as to present a smooth exterior, whilst their
angles project into the interior of the cavity, which is filled with living
sarcode.” In Pilulina the form of the test is spherical, but it differs
from Saccamina in its mouth being “a somewhat sinuous flexure,” and
being composed of extremely fine white sand-grains, worked up with
the pointed ends of sponge-spicules. The specimens of this type
shown by Dr. Carpenter “ were brought up alive from 1215 fathoms.”
“The test of Rhabdammina is usually triradiate, having a central
cavity which extends itself to the open end of each of the radiating
tubes ; and it is composed of quartz sand-grains, firmly united together
by a cement which contains a large proportion of phosphate of iron.”
The Proteonina present avery curious difference in their materials,
which seems to depend upon the character of the bottom from which
they were respectively obtained. Where this consists of nearly pure
globigerina, and having sponge-spicules dispersed through it, but
scarcely any admixture of sand, the animal builds up its test of sponge-
spicules, only using a grain of sand here and there to fill up a corner
left by the crossing of the sponge-spicules. But where the bottom
abounds in sand-grains, the animal uses them as the materials of its
test, still; however, using sponge-spicules for the prolongation which
forms the mouth at each end, this prolongation being sometimes ex-
tended like a proboscis: found at a depth of 650 and 540 fathoms.
Concerning the Porcellanous Foraminifera of the Deep-Sea Dredg-
ings, Dr. Carpenter remarks that “the Milioline brought up from
great depths are remarkable for their great size; no larger specimens
of Cornuspira, Biloculina, and Triloculina being known than those here
exhibited.”
Fragmentary specimens of Orbitolites seemed to indicate that the
entire disk must often attain the size of a sixpence. “The nucleus of
this disk is formed by a spire of several turns, precisely resembling the
central part of a Cornuspira: by the opening out of the spire, and the
subdivision of its cavity into chamberlets, the first approach is made
to the cyclical arrangement characteristic of the Orbitolite; and the
whole subsequent growth takes place on the cyclical plan. Each
ring contains an annular gallery, communicating with every one of
the chamberlets; the outer side of this gallery gives off passages
which lead into the chamberlets of the next ring; and the passages
thus given off from the marginal ring open as pores on the surface,
and constitute the only channel of communication between the entire
system of galleries and chamberlets to the exterior.”
Dr. Carpenter observes of the Vitreous Foraminifera that the
“ Globigerine and Orbuline, of which an accumulation covers a large
proportion of the North Atlantic sea-bed to an unknown thickness,
formed a deposit closely resembling chalk. These types occur at all
depths, from 200 or 300 fathoms to three miles.”
In addition to the above, Dr. Carpenter exhibited a series of
Cristellarie, showing every gradation from the straight to the nauti-
loid form ; also the animal of Cristellaria, obtained by dissolving the
jour, May ct] PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 267
shell of a fresh specimen in dilute acid; and also slides of Nodosarine
and a small Lingulina.
The siliceous skeleton of a polycystine form of Radiolaria of fre-
quent occurrence at considerable depths, was shown in Dr. Carpenter’s
collection; and a slide of Radiolariz taken alive on the surface of the
sea in the neighbourhood of Shetland, where they float in masses,
mingled with Entomostraca, which are known to the fishermen as
“madre,” and are said to furnish food to the herring shoals,
A slide of the siliceous skeleton of Aphrocallistes Bocageii, “ first
discovered by Dr. Perceval Wright off the coast of Cornwall, and
since found at great depths at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, was
shown; and likewise the interesting crinoid, Rhizocrinus lofotensis,
first discovered by Professor Sars, ata depth of about 300 fathoms, near
the Loffoden Islands; and since met with in the ‘Lightning’ and
‘Porcupine’ Expeditions, at various depths down to 2000 fathoms ;
found also in the Gulf of Mexico. This crinoid belongs to the
Apiocrinites, of which the pear-shaped fossil of the Bradford clay is a
characteristic representative.”
The Deep-Sea annelids were represented by tubes; “some built
up of Globigerine; others of cemented sand-grains; while others
have a coloured internal layer of animal substance, which acts as a
foil to the sand-grains that are attached to its outer surface.”
Dr. Carpenter brought a beautiful series of drawings, illustrating
the objects displayed, and others that were found in the Deep-Sea
Dredgings. Mr. Henry Lee made the arrangements and assisted Dr.
Carpenter in this part of the exhibition.
New Instruments, Objectives, dc.—Messrs. Powell and Lealand ex-
hibited a 3th and ,1,th objective on the immersion principle, both
worked upon new curves. The former was shown in action upon the
test Podura scale (Lepidocyrtus curvicollis); and the latter upon the
Navicula rhomboides. These new lenses differ somewhat in the cha-
racter of their definition from those previously used by the same firm.
They are more perfectly achromatic, not only without sacrificing, but
with an addition to sharpness of definition, and give a brilliant field
without the glare so common in immersion objectives. These ob-
jectives are furnished with fronts for dry use.
Messrs. R. and J. Beck exhibited an immersion 1th, showing the
Podura markings very distinctly, characterized by the well-known
appearances in the drawings of the late Richard Beck, and which
microscopists have accepted as tests.
Mr. Crouch exhibited an immersion 1th, working well upon
P. angulatum, and belonging to his new series of objectives.
The most decided novelty was shown by Mr. Holmes, who ex-
hibited four binocular microscopes, each differing in mechanical
arrangements; but all upon a hitherto untried optical principle of
dividing the objective by vertical section into two equal and corre-
sponding halves. The powers employed were one inch. Each tube
of the binocular was equally illuminated, and the definition sharp.
These instruments will be brought before the notice of the Society at
its next meeting.
268 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. [Monthly Microscopical
Mr. Baker showed a microscope with a new and convenient
horizontal stage-movement, worked by an eccentric disk conveniently
situated to be acted upon by the finger.
Mr. Moginie exhibited a very handy and complete portable
travelling microscope. A pocket microscope was also shown by
Mr. Browning, and by Messrs. Murray and Heath.
Mr. Crouch exhibited a new microscope devised by Mr. Fiddian,
one peculiarity of which consists in the coarse adjustment being
formed by the movable bar being cut with a screw-thread, and worked
by a large milled head with a counter-screw. On Mr. Crouch’s table
there was likewise a modification of Fiddian’s lamp, with a chimney
of white opal glass, having a central opening to receive a disk of
white glass.
Mr. Swift exhibited a Bockett lamp with a cylindrical porcelain
shade.
Mr. Ross, Messrs. R. and J. Beck, Mr. Ladd, Mr. Browning,
Messrs. Murray and Heath, Messrs. Gould and Porter, Messrs. Horne
and Thornthwaite, Stanley, Swift, Wheeler, Dancer, Winspear, and
Bailey, contributed very numerous objects of interest.
Mr. Norman showed a superb collection of sections of fossiliferous
coal, made with unusual skill.
In an upper room a large table was occupied with. students’
instruments by various makers, to which prices were affixed ranging
from 10/. downwards.
In the course of the evening Mr. Browning gave illustrations of
spectroscopic phenomena, including recent astronomical researches ;
and Mr. How displayed with a gas microscope a series of natural
objects, micro-photographs, &e.
Quekett Microscopican Cius.*
At the ordinary meeting held at University College, March 25th,
1870, P. Le Neve Foster, Esq., M.A., President, in the chair, four new
members were elected, and a number of presents to the library and
cabinet were announced. Mr. M. C. Cooke read a paper upon “ Micro-
scopic Moulds,” illustrating the subject by a large number of diagrams
and by specimens exhibited under the microscope at the close of the
meeting, and a quantity of specimens of several species were placed
upon the table for distribution amongst the members. Mr. Edward
Richards exhibited and described his new method of using Darker’s
selenite films. The President, in reference to the recent soirée,
announced that the proceeds of the sale of extra tickets, amounting to
51. 7s. 6d., had been voted by the committee to the funds of University
College Hospital; and votes of thanks to those members who exhibited
objects at the soirée were carried unanimously. The President also
announced that the fortnightly field excursions of the Club would be
resumed in April. Nine gentlemen were proposed for membership,
and the proceedings terminated with a conversazione, at which a
number of objects of interest were exhibited.
* Report supplied by Mr. R. 'T. Lewis.
Aa eed PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 269
Lirerary AND PutinosopHicaL Socrety oF MANCHESTER.
Ordinary meeting, February 22nd, 1870. J. P. Joule, D.C.L.,
LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President, in the chair.—The only paper of micro-
scopical interest was the following: “On the Organic Matter of
Human Breath in Health and Disease,” by Dr. Arthur Ransome, M.A.
The author having given an account of the chemical constitution, then
considered the question of the presence of spores.
Mr. Dancer’s calculation of the number of spores contained in the
air was noticed, but a source of error was pointed out in the readiness
with which organisms are developed in suitable fluids, even in the
course of a few hours. Observations upon the organic particles of
respired air had at different times been made by the author.
1. In 1857 glass plates covered with glycerine had been exposed in
different places and examined microscopically. Amongst others, in the
dome of the Borough Gaol, to which all the respired air in the build-
ing is conducted: organized particles from the lungs and various fibres
were found in this air.
2. During a crowded meeting at the Free Trade Hall, air from one
of the boxes was drawn for two hours through distilled water, and the
sediment examined after thirty-six hours. The following objects were
noted :—fibres, separate cellules, nucleated cells, surrounded by gra-
nular matter, numerous epithelial scales from the lungs and skin.
3. The dust from the top of one of the pillars was also examined,
and in addition to other objects, the same epithelial scales were de-
tected.
4. Several of the specimens of fluid from the lungs were also searched
with the microscope. In all of them epithelium in different stages of
deterioration was abundantly present, but very few spores were found
in any fresh specimen. On the other hand, after the fluid had been kept
for a few hours, myriads of vibriones and many spores were found.
In a case of diphtheria, confervoid filaments were noticed; and in
two other cases, one of measles and one of whooping cough, abundant
specimens of a small-celled torula were found, and these were seen to
increase in numbers for two days, after which they ceased to develop.
These differences in the nature of the bodies met with probably
show some difference in the nature of the fluid given off; but it was
pointed out that they afford no proof as yet of the germ theory of dis-
ease. They simply show the readiness with which the aqueous vapour
of the breath supports fermentation, and the dangers of bad ventila-
tion, especially in hospitals.
Dr. E. Lund and Dr. H. Browne stated that they had also made
experiments, the results of which were, in general, confirmatory of
‘those obtained by Dr. Ransome.
Ordinary meeting, March 8th, 1870. J.P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D.,
F.RS., &e., President, in the Chair.—The following letter from Mr.
Dancer, F.R.A.S., dated March 5, 1870, was read :—
I was not present at the last ordinary meeting on Feb. 22nd, but
seeing my name mentioned in the printed report of Dr. A Ransome’s
paper “On the Organic Matter of Human Breath,” in which it is
270 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, [erty ee
stated “ that Mr. Dancer’s calculation of the number of spores in the
air was noticed, but a source of error was pointed out in the readiness
with which organisms are developed in suitable fluids even in the
course of a few hours,” in reply I have to state that this very obvious
source of multiplication did not escape attention, which a few extracts
from the printed paper in the Proceedings of March 31st, 1868, will
suffice to show. It is stated that “during the first observations, few
living organisms were noticed, but as it afterwards proved, the germs
of plant and animal life (probably in a dormant condition) were
present.” Again, at the bottom of the same page— When the bottle
had remained for 86 hours in a room at a temperature of 60° the
quantity of fungi had visibly increased, and the delicate mycelial
thread-like roots had completely entangled the fibrous objects con-
tained in the bottle and formed them into a mass.” I may add that
the contents of the bottle were very frequently subjected to critical
examination for any change in their appearance from the time I received
it from Dr. R. A. Smith until all appearance of vitality had ceased.
The amount of solid matter suspended in the atmosphere is exceedingly
variable—after continued rain the air is comparatively free, whereas
in very dry weather with high wind, in localities where dust and
decomposing matter are abundant, it will be found at a considerable
altitude.
BricHToN AND Sussex NatrurAt History Socrery.*
March 10th. The President, Mr. T. Hennah, in the chair.—The
meeting was special, to receive a report of the Committee on the
subject of forming a Microscopical Section, a summary of which is
appended, It having been suggested that the usefulness of the Society
would be much extended if increased facilities could be afforded to its
members for microscopical study, the Committee recommended that,
as microscopical examination and the use of the microscope were
almost indispensable to the pursuit of knowledge in natural history,
it appeared necessary to form a section of the Society, to be called the
“ Microscopical Section,” which should provide for the study of sub-
jects connected with the use of the microscope, and for the more
frequent intercourse of such members as were interested in microsco-
pical study; that these objects could be attained by monthly meetings
of the Section, when papers on strictly microscopical subjects could
be read, such reading to be restricted to twenty minutes, so that time
might be afforded for the examination of objects and for the compari-
son of observations ; by the formation of a cabinet, to which members
be invited to contribute slides, particularly of such objects as illustrate
the natural history of Sussex—members to have specimens from the
cabinet for home examination, under certain restrictions; and by
the encouraging the exchange of slides among the members. The
Section to consist of all members of the Society who signify their wish
to the Secretaries to join the Section. The government to be under
the present officers of the Society until the annual meeting, when the
* Report supplied by Mr. T, Wonfor.
Ls ah ee PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 271
Committee shall suggest rules for its future government: the meetings
to be held on the fourth Thursday in each month, at eight o’clock, the
chair to be taken by the President, or, in his absence, by a member of
the Committee. After the transaction of the ordinary and special
business of the evening, the meeting shall resolve itself into a conver-
sazione, at which slides illustrative of the subject of the meeting shall
have precedence of other objects of interest and novelty. Before
separating the subject of the next meeting shall be announced. On
the motion of Mr. Hazlewood, seconded by Mr. Wonfor, it was re-
solved “That the Committee’s report be received, approved, entered
on the minutes, and acted upon,” the effect of which is to establish a
Microscopical Section, and to make the meetings of the Society twice
instead of once a month, the first for general subjects of natural
history, the second for the microscope in relation to natural history.
The meeting then became general, when a paper by Mr. Clifton
Ward, F.G.S., “A Sketch of the Geological History of England, so
far as it is at present known,’ was read by Mr. Wonfor, Honorary
Secretary, in which, from the earliest dawn of the Cambrian period to
the present day, the changes brought about by submersion, deposition,
elevation, denudation, &c., together with an account of the animal and
vegetable types of the various periods, were graphically described,
while the amount of land above water in England, at the different
periods, was represented by a series of fifteen charts.
It was announced that the Bryological Flora of the county of
Sussex would shortly be ready for distribution, the Society having
determined to publish it at once, instead of waiting until the issue of
the annual report.
TunpripcE Weis MicroscoricaL Socretry.*
The last monthly meeting of this Society took place on Tuesday,
April 5, at the house of Rev. Dr. Ash.
There were fifteen members present, and ten microscopes were
placed on the table.
The subject for discussion was Diatoms. A large number of very
beautiful specimens were exhibited, and a general discussion took
place as to their nature, and use, and structure, and the best method
of viewing them by transmitted light, so as to form a dark background
under high powers.
The next meeting will take place on May 3, when the subject of
cellular tissues will come under consideration.
* Report supplied by the Rev. B. Whitelock.
Monthly Micr ical
( 272 ) Somnaah May. 1, 1870.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection. A series of
Essays by Alfred R. Wallace. London. Macmillan.
Anatomie et Physiologie de l’Oreille, la Lame spirale du Limagon
et !’Organe de Corti d’aprés des Recherches originales. Par B. Loe-
wenburg, Docteur en Médecine des Facultés de Berlin et de Paris.
Avec 4 pl. dessinées par Auteur. Paris. Martinet.
Histoire Naturelle et Médicale de la Chique Rhynchoprion penetrans
(Oken), Insecte parasite des Régions tropicales des deux Amériques.
Par M. J. L. G. Guyon, Inspecteur du Service de Santé de Armée.
Paris. Bouchard-Huzzard.
Annales de la Société linnéenne de Lyon. Années 1868 et 1869
(nouvelle série). Tomes XVI. et XVII. Paris. Savy.
Tyson’s The Cell Doctrine, its History, &c. Cr. 8vo. 10s. cl.
Précis Histoire naturelle. Par Alphonse Milne-Edwards, Pro-
fesseur de Zoologie a l’Kcole supérieure de Pharmacie. 3° Edition.
Paris. Masson et Fils.
fe
a
P? LIQ.
TuffenWest delet se
THE
MONTHLY MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.
JUNE 1, 1870.
I.—The New Binocular Microscope. By Samurt Hotmgs.
(Read before the Royau MicroscopicaL Society, May 11, 1870.)
Puate LITT.
My microscopes are arranged to be Monocular, Binocular, Pseudo-
scopic, or Stereoscopic, at the pleasure of the observer.
The definition and illumination are equal in both fields of view.
They give pictures in solid relief of Opaque objects, and show the
thickness of the structure in Transparent objects.
There have been several forms of Binocular Microscope already
contrived, but an examination of the principles of their construction
shows that much has been left to future endeavour.
In the binocular microscope of Nachet, since, I believe, some-
what modified, we have several extra surfaces of glass for the light
to pass through in the necessary prisms, and irrespective of the
difficulty of ensuring correct internal transmission through these
prisms, their surfaces reflect and scatter the light that a more
scientific combination might conserve.
Mr. Wenham’s first scheme, of two achromatic prisms over the
object-glass, was open to the same objection, and had a similar
defect of increased surface although in a less degree, and the diffi-
culty of execution was great from the thinness and acuteness of the
risms.
In Mr. Wenham’s second plan, since so deservedly popular, the
prism requires nice execution, and depends for the similarity of
definition of zs picture, on the equal transmission of light through
a thick piece of glass, and on the goodness of its four surfaces.
These difficulties, combined with the error acquired by the
unequal length of one set of rays over that of the other set, render
it almost impossible to make an instrument on this plan in which
the errors are not perceivable by the eye; and thus, although the
illusion of solidity 1s presented to the observer, a doubt has arisen
as to whether it has been properly obtained and is to be trusted.
The most perfect piece of glass is variable in structure, and
affects the passage of light through it in an irregular manner.
This may be called structural aberration, and is reduced to its least
VOL. III. rz
*)° . Monthly Mi ical
274 Transactions of the J OntaEL ERO LTD.
effect in all optical instruments by making their glasses as thin as
possible.
Hence total-reflexion prisms, by their unavoidable thickness and
the number of their surfaces, produce indistinctness that cannot be
compensated or removed, and give to the pictures of an instrument
in which they are used an unequal appearance and value, the blend-
ing of which, by two eyes, can never produce a correct stereoscopic
relief.
Largeness of aperture in the object-glass gives a certain relief to
an object under view with one eye; this is simply monocular relief,
and is untruthfully exaggerated by the two oblique reflexions in
the prism, giving a lateral elongation to its image: thus the view
of the left eye being rendered dissimilar, presents an appearance of
relief when blended with the undistorted view of the right eye.
The amount of this distortion may be seen in the diagram of
the prism, &e., in which the two paths of the light to the right and
left eye are produced backwards until they intersect the plane of
the object.
One path is vertical, the other oblique. Now the area of the
oblique section is greater than that of the rectangular section, and
if the area containing the object is distorted, the object is distorted
also. Again, as the eye refers the position of an object to the
direction from whence the light came, we may reasonably infer that
the left eye sees an object considerably to the right of the real one,
and the obliquity and lateral displacement have the effect of making
a Cube appear as a Parallopipedon, and a Sphere as an Ellipsoid,
and these forms superposed by any stereoscope will give a false per-
spective of the Cube and Sphere.
From the above considerations, believing that the attempt to
divert half the light from an objective to form a secondary image
by a total-reflexion prism, to be incapable of improvement, I have
experimented in other directions, and have even gained more light
and more equality by the use of ¢wo prisms, having only a single
reflexion in each.
In January, 1869, I contributed a paper to the Quekett Club,
on some experiments made in the year 1858, which was read by
my co-member and friend Mr. George, and to which I now advert
only as a matter of history.
In the microscope therein described, I proposed to divide the
light from the objective into three portions and direct one half into
each eye, through the medium of two reflectors and eye-pieces. The
object-glass shown to the meeting was a hemispherical plano-convex
lens, and the plane side had two reflecting facets at the binocular
angle. ‘This lens was to be placed over the object with its angu-
lated surface at an angle of 45° to the perpendicular, in which
direction the rays from the object should reach it from below, to be
ee Royal Microscopical Society. 275
divided and reflected horizontally to the eyes through two equally
inclined eye-pieces.
It was shown that, if the angulated surface was cut into the
lens, the image was pseudoscopical ; but that if the reflectors were
made by cutting off the lens, the right eye would receive the lett
image, and vice versd, the result being a stereoscopic view.
Now this contrivance, although optically qualified to give equal
binocular pictures, had certain disadvantages that prevented me
making further use of it, the greatest of these being, that the body-
tubes must be horizontal, while the objective is vertical, which is
rather unsightly and quite contrary to practice.
The paper will be found at length in No. 9 of Journal of the
Quekett Club, and was noticed in the Monthly Journal of this
Society, No. III., March 1, 1869.
The instrument I am now about to describe is on a different
principle to the foregoing, and is my latest invention ; my first view
through the first one completed, dating 19th May, 1869, and I
have since been employed in perfecting the mechanics of the
design.
Suppose, for illustration, we had a complete and well-appomted
achromatic microscope, and we were to make a clean vertical section
pete the centre of the optical parts and their supporting brass-
work.
Now, although completely dissevered, we could see through it
just as well as before its division. But the division of the eye-piece
being near the eye would be visible, and therefore might be left un-
divided, as it is mainly with the object-glass that we have to deal.
Now, being in possession of an imperceptibly bisected instru-
ment, if we consider each half as the radius of a circle whose centre
is the focus of the object-glass, we may, by separating the halves of
the body at the upper end to the distance between the eyes and adding
two eye-pieces, observe binocularly any object that was in focus when
closed as a single body. And here we get an opportunity of proving
the truth of the opinions of Harris, Goring, and Brewster, previously
quoted.
The binocular vision here provided is strictly natural, both
eyes being used under exactly the same conditions as when ex-
amining an object unassisted at the distance of distinct natural
vision, for the two converging optic axes are directed to the same
object, and have the same assistance as to magnifying power and
illumination, and the relief presented by an object of solidity must
be absolute for quantity and correctness.
The indirectness of the path of the light forming the second image
in the Prism Binocular, before referred to, prevents the use of high
powers, because the errors become too sensible to be disregarded.
But in the bisected arrangement, the highest power ue
T
y Monthly Mi Icat
276 Transactions of the Soy vane l, tato.
may be used without any bar by principle, provided only that the
optician has skill enough to split it without injury, and to remount
its halves without deranging its adjustments. And this is a more
simple matter than would at first sight appear.
The bisected tube is mounted in such a manner as to allow the
motion to focus to be given to the stage, the body having peculiar
adjustments of its own.
In adjusting to distinct vision, it is necessary that each half
should move the same quantity to and from the object at the same
time, in order to be in focus at the intersection of the optic axis.
This points to the necessity for an adjustment for point of con-
vergence of visual rays.
Now, according to the differing distances between the eyes of
different persons, the half of the body must be capable of being
drawn wider apart, or of being brought closer together, to ensure a
single solid field.
This is the adjustment for visual angle, and on it depends much
of the beauty of the stereoscopic effect.
Further, it will be conceded that the perfection of vision of
every kind in all cases governs the construction and arrangements
of all instruments, and although it would seem at first sight im-
proper to make binocular vision with two instruments of differmg
powers, yet if a more equable and solid picture can be so observed,
it shows that the natural focal length of each eye is not identical.
Therefore I introduce an Adjustment for Inequality of Visual Foet.
These principles are carried out mechanically im a very simple
manner: Two metal bars are jointed together at the bottom, and the
joint is fixed somewhere in the plane of focus of the object-glass,
and the halves of the divided body slide to or from the joint of the
bars by corresponding attachments.
Part of a rotation of a Mill, connected with the top of the bars,
separates the halves of the body to the distance between the eyes,
so adjusting for Visual Angle.
A second mill is placed near the bottom of the body, and con-
nected by a crank and link to the third mill, which is capable of
motion in a vertical slot, and connected to each half of the body by
a link; so that if the second mill is turned partially round, it will
raise or lower the third in its slot ; and this, acting through its links,
raises or lowers the two halves of the body equally, and so adjusts
for Point of Convergence of Visual Rays; or, in other words, makes
the plane of Horopter coincide with that of the Focus.
Now, if the third mill, while remaining motionless in its slot, be
partially rotated, it will raise one half of the body and depress the
other half, or vice versa. Thus we can lengthen or shorten the
focus of either half of the object-glass, and completely accommodate
any Inequality of Visual Foci between two eyes.
M i j ° . .
vournal, June re | Royal Microscopical Society. 277
The illumination of opaque objects is effected by any of the
well-known means for that purpose; but I prefer to use a side
reflector, because of the light and shade giving the best effect.
For the illumination of transparent objects, an equilateral prism
has one of its sides worked into two facets at such an angle as to
throw the light from its internal reflecting surface in the direction of
the halves of the object-glass, when placed under the stage.
The definition of an object with this angulated prism is far
superior to that given by an illuminating lens. For use by lamp-
light the incident surface of the prism is made convex, and the light
placed in the focus of its convexity becomes parallel before falling
on the reflecting surface. The same effect may be produced by a
condenser before the lamp.
These microscopes claim to give a truthfully stereoscopic view
of both opaque and transparent objects, by the employment of two
direct and equal pencils of light, having origin at the object, and
giving vision to each eye, under precisely similar conditions, and
whose images being equal in illumination and definition, can but
give a magnified presentment of an object in all its dimensions when
blended by two eyes.
I believe that this Binocular Microscope will be found to give
us the power of making perfect Stereographs of the most minute
objects, and when these shall be viewed in the common stereoscope
a complete idea of form, proportion, and solidity, will be arrived at
by mere inspection: and I have thought that the application of
this principle might lessen the fatigue of astronomical observations,
and increase the perception of detail, by the penetration of the gaze
of two eyes over that of one alone.
T had the honour of exhibiting the Instruments, Models, Draw-
ings, &c., at the Soirée of the Royal Society for this year, held
23rd April, at Burlington House, when many gentlemen expressed
high opinions of the value of the principle. Professor Tyndall de-
clared the depth of the transparent views to be ‘“ wonderfully beau-
tiful,’” and those of the opaque objects to be “perfectly stereo-
scopic.”
APPENDIX.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONSTRUCTION.
Tn order to show the very general interest taken in binocular vision
T here insert an extract from the ‘British and Foreign Mechanic’ of
Feb. 5th, 1870. It will serve our purpose in other ways, as it is well
illustrated, and was published unsolicited :—
“ Improvements in Binocular and Stereoscopic Microscopes.
“Qur readers have many times forwarded queries to us relating to
the construction of the binocular microscope ; so we think it necessary
278 Transactions of the Soe tea
for their convenience to give an abstract of the specification of Mr.
Samuel Holmes, of 12, Brunswick Terrace, Lower Road, Rotherhithe,
who has recently secured his improvements in the instrument by a
patent. In the full description of the illustrations published in the
specification, the patentee observes :—
“ My invention consists in the use of two object-glasses or portions
of two object-glasses, or of one object-glass divided into two parts, to
supply through two eye-pieces a binocular and stereoscopic view of
opaque or transparent microscopic objects while illuminated by reflected
or transmitted light, and also inthe use of certain mechanical means
herein described, or their equivalents, for securing the motion in re-
quired directions, or rest in necessary positions of the optical parts of
such combinations for obtaining monocular or binocular vision.
“ The Objective.—I take an ordinary object-piece, and by a circular
saw divide it along its line of collimation, and afterwards rejoin the
halves by screws and steady pins, until as an objective it is in as per-
fect a state of adjustment as before division. It is then capable of
acting as an objective for one or two eyes, according to the position
assumed by the two halves under the control of the mechanical part of
the instrument when the direct light is stopped out.
“ According to another method, I work the lenses of an achromatic
object-piece out of divided and rejoined discs of glass, which when
finished and fixed in a divided mounting temporarily held together for
that purpose may be afterwards separated by dissolving out the cement
by which the halves of the discs were originally conjoined.
“Or lastly, I make two whole object-glasses, and fix one into each
half of a divided mount, cutting away only such portion as will allow
of proper approximation. This method is available for high powers
and for binocular use only.
“Tn all cases I cut the usual screw-thread on the objectives to affix
them to the body, and more surely secure their halves in their respec-
tive places in the divided body-tube of the instrument by two small
milled-headed screws.
“ The Stand.—Figs. 1, 2, and 3, represent a front, side, and back view
respectively of the mechanical arrangement of a microscope according
to my invention, and Fig. 4 shows a section of its optical arrangements.
“A reference to these drawings will show that two rules or bars
are jointed at one end (like a sector), and this joint is in the plane of
focus of the object-glass. The upper ends of the bars are free to
separate a distance equal to the width of the two eyes (about 23 inches),
when operated by the upper millhead and its levers, as shown. On
these two bars slide respectively the two halves of the bisected tube
carrying the object-glass and eye-piece or eye-pieces, according as to
whether the body-tube is closed for observing with one eye or sepa-
rated for binocular use. This sliding motion is given by a crank on
the lower millhead, and serves to make the focus of the object-glass
coincide with the centre of motion of the two bars. The central mill-
head gives a separate motion of small extent to each of the half body
tubes, when any little inequality of focal length, either of the eyes of
the observer or in the glasses, might make one of the two images
ci aa ie Royal Microscopical Society. 279
indistinct. The focussing motion is given by the two large millheads
moving the stage to or from the body of the instrument by a rack and
pinion. The convenient position for observation is secured (as hereto-
fore) by tilting the whole instrument on the trunnions in the uprights,
through which (in this case) runs the pinion actuated by the two large
millheads for moving the stage.
“ The Illuminating Lens—Immediately under the stage is a lens of
large angular aperture, achromatic or not, receiving its illumination
from the usual mirror situated underneath, and by a stop of suitable
form the light from the lens is directed through any transparent
object.
eC The Prismatic Illuminator.—This is shown at Figs. 7 and 8. Itis
made from a rectangular or isosceles prism of glass, by working a con-
vex or plane face for the incident surface, and cutting the reflecting
surface into two planes at the binocular angle, the emergent surface
being left plane. Its convex surface, when placed at its focal distance
from a flame, renders its light parallel, which the two inclined surfaces
reflect up to the two halves of the separated object-glass when the prism
is mounted in an adjustable frame under the stage. If the incident
surface of the prism is plane, the course of the light is unaltered in its
first direction, and therefore not condensed, as in the case of the prism
having a convex incident surface. By the use of this prism the usual
mirror is dispensed with altogether, and a far more brilliant and dis-
tinct light secured.
“ Stops.—To prevent false light it is necessary to stop-off the central
pencil from the illuminator by a stop of black paper or metal placed
between the halves of the object-glass. This stop may or may not
have a prolongation, so as to enclose and prevent the entry of light
into the angular space between the separated body-tubes, where long
draw-tubes are not used for that end. It is unnecessary to use a
divided object-glass for a monocular vision, as any of the ordinary
powers supplied answer for that purpose, but should the closed divided
glass be so required, a narrow stop must be placed so as to prevent the
direct light from coming through the slit.
“ A reference to Fig. 4 will serve to explain the optical arrangement
of this microscope, where each half of the object-glass occupies an
equally angular position with respect to the object, and is thus capable
of making a distinct image of the object of the same intensity for each
eye visible through the two eye-pieces, as shown, the mirror supplying
through the illuminating lens the light for transparent objects, or the
same may be lighted by the prismatic illuminator without a mirror,
while for opaque objects the light is received from a reflector above,
‘or by preference from one side.
“Figs. 5 and 6 explain themselves, as showing a method of applying
this divided system to microscopes of the usual make wherein the focus-
sing is done by moving the body of the instrument instead of the stage
as previously described.
“The eye-pieces most suitable for use with the divided object-glass
are of the inverting or erecting kind, according as to whether the instru-
ment is used as a simple binocular, or as a stereoscopic microscope.”
280 Transactions of the peck nn ee
In one of the photographs exhibited to the meeting there is a
somewhat different arrangement. The body is twelve inches long, and
all parts are more substantial ; the radius bars are an inch wide and
an eighth of an inch thick, jointed by a broad hinge, and further
steadied by strong circular slides ground to the edge of the back
plate ; they are opened to the width of the eyes by two racks and a
pinion operated by a large mill at the back. The coincidence of
Horopter and Focus is secured by a wheel and pinion, working a
peculiar parallel motion giving action to the firm slides to which the
cradle of the body is fixed, and so contrived as to act in any position
of the radius bars.
The motion of the stage is great enough to admit the thickest live-
box, and a range of powers from 2 inches to one-quarter.
A cradle-joint admits of the body assuming any angular position.
It is movable around a vertical centre, and the whole stands on a mas-
sive circular foot.
In a second instrument there is a greater range of adjustment for
Horopter is obtained by making the body-cradle rigid, and sliding the
body in it as required, two mills holding it in any position. It is much
more compact and portable, and works with ashorter body, has a me-
chanical stage, parabola for opaque objects, and prismatic illuminator
and usual mirror for transparent objects.
Another representation exhibited shows an arrangement in which
the body has no motion vertically. Its halves when separated are
capable of a partial rotation around the centre of their length, on two
axes carried by the racks that separate them on turning the large mill
from “‘ Mono” to “ Bino.”
Two radius bars (now much lighter, having nothing to support)
affixed to the stage, alter the convergency of the bodies when the stage
is moved to or from the object-glass, and thus at once make the Horopter
coincide with the Focus of any object-glass used, and the whole is held
in position by a clamping screw. ‘The stage has a further and finer
motion for focussing to distinctness.
Note——Mr. Holmes forwarded to us such a multiplicity of drawings that it
would have been as inconvenient as undesirable to reproduce them all. Neyer-
theless, we have allowed his reference to the figures in the ‘ British and Foreign
Mechanic ’ to stand, as it helps to further explain his views. Our plate has been
constructed from his sketches and photographs, as a whole, and is, we think, suffi-
ciently explanatory of the principle adopted by Mr. Holmes,—Ep. M. M. J.
eure oe Royal Microscopical Society. 281
II.— Reminiscences of the Early Times of the Achromatic Miecro-
scope. By J. 8. Bowzrpans, LL.D., F.RS., F.R.MS., &e.
(Read before the Royau Microscopica Society, May 11, 1870.)
Tue excellent annual address of your President, and the accom-
panying interesting Memoir of the late venerated J. J. Lister by
his son, Professor Lister, of the University of Edinburgh, published
in the ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal, renders quite superfluous
any attempt, on my part, to detail the early history of the improve-
ments of the modern achromatic microscope. I shall therefore re-
strict my communication to the reminiscences of its early application
to scientific investigation.
My first introduction to Mr. William Tulley was in 1828, at
the house of a friend to whom he was showing some of his favourite
test objects ; and before we parted that evening he had kindly en-
gaged to make me such another instrument as the one through
which we had been looking. Shortly afterwards, as he was unable,
from press of other business, to complete my instrument, he placed
in my hands his own, and the original combinations with which to
work until he could complete the one ordered by me. He told me
that but four such as I had ordered had been made, and that they
were in the hands of Mr. Lister, Dr. Birkbeck, Lord Ashley, and
himself. Dr. Birkbeck’s instrument, after the decease of that gentle-
man, passed into the hands of my late friend, Mr. George Loddiges,
and from that time forward, until his death, we worked together in
concert. Every newimproyement in combinations by Lister, Ross,
and Powell, were examined carefully and critically by us; with Mr.
A. White and Mr. J. Page we measured their angular apertures, and
tested their centering and definition with minute globules of mer-
cury, and other test-objects, and so did our best to incite the makers
to aspire to the greatest possible perfection in the construction of
their object-glasses. As the object-glasses increased in power and
perfection, we found it necessary to increase the steadiness of the
brasswork. Many anxious consultations were held on this part of
the subject, and numerous experiments were tried. In this branch
of our endeavours at improvement we received important assistance
from our late talented friend, Mr. Jackson, to whose mechanical
_. genius and practical dexterity as a workman we are in a great mea-
sure indebted for the admirable stability of the best of our modern
instruments. The solid bar, with a rabbited groove, carrying the
body and stage on one mass of metal, and the rabbited grooved
stage, were the inventions of that able mechanic. The first mount-
ings of this description, after the construction of his own instrument,
were ploughed by Mr. Jackson for my new microscope, with his
beautiful little ploughing machine; the remainder of the work was
282 Transactions of the ee ee
completed by Mr. Smith ; and although the instrument has been in
constant use from that time to the present, its working powers, of
both the carrier and the White’s lever-stage, are as smooth and steady
as when first from the manufacturer’s hands. And here I may re-
mark, that when the instrument was constructed a rack and pinion
stage was also made for it, so that should the lever-stage get out of
order the reserved stage might readily be applied in place of it; but
from that day to this the lever-stage has never been removed from
its original position ; all that has been required to keep it in perfect
working order being, about once a year, to touch the exposed por-
tions of the working surfaces with a little oil; and then, after work-
ing the stage about to spread the oil, to wipe the surfaces with a
piece of wash-leather. These progressive improvements in the defini-
tion and beauty of the combinations, and in the facility of the me-
chanical portions of the instrument, tended greatly to the extension
of a taste for microscopical investigation, and microscopes rapidly
increased in number; but amidst these incitements to a taste for the
study of the minute beauties of creation we must not forget the
powerful influence arising from the invaluable method of mounting
in Canada balsam, which has rendered permanent thousands of in-
teresting objects that would otherwise have served but for a momen-
tary exhibition of their beauties, and have then been wiped off the
glass, and lost to future admirers.
This valuable and effective mode of mounting microscopical ob-
jects, I am informed by Mr. Topping, was originally suggested by
Mr. J. T. Cooper, an eminent analytical chemist, and it was first
applied to the preparation of large objects for exhibition by the solar
microscope by a person of the name of Newth, who was employed
by the late Mr. Carpenter, the optician, of Regent Street, to exhibit’
them with the microscope, and who subsequently carried on a very
profitable trade in objects so mounted. Mr. Bond afterwards obtained
the recipe from Newth, and supplied the microscope at the Adelaide
Gallery with such objects for a considerable period, but the process
still remained a secret.
Some of the objects thus prepared were brought to one of my
Monday evening meetings at Critchill Place about thirty years ago
by Mr. Goadby, who exhibited them to Messrs. Alfred White, Page,
and myself; and you may imagine how much we were interested
and delighted by the distinct and beautiful view which we obtained,
for the first time, of preparations of wings of butterflies, moths,
and other specimens. Having viewed several of them, Mr. White
turned to Mr. Goadby, and said, “Well, but how are these
splendid things mounted?” “Ah,” said Goadby, “ that is a pro-
found secret known only to one other gentleman and myself, and I
am pledged not to divulge it.” This was a sad announcement, but
there was no help for it, and so we continued our examination of the
ee. oe Royal Microscopical Society. 283
objects before us. During the time Mr. Page and I were at the
microscope Mr. White was examining some of the specimens with
a hand-lens; and as he held up a large-sized one between his finger
and thumb on the broad surfaces of the glasses, Goadby said to him,
“Don’t hold them in that manner, but by the opposite edges, as
they have only recently been mounted and will not bear the pressure
of the glasses together ;” so Mr. White shifted his hold on the
glasses to the manner directed by Mr. Goadby, and quickly soiled
his fingers by a small portion of the fluid that he had pressed out
by his first mode of handling them. Having exhibited the whole
ot his treasures, Mr. Goadby departed, promising to come again on
the following Monday evening witha fresh stock of beautiful objects.
After his departure Mr. White said, “ Well, I think I know the
material in which Goadby’s specimens are mounted.” I had observed
Mr. White repeatedly smelling his fingers, and my curiosity was
somewhat excited by his actions; he then allowed us to participate
in the odour, and expressed his opinion that the material in question
was neither more nor less than Canada balsam. We then arranged
to meet at my house on the following Thursday ; Mr. White under-
taking to find the Canada balsam and I the other necessary mate-
rials. On the appointed evening we proceeded to work; Mrs.
Bowerbank providently supplying us with a large old iron tea-tray
to hold our materials, and well it was that this precaution was taken,
as the sequel will prove. Mr. White produced his Canada balsam,
and poured out an ample supply on one of the usual sized glass
slips, and we then adjusted on the convex surface of the fluid one of
the wings of a butterfly, and gently pressed it into the fluid, so as
to expel the air from beneath; a further quantity of the balsam
was poured over the upper surface until the object was completely
immersed in the fluid. A second crown-glass slip was then laid over
the first, for thin glass had not then been brought into use, and the
two slips were gently but firmly pressed together, and secured in their
places by thread bands, and so we proceeded to prepare six or eight
objects in succession, and by that time we were fairly brought to a
standstill, our fingers beg Canada balsamed up to the knuckles, and
our hands like the feet of a web-footed animal when we attempted
to separate our fingers from each other, so we were compelled
to strike work and adjourn to the regions below, where, by a
liberal use of spirit of turpentine, yellow soap, and hot water,
we cleaned the objects we had mounted and restored our hands to
a comparatively clean condition ; we then commenced an examina-
tion of our specimens, and were amply rewarded by finding that
they were in every respect equal to some of those exhibited to us by
Mr. Goadby. On the following Monday he made his appearance
with a new series of objects, and after having examined the greater
portion of them, while one of us was talking to Mr. Goadby, Mr.
284 Transactions of the neers tea te
White quietly removed his object from beneath the microscope,
and substituted one of ours in the place of it, and then invited Mr.
Goadby to look at it. He gazed at it for a few seconds with a
puzzled expression of countenance, and then throwing himself back
in the chair, exclaimed, “ Where the devil did you get that object
from?” Mr. White, with a look of extreme gravity, replied, in his
own words, “That is a profound secret known only to us three, and
we are bound not to divulge it.” A hearty laugh was the result,
and further explanation convinced Mr. Goadby that his secret had
been detected, although he would not at the time acknowledge it.
Having thus possessed ourselves of the mystery of mounting in
Canada balsam without any of the restrictions of secrecy, we spread
the knowledge we had acquired far and wide among microscopists,
and it quickly became the favourite mode of mounting objects. We
soon learned to make our preparations without soiling our fingers,
and to clean our mounted objects with a few drops of cold water
and a thin knife-blade, without the use of turpentine or any other
odorous fluids. I gradually became possessed of a considerable
number of beautiful and interesting natural history objects, and
their exhibition by the achromatic combinations of Tulley contri-
buted in no small degree to the growing popularity of the micro-
scope.
"The fame of Tulley’s beautiful combinations spread far and
wide, and I was favoured by the visits of numerous eminent men
of science of the period, and among them Dr. Marshall Hall, Mr.
George Newport, Mr. Kiernan, Mr. Gulliver, Dr. Mantel, Professor
Owen, and others, who brought their specimens with them, and
verified their more laborious investigations by the Tullian facile
combinations. It was at one of these meetings with Professor Owen,
while we were examining the human blood, and the learned Pro-
fessor was speaking of its “ globules,” that I objected to the term as
not being descriptive of double concave circular discs. Professor
Owen concurred with my observation, and exclaimed, “ From this
time forth then they are discs of the human blood.” Mr. Kiernan .
also verified his observations on the structure of the human liver,
before the reading of his celebrated paper at the Royal Society, in
1833, by the Tullian combinations in my possession. But, perhaps,
one of the most remarkable of my visitors was the great French
naturalist Geoflroi St. Hillaire, who paid a short visit to England in
1833. He had read my paper “On the Circulation of the Blood in
the Larva of Ephemera marginata,” and doubted the possibility of
seemg the valvular action of the great dorsal vessel described
therein. I had fortunately in my possession some very favourable
subjects for exhibiting these beautiful phenomena, and when all was
in order, and the great man applied his eye to the instrument, he
at once saw the very facts he had doubted, and without removing
Monthly Microscopical
fee eo ee. Royal Microscopical Society. 285
his eye, he shouted “Ah!” He sat as if glued to it, and did not
seem capable of moving from it. His son-in-law, Dr. Martin St.
Ange, fed him with the sweet cake that had been offered to him with
some wine as refreshment, as he sat gazing at the beautiful sight ;
but nothing could induce him to remove his eye from the insect
until at last a plunge it made im the cell carried it out of sight, and
Geoffroi St. Hillaire started to his feet, threw up both his arms, as
he strode down the room, and shouted “ Magnifique!” He re-
mained but six or seven days in England, and during that brief period
we had three most agreeable meetings. The fame of Tulley’s beau-
tiful combinations brought a flood of visitors to my house, and at last
I found it absolutely necessary to appoint a special night (Monday)
for our weekly meetings, and to this arrangement I am indebted for
my acquaintance with a numerous list of the most eminent natu-
ralists of the age, and among them none was more welcome or
more highly valued than your present President, in whom it is un-
necessary to say that the lovers of the microscope found a valuable
assistant in the improvement of our favourite instrument. The
natural result of these periodical microscopical meetings was the
introduction of Tulley’s beautiful combinations to a wide circle of
admirers, and a strong craving among naturalists for similar in-
struments, the demand for which was duly met by the exertions of
the first three eminent firms of opticians, Messrs. Ross, Powell and
Lealand, and Smith and Beck’s.
The microscope is now firmly established as a household instru-
ment, and an invaluable assistant in aid of the education and mental
refinement of the rising generation.
286 On an Apparatus for collecting [Nontny Figen wero.
IlI.—On an Apparatus for collecting Atmospherie Particles.
By R. L. Mappox, M.D.
Puate LIV.
To establish fully any relation between “dust and disease,” whether
these terms be used in their ordinary or scientific sense, needs an
accumulation of evidence which is only likely to be gathered by a
multiplicity of observations and experiments, demanding the patient
and careful attention of numerous observers, and which, from the
minute and varied character of the atmospheric particles, we may
expect to long elude our strictest investigations.
Physicists by a beam of electric ight may make known the
reality of minute atoms floating in the ordinary air, and heat con-
firm the evidence that some at least are organic in their nature; but
these two forces by no means prove those particles living germs;
and even suppose they did this, they could not make us acquainted
with the genus or species, or prove them carriers of contagion, or
whether they were deadly in their nature, or simply germs of inno-
cuous protophytes, at least so far as we know, as regards ourselves.
Nor is the question settled by the application of any mode of
straining these particles by a cotton sieve. ‘The utility of cotton
in checking their passage has been noted by many observers, and
was employed by Drs. Billings and Curtis of the U. 8. army, in
their experiments related in the valuable Report on the Cattle
Plague in the United States, published by order of the Commissioner
of Agriculture, 1869, Washington ; they confirmed the singular pro-
perty of bacteria, vibrios, and molecules, passing through moistened
filtermg paper, while yeast cells are checked, as pointed out pre-
viously by Mitzscherlich, and moreover they marked the impervious-
ness to all these bodies, by vegetable parchment, which permits the
transit of fluids.
Dr. Tyndall has shown us that organic matter may escape
destruction to a great extent when air is drawn somewhat slowly
“over fragments of glass, wetted with concentrated sulphuric acid,”
also “over fragments of marble, wetted with a strong solution of
caustic potash,” or when “ permitted to bubble through the liquid
acid and through the solution of potash,” and likewise when rapidly
passed through a red-hot platinum tube, containing a roll of pla-
tinum gauze. Valuable as these observations are in themselves, we
are but little nearer the chief question, which is left open as to the
vitality of such organic particles, or their relation to disease.
Ig there then any other plan than that which has been adopted
by those who have taken pains to investigate for themselves, aiian
may help forward the solution of this question, at least under one
aspect? It is not sufficient to gather into water the floating germs
Junel. 1870.
The Monthly Microscopical Journal
\
a. Atmospheric Particles. 287
by any form of aspirator, or by shaking together frequently ad-
mitted volumes of air and distilled water ; for this reason, that before
you have proof of having entrapped any living molecules, admitting
the purity of the water, you have to allow deposition, decant and
examine the deposit by droplets under a high power, at least an
>elghth objective, and are even then, under the most careful scrutiny,
by no means certain that very many of the lightest and minutest
have not been either poured away or passed unnoticed.
A most delicate scum is sometimes seen on the water prior to
decanting the mass; but this, so far as I am aware, has been entirely
overlooked, and only the deposit examined ; yet such scum has afforded
different objects to those in the sediment. I am not in any way
alluding to artificial infusions of vegetable, animal, or mineral matter
in water ; in the two former, the scum is too evident to escape ob-
servation, Nor does it follow, if the minutest germs be living, that
they should subside at all; they may move through various depths
unrecognized. The plan I propose is to try and entrap these atmo-
spheric motes into a small compass, and under ordinary conditions
of the external air; then, without allowing more than a few hours
to elapse, proceed to their examination; for this reason :—Suppose
an apparatus, where the air is drawn for weeks over or through the
same water, and let us further suppose numerous germs were ob-
tained, and a due calculation made of even the quantity of air drawn
through hourly, it by no means follows that all those germs were
drawn direct from the atmosphere, for those which have their habitat
in water or damp places may have germinated and divided many
times ere the experiment is finished, such subdivision or repetition
giving false conclusions; and, moreover, many may have perished
under the conditions employed to detect them.
If, then, we can draw these particles into a small space, the next
object would be to try and make them pass through at least some
of their phases of life, under careful watching with the microscope.
Even supposing we have entrapped and developed some of the
germs, we shall not have established their relation to disease ; to do
this would require a very numerous and careful course of observa-
tions; but one thing we shall have done, and that is have deter-
mined, at least partially, most of the largest of these germs be not
those of the commonest forms of mildew, and such as we meet with
continually in our food, and which most probably have not the
slightest relation to disease, and the minutest, those which are
ranged among the monads, bacteria, and vibrios.
To assist in this inquiry I have made the following apparatus as
a hollow wind vane, but which can be used in various ways, and
by which I hope to obtain results bearing on this important ques-
tion, which as yet cannot be admitted as settled.
On reference to Fig. 1 (Plate LIV.) it will be seen as in use as
288 On an Apparatus for collecting [yor ey ie
a vane; but by changing the position from horizontal to vertical,
attaching another short tube (f, Fig. 4), with a metal pipe ter-
minating in a small funnel, and placing a lighted lamp beneath it,
it can be used over a cesspool in any nook or corner, in an ordinary
room, in a cow-shed or stable, or near a patient sufferig from any
infectious disease.
It consists in the main of two light tin funnels (a, b) (one rather
larger than the other, and supplied with four wing offsets), united
by two or more stout brass tubes for convenience of use. The
smaller funnel has a diameter of 5 inches by 3 inches in depth, the
larger of 54 inches by 34 inches in depth. The smaller funnel is
continued into a tube of 11 inch diameter by 6 inches long, to the
end of which is fixed or screwed a conical finely-turned cone, with
a pipe nozzle (Fig. 5) having a screw thread on its outside and a
tapering bore within. On the sides of the 6-inch tube, at alternate
positions, are placed three smaller funnels 1, 2, 3. The tube of the
funnel fits tightly into the brass tube (¢), which is 2 inches long by
13 diameter ; the short tube of the large funnel fits over the brass
tube (2), which has nearly the same measurements as (¢), and thus
the centre of gravity can be easily found.
The brass tube (c) has at its junction with (d) an internal thread
screw, and is free throughout its length. The other tube (d) has its
external thread screwing into (c), but moreover a finer internal thread
into which is screwed the diaphragm stage plate (e, Fig. 2), and which
consists of a thick milled plate of brass, with a fine thread outside,
and pierced with a central hole about ,7,ths of an inch in diameter, and
by a series of six small holes external to it (Fig. 3,e,¢). On the side
facing the nozzle of the 6-inch pipe of the smaller funnel a narrow
ring or raised edge is left in the turning, and abutting nearly against
its edge on either side are two bent wire springs. Between this
narrow ring and the springs is inserted a clean thin covering glass,
Sths of an inch square (Fig. 2, ¢). On the surface of the cover
facing the aperture of the nozzle, which can be separated from it a
variable distance, is placed a minute quantity of any prepared medium
of a transparent and glutinous nature, but somewhat hygrometric, as
glycerine or purified treacle with acetate of potash, &., or the fluid
medium, modified if necessary, suggested in my article “ Mucor
Mucedo,” in the January No. of this Journal for the present year ;
adopting the most useful, if the cover is to be placed on a growing
slide (as suggested in the same paper), or in a cultivating appa-
ratus, or to be simply examined without attempts to development.
From the under-surface of the stout brass tube (¢) is fastened a
smaller tube with a solid end, into which is drilled a small conical
depression, to receive the pointed end of the support or pivot (h),
the other end of the support having a screw and nut by which it is
fastened to the surface-plate of a tripod stand.
ona Atmospheric Particles. 289
The aperture of the large end of the funnel (b) may be partially
closed if thought proper by a ventilating fly-wheel, supported cen-
trally by a steel pin with sharp ends embraced between two straps
of brass, fastened to the internal face of the funnel by a screw and
nut at about one-third of its depth from the open end; its rota-
tion may tend to increase the current when used with a lamp,
otherwise it is, I find, unnecessary. ‘Io use the apparatus verti-
cally, screw the extra brass tube (Fig. 4) on to (d), and slip over
the end of the funnel as before; fix into the short tube on (f) the
gas-pipe (7), with its small funnel attached (p), and support the whole
by one of the retort-holders of the laboratory, or in any convenient
way, and place beneath the open end of the little funnel a lighted
oil lamp to generate a current above the nozzle; hence it must be
placed at such a distance from the apparatus as not to influence
materially the current through its proper course. It can be used
with water as an aspirator if desired, but my object has been to
avoid this. Its position above the surface of the ground may vary
from a few to many inches, according to choice. I use it at present
4 to 5 feet above the ground, but think 3 feet may be preferable.
If it be desired to test the efficacy of various vapours or fluids as
disinfectants or destructive of life in the germs, an extra nozzle
(Fig. 5, h) can be screwed on the ordinary one (2), and made as a
flat box having a small nozzle projecting from the cover, looking
towards the thin glass. If this narrow box, which should be platin-
ized inside, be packed with fine cotton wool, damped at one part
with any article, as creosote, tinct. of the muriate of iron, or solu-
tion of quinine, or a particle of hypochloride of lime placed at one
part, the particles from the air may be supposed to be entrapped
amongst the fibres; but the cotton-wool should, before use, be
soaked in absolute alcohol for half an hour, and squeezed dry
between heated plates of glass; or gun-cotton might be used if
thought more free from error. The wool from opposite the nozzle
might, in each case, be removed with a pair of fine scissors and
forceps, placed in a deep growing slide with some medium, and set
aside for observation. If only a cursory examination be intended
of the glass covers, I find a square, half an inch across, drawn on
the clean surface of an ordinary 3-inch x 1-inch slide, with a little
roll of soft beeswax, makes a very good temporary cell. Care must
be taken to apply only a minute quantity of the glutinous material
to the centre.of the thin cover. If two or three diaphragm stages (e)
be made, one could be screwed into place when the exposed one is
removed.
It is not pretended that this form is the only useful one or the
most convenient that can be adopted, but as it has now been in use
some days, I find it answer its chief purpose very well, and is ex-
ceedingly easy to manipulate. The advantages claimed are, ready
VoL. Ill. U
290 The Magnesium and Electric Light [Monthly Microscopi!
application at any spot, the collection of the atmospheric particles
into a small space in such a manner as to be at once microscopically
examined with a y¢th or s'sth objective, placed on a growing slide,
or some form of cultivating apparatus for further observation, or
mounted permanently. The difficulty is to select the best culti-
vating medium. Hitherto I have found besides (débris) organic
and mineral matters, pollen grains, minute germs of various fungi
or protophytes, and excessively minute bodies, “ molecules,” “ glo-
bules,” &c.; none were seen in motion. All seem to vary in
abundance with the ferce of the wind and dryness of the ground.
This apparatus is deficient as regards crucial tests, but for
general use it is efficient, and may, by continued employment, be of
service. If any doubt exist as to the medium furnishing the spores,
it can be treated as though it had been exposed; hence thus far
we have fairness in the results.
I believe it will be only by constant, varied, and multiplied
research, we shall ever obtam any answer to the important ques-
tion of “ dust and disease ;’ hence my excuse for trespassing on the
pages of this Journal, in the hope others may be induced to give the
apparatus a fair trial or suggest something more useful.
P.S.—The examination of the collections made over forty days
has shown that in this immediate locality, at this period, the air
cannot be considered as loaded with microscopic germs; the largest
number visible and counted as such on one cover being twenty-
one (not including bacteroid bodies). A few only have germinated ;
they are under observation.
The photographs were difficult to execute to secure the appear-
ance of the minutest granules, as many of the large particles of
sand, &c., were much out of correct focus; still I preferred this
method as more truthful than any hand drawing, especially for
Nos. 2 and 8. Some of the particles, which, under the low power
used to photograph them, appear in the prints as “ globules ”—with
clear centres and dark outlines—with higher powers were found
very irregular in form. [The drawings in the Plate are selections
from some of Dr. Maddox’s photographs.—Ep. M. M. J.]
IV.—The Magnesium and Electric Light as applied to Photo-
micrography. By Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel J. J. Woopwarp,
U.S. Army.
Tue following very interesting remarks constitute the report by
Dr. Woodward to the Surgeon-General of the United States Army :—
I have the honour to inform you that on the 25th of October
Monthly Microscopical
sournal, June lie. | as applied to Photo-micrography. 291
last I began to conduct in person a series of experiments, intended
to devise means for escaping certain difficulties which had hitherto
prevented the successful preparation of Photo-micrographs of speci-
mens selected from the valuable and daily-increasing series of per-
manently-mounted microscopic sections of normal and pathological
tissues, which form so interesting a portion of the treasures of the
Museum. In these experiments I used the sun as a source of illu-
mination, and following the process which I have described in full
elsewhere,* I had no difficulty in arranging a method by the aid of
which this class of objects could be photographed quite as success-
fully and readily as the diatoms and other test-objects which had
pee usy been so satisfactorily reproduced in this section of the
useum. I shall take occasion in the course of a few days to lay
before you prints of some of the tissue-preparations thus reproduced.
At present it is my desire to call your attention to certain important
observations which I had the good fortune to make while my expe-
riments were in progress, and which it appears to me cannot fail to
be of interest and service to all microscopists.
During the last week of October and the first two weeks of
November, I relied wholly on the sun as the source of illumination
for producing negatives. In this period, during which I had but
two perfectly cloudless working days, and several fractional days, on
which my work was continually interrupted by passing clouds, I had
ample opportunity to convince myself that the uncertainty of the
weather was a most serious hindrance to the preparation of success-
ful photographs of microscopic objects, and I ceased to wonder that
European microscopists, who are exposed to a climate even more
variable than our own, have not yet succeeded in placing the art of
Photo-micrography upon such a basis as to make it a convenient and
habitual auxiliary in all microscopical investigations. This desirable
end I believe I have attained ; but it has been by resorting to artifi-
cial lights, and thus making the success of the process wholly in-
dependent of the weather.
On the 12th of November I commenced a series of experiments
with artificial lights, which were most fortunately crowned with
success, both the Magnesium and the Electric lights proving ade-
quate sources of illumination for the production of Photo-micrographs
even with the highest powers.
' For the production of Electric light I used a Duboscq’s lamp,
set in motion by a battery of fifty small Grove’s elements. I found
that, with this source of light, photographs could be successfully
taken with any power with which pictures can be taken by sun-
light; and I was delighted to find, as I had anticipated, that the
very exaggeration of light and shadow which has prevented the Elec-
* Circular No. 6, War Department, Surgeon-General’s Office, Nov. 1, 1865,
page 148 et seg., ‘American Journal of Science and Arts,’ vol, xlii., Bent 1866,
UZ
292 The Magnesium and Electric Light [Mpntls Microsora
tric light from being generally adopted as a source of illumination
in the preparation of photographs of the size of the object, or smaller,
proved of immense advantage in the reproduction of the feeble
microscopical images of highly-magnified objects, and that the
pictures were hence clearer and better defined than any photographs
of similar objects I had hitherto seen produced by sunlight. I found
also that the Electric light was so much more manageable than
sunlight as a source of microscopic illumination, that I could readily
arrange it to produce negatives with much shorter exposures than
are indispensable with the sun.
The Magnesium light shared these qualities to a high degree,
but I found that its best work was done when the object was not to
be magnified more than a thousand diameters, and that there were
certain limitations to its use on test-objects which will be referred to
in the sequel.
With one or the other of these artificial lights as a source of
illumination, I have prepared a considerable number of negatives
of interesting microscopical objects, of which a few are appended to
this report by way of illustration, while the others will be laid before
you in future reports on special subjects. 4
The Magnesium and Electric lights are mentioned as possible
sources of illumination for the production of Photo-micrographs by
Dr. Lionel Beale, in the fourth edition of his ‘How to Work with
the Microscope, page 275. Iam not aware, however, that anyone
has made successful negatives with high powers with either of these
lights prior to the experiments here recorded. There are in the
Museum a few photographs with low powers taken with the Mag-
nesium light by Dr. C. F. Crehore, of Boston, Mass., who kindly
presented them August 3, 1866. Negative No. 90, old Micro-
scopical Series, Army Medical Museum, represents a few villi from
the small intestine of a mouse, photographed by the Electric light
with a 5th objective of Wales arranged to magnify 84 diameters.
The Electric hight was produced by forty Bunsen’s cells, and as I
had no Electric lamp at the time, I held the carbon points in two
retort holders, and managed as best I could, during the exposure,
the uncertain light thus produced. I know of no other Photo-
micrographs than the above to have been actually made by the
Electric or the Magnesium lights ; certainly if any have been, they
have not been sufficiently successful for their authors to be willing
to give them any degree of publicity. I have no hesitation, there-
fore, in claiming for the Museum and for myself the credit of having
demonstrated the serviceable character of these lights as sources of
illumination for the preparation of negatives with high powers, and
of having devised a simple method which brings their use within the
reach of every microscopist.
I propose now to sketch briefly the process by which negatives
ve yaar Ra | as applied to Photo-micrography. 293
of microscopic objects can be conveniently produced with these
artificial lights.
1. The Electric light is by far the best of all artificial lights for
the production of Photo-micrographs, and when used, as I am: now
about to describe, it is both convenient and economical. I use a
Grove’s battery of fifty elements. The battery is placed just outside
of the operating room in a closet, from which the fumes escape
through an earthen pipe into the main chimney of the building.
This battery was furnished by Mr. William Ladd, Nos. 11 and 12,
Beck Street, Regent Street, London, W. The rubber cups are 43
inches high, 3} wide, and 2 thick. The platinums are 5} inches by
21, and weigh about 60 grains each. The zines are bent on them-
selves so as to present a part of their surface on each side of the
platinums, and weigh, when new, about a pound apiece. Mr. Ladd
furnishes these batteries in trays of ten elements, at five pounds
sterling per tray, and I find that a battery of five trays is sufficient
for most purposes. Seven pounds and a half of strong commercial
nitric acid, and three of sulphuric, diluted with ten times the quan-
tity of water, is sufficient to charge this battery, which will then
produce the light continuously for from three to four hours. The
cost of running the battery for this time, including in the estimate
the amount of zine consumed, and the cost of amalgamating every
third or fourth time of using, is very moderate. I make it a prac-
tice to have the battery washed out, the acids thrown away, and the
porous cups put to soak immediately after I have done the day’s
work, and all this is so simple that I have had no difficulty im in-
structing an orderly to do it, so that the management of the battery
does not occupy any part of my time.
The Duboscq’s lamp, the microscope, and the plate holder are
arranged in a dark room, which enables me to dispense with the
use of a camera. The general arrangement of the apparatus is
shown in the cut (see next page).
The Electric lamp of Duboseq (a) is placed on a stool against
the wall at one end of the room, and its light concentrated by a
pair of condensing lenses (b) on the lower lens of the achromatic
condenser of the microscope. The microscope (¢) (a large Powell
and Lealand’s stand) is placed on a small table (e) which is so
arranged that it can be lowered or elevated at pleasure, and can be
levelled by means of three levelling screws at its base. The plate
holder (g), also arranged so that it can be raised or lowered at plea-
sure, is supported by a small table (f) which stands on three level-
ling screws. The floor of the apartment is quite level. The lenses
employed for the microscopes are those of Mr, Wiliam Wales, of
Fort Lee, New Jersey, specially constructed for bringing the actinic
rays to a focus. For powers above the 3th, however, I have found
that the achromatic objectives of Messrs. Powell and Lealand, of
294 The Magnesium and Electric Light [Mcnth's Microscopical
London, answer an excellent purpose, and indeed that their immer-
sion +';th exceeds in defining powers any objective which has as
yet come under my notice.
In taking photographs"with this apparatus, I proceed as fol-
lows :—The Electric lamp being set in motion, the table holding
eure, June lL wo | as applied to Photo-micrography. 295
the microscope (which has previously been levelled), is raised or
lowered and moved from side to side till the centre of the achro-
matic condenser is brought to the centre of the illuminating pencil
proceeding from the lamp; the object is then placed on the stage
and carefully adjusted. A cell of plate glass containing a saturated
solution of the ammonio-sulphate of copper is fixed just below the
achromatic condenser, and not only prevents the admission of non-
actinic rays, but excludes the very great heat which accompanies
the Electric light, and also moderates its effect upon the eye of the
observer. The light thus produced is very agreeable to the eye,
and J find myself able to work with it from four to five hours with-
out fatigue. It has also the advantage that all the colours of the
object examined disappear, and the preparation appears black on an
azure field which resembles the sky on a clear day, so that the
observer sees at a glance how the object will appear in the photo-
graph (in which the same black lines or tints will be faithfully re-
produced on a white field), and is thus enabled to arrange his achro-
matic condenser and other adjustments so as to produce the most
satisfactory effect.
Everything having been arranged at the microscope to the satis-
faction of the observer, the eye-piece is taken out, and, the image
allowed to fall on the ground glass of the plate holder, which has
previously been placed at the distance necessary to give the magni-
fying power desired with the objective employed. The operator
adjusts the plate holder to the right height and sees that it is per-
pendicular to the optical axis of the microscope, which he readily
does by observing that all parts of the field are equally in focus.
He then takes out the ground glass and finishes the fine adjustment
with a sheet of plate giass and a focussing glass, after which the sensi-
tive plate is inserted, the exposure made, and the operation is finished.
To enable the observer to focus the microscope while sitting at
a distance from it at the sensitive plate, the following contrivance
is employed. On the table which supports the microscope (e) two
brass shoulders, each 2 inches high, are screwed. Through these
runs an iron rod 9 inches long, on which slips a brass pulley (d)
which can be clamped at any point. A cord connects this pulley
with the wheel of the fine adjustment of the microscope, which is
grooved for the purpose. It 1s evident that whenever this iron rod
is turned, the pulley turning with it will move the fine adjustment
of the microscope. To effect this, the iron rod terminates in a
square extremity, so that a joint of an ordinary fishing-rod, to
which a brass ferrule, shaped like a watch-key, has been riveted,
enables the operator to focus the microscope at any ordinary dis-
tance. When greater distances are required, two joints of the rod
may be used. The rod, being graduated into feet and inches, en-
ables the operator to record the distance employed for each picture,
296 The Magnesium and Electric Light (yoy ee
When the focussing is completed, the rod is removed. I have found
thissimple and cheap arrangement superior in delicacy and convenience
to any of the more costly arrangements I have heretofore tried.
The chemical processes employed in taking the negatives do
not differ in any respect from those used in ordinary photographic
work, and I have found that by employing a practical photographer,
allowing him to manage the dark room, and confining my whole
attention to the optical arrangements, I not only get many times
more pictures in a day, but they are much better than can be pro-
duced by anyone who attempts to do the photographic work, as well
as manage the microscope himself.
I find myself thus enabled to sit down quietly of an evening,
and during four hours’ work to produce from twelve to thirty nega-
tives or more, in accordance with the difficulty of the subjects and
my previous knowledge of them. Any microscopist who is willing
to go to the moderate expense of battery and lamp, and to add two
or three specially-constructed objectives to his microscopical appa-
ratus, can, by employing a photographer one or two evenings in
the month, reproduce all the more interesting of his month’s ob-
servations with a decree of economy and beauty not to be obtained
by any other means; and if he follows the method I have above
described, the character of his results will be conditioned by his
skill as a microscopist rather than by any other circumstance. As
to the time of exposure required for taking negatives with the
Electric light, I find that for 1000 diameters about thirty seconds
is necessary for that class of objects (such as Angulatum, the
Nobert’s plate, &c.) for which it is not necessary to employ a
ground-glass plate to prevent interference phenomena. In photo-
graphing the soft tissues and many other objects, it is necessary to
insert a piece of ground glass below the achromatic condenser, to
escape the interference phenomena which else occur, precisely as
must be done in photographing the same objects by sunlight. This
increases the time of exposure to about three minutes for 1000
diameters. Other powers require proportional times.
2. The Magnesium light affords a beautiful source of illumina-
tion comparable to white-cloud illumination of the best character,
or to the light of the sun after it has passed through a sheet of
ground glass. Without the use of ground glass, this light serves
admirably for the production of photographs of the soft tissues with
any power under 1000 diameters. The light beg composed of
a mixed pencil, with rays passing in all directions, there are no
interference phenomena; but for the same reason, on the Nobert’s
plate and many test-objects, the results are inferior to those pro-
duced by the sun or by the Electric light; with powers much
higher than 1000 diameters, however, the time of exposure becomes
inconyenlently long.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Janel | as applied to Photo-mierography. 297
The process employed by me in the production of negatives
with the Magnesium light is essentially the same as I have above de-
scribed for the Electrie light, simply the yap lamp is substi-
Adil
~ ons WY Ren WN LAAN :
‘ RMD \\\\
DWuiY WK QQ I AN) QQwy \\\\\ QQQQw MY
ail
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Y
tuted for the Electric, and the condenser of an ordinary oxy-calcium
magic lantern is made to concentrate the light on the achromatic con-
denser of the microscope. The above cut represents the arrangement
298 The Magnesium and Electric Light [Month's Microscopical
The Magnesium lamp (a) stands on a shelf fastened against the
wall. The condenser (b) concentrates the light on the lower lens
of the achromatic condenser of the microscope (¢), which stands on
a table (e), supported on three levelling screws. The image received
on the plate holder (g), which is supported on a table (f), is
photographed precisely as in the case of the Electric light as above
described. The same focussing apparatus (d) is employed, and the
ammonio-sulphate cell should myvariably be inserted, but the ground
glass is never necessary. I find that it requires exposures of about
three minutes to produce negatives of tissue-preparations with five
hundred diameters. Other powers require proportionate exposures.
The Magnesium lamp used by me for this purpose was the two-
ribbon lamp of the American Magnesium Company (No. 2, Liberty
Square, Boston, Mass.), sold by that company for magic lantern
purposes, price 850. ‘The ribbon weighs about 52 centigrammes
per metre, and is sold at $2.50 per ounce. ‘Two ounces will, with
care, answer for three or four hours’ constant work, and ought to
produce from twelve to thirty negatives, in accordance with the
difficulties of the subjects to be represented. The fumes of magnesia
resulting from the combustion are carried into a chimney five feet
long, made of a spiral wire covered with muslin, which terminates in
a muslin bag, in which the oxide condenses, while the draught goes on
through the interstices of the muslin. ‘The chimney and bag are
furnished by the company for $2.50.
In commenting on the above processes it may be remarked that
for the anatomist and physiological investigator, the Magnesium
lamp affords a satisfactory and sufficient source of light for the pho-
tography of normal and pathological tissue-preparations. The same
end can be equally well or even better attained with the Electric
lamp, with which also the most difficult test-objects can be satisfac-
torily reproduced. Where economy of apparatus is the object, the
Magnesium lamp will be preferred by ordinary workers ; but where
much work is to be done, the high price of the Magnesium ribbon
more than counterbalances the cheapness of the apparatus, and the
Electric light becomes the most economical. For the information
of any practical photographers who may be employed for work of
this character, I may add the following remarks on the chemical
process employed in the production of the negative from which the
appended prints were made. An ammonium and potassium portrait
collodion, rich in alcohol, was employed, developed with the ordinary
solution of iron, and fixed with cyanide of potassium. Where it
was necessary to intensify, the hydro-sulphuret of ammonium was
resorted to.
In illustration of the character of these sources of illumination
as compared with each other and with sunlight, I herewith append
three prints from negatives, taken with a Wales’ inch and a half,
Monthly Microscopical
Jounal, June L 1s7o, | 4S applied to Photo-micrography. 299
from the 6th square of a Méller’s diatom type-plate, specially
prepared for the Army Medical Museum by that skilful micro-
scopist. The first, from Negative 79 (new series), was taken by
sunlight, with 40 diameters; in the second, from Negative 123
(new series), the Magnesium light was used, and everything else
remaining the same, the distance was increased so as to give 48
diameters ; in the third, Negative 158 (new series), the Electric
lamp was employed, and everything else still remaining unaltered,
the distance was increased so as to give 66 diameters. It will be
understood at once, that on account of the increase of distance, the
second picture would have been slightly less sharp than the first,
and the third than the second, had precisely the same source of
light been employed ; nevertheless, in spite of this disadvantage, to
which they were purposely exposed, the Magnesium and Electric
pictures are far superior to that taken by sunlight, and of the two
the Electric is much the best. It is especially to be observed, that
in the Electric picture the contrast obtained is so great that the
objects appear clearly defined on an almost perfectly white ground,
which is never the case with Photo-micrographs taken with the sun
as a source of illumination.
Asa further illustration of the capabilities of the Magnesium
and Electric lights, I add a few photographs taken by each.
[Specimens of all these are now, owing to the courtesy of Dr.
Woodward, in the possession of the Royal Microscopical Society. |
By toe Maanestum Licur.
Arachnoidiscus Ehrenbergu. Magnified 400 diameters, by
Wales’ 1th. Negative 114 (new series).
Small vein and capillaries, from the muscular coat of the
urinary bladder of the frog. Magnified 400 diameters, by Wales’ 3th.
Negative 103 (new series). This negative is taken from pre-
paration No. 5378, Microscopical Series, in which the bladder was
injected with a half per cent. solution of nitrate of silver, and sub-
sequently stained with carmine dissolved in borax. The epithelium
was then brushed off with a camel’s-hair pencil, and the preparation
transferred through absolute alcohol to Canada balsam ; the photo-
graph reproduces everything but the colour.
By true Exscrric Lieut.
Pleurostaurum acutum. Magnified 340 diameters, by Wales
ith. Negative 109 (new series).
Triceratium favus. Magnified 340 diameters, by Wales’ {th.
Negative 110 (new series).
Navicula spima. Magnified 840 diameters, by Powell and
Lealand’s immersion ;',. Negative 112 (new series).
?
300 Remarks on High-power Definition, | Yonthls Microscopical
Human red blood-corpuscles. Magnified 1000 diameters, by
Powell and Lealand’s immersion yy. Negative 145 (new series).
Section of an epithelial cancer of the laryne. Magnified 400
diameters, by Wales’ }th. Negative 162 (new series). This
Negative is taken from preparation No. 2277, Microscopical
Section. The print shows the nuclei and cells of the growth with
great distinctness. ;
Grammatophora marina. Magnified 2500 diameters, by Powell
and Lealand’s immersion ;};. Negative 151 (new series).
Army Mepicat Museum, MicroscopicaL SECTION,
Junuary 4, 1870.
The following note Dr. Woodward has requested us to append :—
War DEPARTMENT, SURGEON-GENERAL’S OFFICE,
Wasnineton, D.C., March 28, 1870.
Note.—Since the foregoing essay was printed, I have obtained
a number of excellent pictures, with powers ranging from 400 to
1000 diameters, by using the ordinary oxy-calcium light as the
source of illumination. Some of these pictures were not inferior
to the best work I have done with the Magnesium lamp ; the process
employed was the same, and the times of exposure did not materially
differ. I will contribute full details in a short time.
J. J. Woopwarp.
V.—Remarks on High-power Definition.
By F. H. Wenuam, Vice-President, R.MLS.
I am induced to offer some observations under this head, in con-
sequence of the communications of Dr. Pigott. I had not the
pleasure of being present at the reading of the paper before the
Royal Microscopical Society, on 10th November, 1869, or I should
have made my comments at the time. Considering the large class
of observers that employ their microscopes chiefly for the purpose
of resolving difficult test-objects, and the form of their structure, it
is surprising that the alleged “ bead structure” of the Podwra and
other tests has excited so little discussion; and from the partial
acquiescence conceded by our respected President, I infer that this
structure finds credence amongst a number who interest themselves
in such investigations. Not having now the advantage of being
able to attend the meetings of the Society, I will take the question
Monthly Microscopical] Remarks on High-power Definition. 301
as I find it recorded in the Journal, in a fair spirit of controversy,
being willing either to receive or give any information that may
tend to elucidate the truth.
In the first place, I must take some exception to the slur that
is cast upon the object-glasses of our best makers, by the assertion
that “in the best glasses there is a certain residuary aberration,
which obscures the clear definition under a power of 1000.” If
such an error does not exist, of course all mathematical calculations
for demonstrating its character and amount must be in vain.
The high-power objectives, from 1th upwards, constructed by
our first-class makers during the last fifteen years, may now be
named as hundreds. Surely some of these are absolutely perfect, if
not the majority ; and if any error should be present, the develop-
ment of a peculiar structure in a test-object is not a certain way of
detecting it. In this inquiry, it is remarkable how the use of the
mercury globule is ignored; yet I have no hesitation in saying that
without this test it would be impossible to construct perfect
objectives. To the practised eye of the microscope optician, it will
develop errors that can be detected by no other means. With a
good ith, for example, under perfect adjustment the spherule
appears clear and bright, with the reflexion of surrounding objects
shown thereon; and the only fault is that arismg from the
secondary spectrum, seen as a pale-green halo beyond the focus.
It would be desirable to correct or diminish this, but the cure lies
more in the hands of the glass maker than the optician. When
the globule is thus perfectly defined, if the least possible touch be
given to the adjusting collar, altering the distance between the
lenses by something less than jy 'coth of an inch, a kind of fog mars
its brilhancy, and is the result of spherical aberration, positive or
negative, accordingly as the front lens is either separated or brought |
nearer. Objects seen by transmitted light are most uncertain tests
for these errors of aberration.
If an object-glass is adjusted by a Diatom, or Podura, viewed
by transmitted light, and this same object then illuminated on a
dark field, it will generally be found that the first adjustment was
imperfect, as a fog now oftentimes obscures the object, which is
dispelled by further and more careful adjustment, with the more
sensitive test of opaque illumination. Thus in the best objectives
we have the power of obtaining equally both positive and negative
aberration, and the position between them is free from either—
' supposing that there are no errors of workmanship. These being
under the.control of the artist do not frequently occur, and cannot
be classed as a constant error.
Object-glasses were made eighteen or twenty years ago with
smaller apertures, giving as perfect definition as now. Andrew
Ross discovered the adjustment for the thickness of glass-cover
302 Remarks on High-power Definition. [eee ine bese,
over the object, and demonstrated the nature of the aberration
caused thereby. We have here, in the separation or approximation
of the lenses of a microscope object-glass, an element of correction
which cannot be obtained in the telescope, and which, in constructing
the combination, enables us to neutralize the spherical aberrations
completely, and, to a great extent, without altering the radii.
Objectives, from the hands of careful and experienced makers, have
all been constructed on the globule test, and are not sent forth till
every error of workmanship, centering, state of oblique pencils,
achromatism, and spherical aberration—are obsolutely corrected ; for
this test discovers the least fault in either, where all others will fail.
But in viewing difficult test-objects with the highest powers, one
source of error may occur from the following cause:—If a large
angular pencil of rays converging to a focus is transmitted through
a parallel plate of glass, an approximation to the form of spherical
aberration is produced of a negative character, viz. the marginal
rays are thrown beyond the central ones. It may easily be demon-
strated that this is not exactly identical in form and character with
the positive aberration caused by a lens with a spherical surface,
and that the operation of bringing the lenses of the microscope
object-glass nearer together for the counter-correction, will only
neutralize the error within certain limits. The irregular position
assigned to the marginal rays by a very thick plate of glass, cannot
be exactly reformed by the opposite error caused by closing the
lenses ; and it is a well-known fact to those experienced in the
resolution of test-objects, that some of the same specimens are
defined better under one thickness of covering-glass than another.
In the front lens of an object-glass, thickness is a very important
element of correction. I have explained this in my paper “ On the
Construction of Object-glasses ;”* and in working out a new combi-
nation it may be necessary to make several fronts in order to
arrive at the exact gauge. If an ordinary “dry” object-glass,
perfectly corrected, with a proper thickness of the front lens, be
used as a so-termed “immersion” lens by the introduction of water
between the front lens and covering-glass, this immediately becomes
a part thereof, and the excess of negative aberration, both spherical
and chromatic, is not to be corrected by the usual separation of the
lenses. The whole combination has become over-corrected. Rays,
which before the introduction of water emerged from the upper
surface of the plate in a line parallel to their first incident direction,
now pass on in a nearly straight course from their primary refraction
from the under-surface of the cover. In order, therefore, to employ _
an objective as an immersion lens, it becomes requisite to have a
thinner front, all other radii and corrections remaining the same.
The extra or immersion lens should have its thickness diminished by
* Published consecutively in the early numbers of this Journal,
Mourne yuu live | Leemarks on High-power Definition. 3038
rather less than the thickest covering over the objects that it is to be
employed upon.
We have here, in the immersion lens, gone back to the original
condition of again adding thickness to the front, and the object may
now be considered under view as an uncovered object. Not either
the water or glass-cover has introduced a single new element of
correction, and will not therefore bear out the following assertion in
the paper referred to:—“ The extraordinary difference between the
performance of the hydro-objective and of the pneumo-objective (the
plate of air and water making enormous differences in the aberra-
tions of the glasses) must make it apparent to ordinary common
sense that our old-fashioned glasses are wrong somewhere.”
One advantage in the immersion objective is, that it almost
prevents the loss of light from the reflexion of the upper surface
of the cover and front of lens, and in part neutralizes any error of
figure or polish that may exist between them. There is also another
condition annexed, it has the singular property of a front lens of
adjustable thickness, and therefore can be set to the utmost nicety to
balance the aberrations. Of course there is no optical advantage
attendant upon the use of water. If a medium of the same refractive
power as the glass were to be employed the result would be better.
Water having a low refractive index, an adjustment is required for
each thickness of cover, and a difference of adjustment is not so
marked and sensitive as in the ordinary dry objective; but if a
medium of similar refraction to the glass were to be used, no adjust-
ment would be required for any thickness of cover, supposing the
test-objects to be mounted thereon (which they generally are), for,
in fact, we should then view them all with a front of the same
thickness —considering the cover, the front lens, and the interposing
medium as one.
Having now given some reasons for repudiating the persistent
error assumed to exist in all our best object-glasses, I must of course
notice the observations upon which the assurance has been founded.
The author of the essay expresses his opinion that this “ minute
structure of the Podura affords the most severe trial for residuary
aberration with which he is acquainted.” I have three y';th object-
glasses, and it is most easy to produce the beading with the worst
of them. The highest eye-piece should be used, the draw-tube
lengthened, and the object placed slightly out of focus. The illu-
mination (with the achromatic condenser) requires long and careful
coaxing to obtain the illusion. Figs. 4 to 7 in Dr. Pigott’s paper
do not fairly represent the appearance. The beads are neither so
closely packed or so regular as there shown. The under-beads may
appear to cross either to the right or left, according to the illumina-
tion or fancy of the observer. Having got the beaded form developed
to the best advantage, if we now remove the highest eye-piece and
304 Remarks on High-power Definition. [Monthly Microscopical
substitute the lowest therefor close in the tube, and adjust the focus
(which the change of eye-piece requires), the beaded appearance
dissolves into the usual “note of admiration” markings. Another
appearance may be very easily obtained in the Podwra—that of a
series of oat-shaped cells, each end terminated by a bright spherule ;
and with equal reason might be claimed as the real structure.
Probably no one has ever examined this object so-carefully and
systematically as the late Richard Beck. With his own hands he
collected hundreds of specimens in many localities and of every
variety of species. Some of these he gave to me, and which I value
exceedingly. I never once heard him express an opinion that the
markings were otherwise than longitudinal ribbings. The surest
way of deciding the question is by examining fragmentary pieces of
the scale. The insects are not easily obtamed at this time of the
year, or I would offer some illustrations.
At the conclusion of Dr. Pigott’s paper he states that “the
surface of metals and alloys, with a power of 1000 diameters, shows
under reflected light particles, apparently spherical, agglomerated
together, with dark lines separating the particles.” The plane
surfaces of mercury, well-polished speculum metal, or steel, show
no structure, but metals with an imperfect surface are full of
glittering points which can be developed as spherules. A broken
surface of bright points is by no means a practicable test for the
correction of object-glasses, for the numerous images interfere and
cause a confusion of the indication which is required-from a single
point only. When a particle of mercury is beaten into fine dust for
the purpose of obtaining a very minute point of light for testing
errors, a single atom is isolated, as the comas from surrounding ones
would embarrass the result. The broken surface of fine cast-steel
consists of angular fragments or crystals ; a few of the highest can
be seen in focus, those beyond appear as spherules.
At page 192 of this Journal, for April, Dr. Pigott states :—
“T had the good fortune to discover yesterday that the median line
of the Formosum is formed of four parallel rows of beads about one-
third the size of the general beading. Every part seems compounded
of cohesive spherules.” I refer to this as an example of how a false
structure may be developed in one part of an object of this character
by the interference from adjoining parts. Taking the entire scale
of the Formosum, this four-banded appearance of beads may readily
be shown on the median line, and it would be hard to say that they
did not exist; but this Diatom is exceedingly brittle, and lable to
split down the centre, or close to the median line. I have a slide
containing numerous fractured specimens; in one, the midrib stands
out quite isolated a distance beyond the broken scale. In this
portion, not by any means of illumination, or any object-glass that
I can employ, am I able to develop a beading or molecular structure;
oo rie ne og On High-power Definition. 305
there is only a faint indication of a core, or median line. In the
portion of this same midrib situated in the scale the rows of beads
can be made to appear. I have therefore no doubt that they are
spurious. In fact, im the Formoswm the row of beads next to the
midrib are much finer, or about half the size of the others, and a
spurious image of these can be thrown within the rib.
Under a 35th the Formosum is a most superb object. The
spherules are perfectly isolated, and appear like beads of coral on a
deep sky-blue ground, and at the fractured edge they overhang in
some places.
VI.—On a New Critical Standard Measure of the Perfection of
High-power Definition as afforded by Diatoms and Nobert’s
Lines. By Dr. Roystron-Picort, M.A., Cantab., Fellow of
the Cambridge Philosophical and of the Royal Astronomical and
Microscopical Societies of London ; formerly Fellow of St. Peter’s
College, Cambridge.
Tue study of Diatom- and Nobert’s lines unquestionably rewards the
ardent observer for years of application and research. By such
studies chiefly microscopy has reached its proud position among the
advanced sciences of the nineteenth century. What was deemed
impossible ten years ago is now with the microscope a common feat
performed at will and at once, as the resolution of Rhomboides,
which good observers might formerly be hours in attaining.
Further advances can only be made by searching out errors yet
to be remedied: it is unphilosophical to declare perfection has been
reached—as a bar to inquiry. The satisfied optician, in the face of
modern improvements, is apt to feel it would be far better to let
well alone and discourage further refinements in optical science. Our
motto must still be “ Onward.”
The great obstacles to minute observation may be summed up in
two words: imperfect correction and exaggerated diffraction.
The former is perhaps insufficiently studied by microscopists,
who often purchase their glasses on trust; the latter is a subject
which remains to be thoroughly investigated and exhausted. Both
these causes distort, derange, and disfigure the true definition of
minute objects, and especially the appearance of the celebrated lines
of Nobert’s Test-Plate.
Diffraction lines are not confined to the images of brilliant ob-
jects. If a transparent or rather opalescent and pellucid film of a
variegated substance traced with dark spots and lines be examined
under a high power, when illuminated by the direct rays of the sun,
VOL. III. x
306 On a New Critical Standard Measure [ore er esto.
minute dark rings may be observed surrounding each dark point,
and with every change of the focus the whole surface appears to be
in motion with expanding and contracting dark rings of diffraction.
Similarly if the toy-stone called the philosopher’s stone enspangled
with crystallized metallic points formed in melted glass, which are
seen principally of hexagon and triangular form (when brilliantly
illuminated with a bull’s-eye condenser), be examined with a fine th
objective, each crystal appears bordered with symmetrical dark dif-
fraction lines varying in number.
Eig. 1:
\ Ze
Indeed, whatever shape the bright object be, it is accompanied by
these spectral lines or fringes,
_ In examining the beads of the Rhomboides I was yesterday sur-
prised to see two halves floating asunder as spectral images from the
effect of two oblique pencils, and joining together only when the
glasses were properly adjusted.
Fic. 2.
And in the same manner spectral lines in Nobert’s bands may be
made to float before the eye of the observer. I have thus frequently
seen the blank spaces between Nobert’s bands crowded with lines
more real in appearance than the true.
The central ribs or median lines of the Rhomboides’ diatom were
also observed to be composed of an extensive rouleau of beads in
close contact, much closer set than the general beading, just in the
same way as I lately succeeded in distinguishing four rows of beads
composing the median lines or ribs of the Pleurosigma Formosum
and Angulatum.
aie. tea of High-power Definition. 307
The linear Rhomboides’ beading was estimated at 2rds closer than
the rest. I had not time at my disposal to measure them, but
estimate them at about 120,000 to the inch, reckoning the Rhom-
boides 80,000, which vary very much in different specimens. Nobert’s
XIXth band would thus appear less difficult of resolution than the
central rouleaus of the Rhomboidean median lines, in which sixteen
beads appear to occupy the same space as about ten strize; andas it isthe
crescentic notch which alone renders the beading visible, which notch
is much more minute than the interval between the lines, it may be
assumed that an assemblage of minute beading, closely placed in
contact, 120,000 to the inch, is more difficult to be seen than parallel
lines wider apart; 112,000 to the inch, as in Band XIX.
I now propose to allude to some points that have been made out
by the able observers on the other side of the ocean. Weare greatly
indebted to Mr. Charles Stodder, who, in the ‘American Naturalist’
for April, 1868, contributes an interesting and elaborate paper on
the resolution of Nobert’s lines, reflecting the highest credit upon
the writer, and which does not appear to have attracted the attention
which it deserves. Not many of Nobert’s plates have been sold in
England ; their great cost and difficulty of access, and the fact that
many diatoms are known with finer provisional lines than Nobert’s,
may probably account for this. But still it is scarcely applicable, now,
what Mr. Stodder quotes from English works (15 years in print) :—
“Mr. Ross found it impossible to ascertain the position of a
line nearer than the gptooth of an inch.” (1855.)
“ Dr. Carpenter (2nd edition, 1859) repeated the same remarks,
substituting sstooth for zstooth. There is good reason to believe
that the limit of perfection has been nearly reached.”
“On the other side (of the water) the late Professor T. W.
Bailey claimed to have seen lines toy'cooth to the inch, and Messrs.
Harrison and Sollit the lines of Amphiplewra pellucida”—now a
favourite test-object with Messrs. Powell and Lealand—“ 120,000
and 130,000 to the inch, and expressed an opinion that lines as fine
as 175,000 to the inch might be seen.”
“ Experiments induced Messrs. Sullivant and Wortly to believe
that Nobert’s 27th band of lines 81,213 to the inch* gave the
limit of resolvability.” The objectives used were “ Tolles’ 3'5th,
aperture 160°. Besides other objectives, y'zth and 5th of eminent
opticians.”
Mr. Stodder then says:— Dr. Woodward has resolved finer
lines than any other observer has yet seen, so far as report gives us
any information.t With Tolles’ immersion ith, aperture 170°, B
eye-piece, power 550, Mr. Greenleaf and myself both saw the 19th
band satisfactorily, thus being probably the first ever to see lines
112,000 to the inch. . . . Mr. Eulenstein states that Nachet claims
* A former test-plate. + Old series of bands.
Dy
308 On a New Critical Standard Measure | yoy er eo
to have seen them by sunlight recently, which claim needs some
confirmation, as his No. 10 failed so completely in my hands.”
“Since the foregoing was written, Dr. Barnard has made more
trials, and I am well satisfied he has seen the 19th band with a
Spencer 5th and Tolles’ 3th, both dry objectives.”
“Dr. Barnard counted the lines five times, giving a mean of
110,820 lines to the inch, instead of Nobert’s number, 112,688.”
It should now be stated that “Colonel Woodward* declares his
belief that Mr. Stodder saw but could not count the lines. At this
date spurious lines were so numerous that photographs could not be
relied upon for counting them.” He concludes his paper with in-
dicating an ingenious mode of counting the lines with a black spot
projected upon a plate of glass, upon which the image of the lines
is focussed direct from the microscope, without the intervention of
an eye-piece. And in a note he says, “ Dr. Barnard informs me
(notwithstanding the former results), July 21, 1868, that his
opinions are not matured, and that he intends to make further
observations.”
Mr. Mayall, junr., | writes—“ Dr. Woodward seems not to have
been sure of the accuracy of the count of his photograph.... .
He says it shows the 12th band resolved into 37 lines, and further
on he says forty is the real number in the band.”
“Tt was only after frequent trials that I could be assured of
distinguishing readily between the appearance of the two consecu-
tive lines, and those woolly or wavy-looking lines which are shown
either by defective illumination or by want of power in the objective,
but which are sometimes believed to be imperfectly-ruled lines.”
“ With the 3th and ~yth of Ross, and the sth by Smith,in the
possession of this Society, and with a §th, yyth, 7th, and 2th by
Powell and Lealand, all dry objectives, on a new 19-band plate,
all the bands beyond the ~;th seemed imperfect—the lines were not
separated.”
Subsequently, Dec. 1868, Colonel Woodward’s paper, ‘ Further
Remarks on the New Nineteen-band Plate of Nobert and Immersion
Lenses,’ gives us precise details of the resolution, accompanied by a
beautiful photograph of the resolved lines, and informs us with a
magnanimity which does honour to America :—
“For other lenses carefully tried on the same plate, the ith
Wales, =';th and 35th Powell and Lealand, all dry lenses, resolved
the 15th band but not the 16th..... The utmost that a Tolles’
immersion }th, only a strong th English standard, was to show the
true lines of the 14th band.
“A Tolles’ immersion /5th, of 175° of aperture, was received at
* ‘Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,’ Oct., 1868.
+ ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ Feb., 1869.
CeoREtne sie. of High-power Definition. 309
the museum, May 16th, from Mr. Charles Stodder, who stated in
his accompanying letter that it might be regarded as a fair sample
of Mr. Tolles’ work. With this lens I was unable to see the true
lines beyond the 16th band.”
“Tt will be seen, then, that in my hands the best definition was
obtained by the immersion 7;th of Messrs. Powell and Lealand.”
“A careful count of the lines gave the following results :—
15th band .. .. 465 lines 18th band .. .. 54 lines
16th ,, ok eee We AON 55 19th. ,, eat a ORS
EBSD pe pate et, Dk,
“Tf Mr. Mayall... . has not been able to see the lines in
Nobert’s plate as distinctly as they are shown in the photographs
submitted (to the Royal Microscopical Society), I must presume
simply that he has not illuminated the object with monochromatic
light.”
Mr. Mayall, however, omits to state in his paper that he has
employed Powell and Lealand’s Ygth on the XIXth band, made on
the immersion principle.
The rival claims of Mr. Stodder and of Colonel Dr. Woodward to
have fairly resolved the XIXth band will be well understood by read-
ing the papers themselves. The congratulations of the microscopists
of this country, however, may be honestly conveyed to Dr. Woodward
upon his successful photograph of those difficult lines by means of
an English objective.
I may now be allowed to state that, after a careful analysis
of the experiments detailed in those papers, the following results
have been arrived at, which are given in a tabulated form. The
convenient method of judging of the dividing power of telescopes by
means of close double stars is strongly recommended by the writer
to be adopted as a new standard of definition for the microscope
as in the telescope. 160” is the visual angle subtended by the
double y? Andromede, separated (centre to centre) by 0”*4 under
a power of 400 diameters. This is a smaller angle than any presented
by a pair of lines of the XI Xth band counted at 1000 diameters. But
in order to make the calculations sure, the following Table has been
carefully computed, beginning with Nobert’s VIIIth band, and
ending with the XIXth. The principle selected is this: the last
line is left out just as in dividing an inch into ten parts we say
there are ten lines to the inch, although reckoning each terminal
line there are eleven.
Taking, therefore, the usual approximate value for one second
= * 000004848, and for the sake of establishing a standard critical
angle for the testing of the performance of the microscope, it will
readily be calculated, on the principle laid down in my paper of
310 On a New Critical Standard Measure [Monthly Microscopie
May, 1869,* in this Journal, that the lines of Nobert’s bands,
commencing with the VIIIth band, are separated under the micro-
scopic power of 1000 diameters by the following critical angles
(carefully verified) :—
TABLE OF STANDARD CriTICAL ANGLES SUBTENDED BY A PAIR OF NOBERT'S
LInEs.
Critical Angles, Critical Angle,
Nobert’s Power 1000 Nobert’s Power 1000
Band. Standard. Band. Standard.
No. i No. "
WE, se ee be PAO TEMOS XIV. Goth ate we eee
PX tee eee te SOOS39 KV. co ces ee 20800
ore Meee ae teooosUS XVI... cc ee RS eleoZ
Kl? Sc ise = ee SOU OtHS XVID. sf) ay esleesmes
XU pees) ee olenO VIM. 40. ase) oe eeloeeen
NO ee cn atta Oana D.4 D.Saerr ee mond fe) Vile o73!)
The performance of American and English glasses, as recorded
in the papers already alluded to, may be conveniently referred to
this standard as follows:—In the last column I have given the cri-
tical angle of resolution, after reducing the given power to a uniform
standard of 1000 diameters. In each case the B eye-piece seems to
have been used, and the recorded experiments embrace objectives
from the 3th, {5th to ~sth, jth, to the 3th focal length.
Nobert has selected the Paris line, which equals yoo olvooths of
the English inch, as the basis of his scale. In the first band this
is divided at the rate of 1001 lines into 1000 spaces, and each line
iS yoooth of a Paris line apart.
The 2nd band contains lines +> 55th apart.
7 rd. Pe
” 2000 ”
” 18th ” ” 95000 ”
1
” 19th ” ” 100000 ob)
Recalculating these dimensions, and verifying the results care-
fully, the lines are separated by the following parts, conveniently
represented by the number of divisions to the meh :—
Band. | Band.
HLS oi. Pip n0eby-Als | XIV. .. ss B4445-092
TR 3S) 4 | 62967795 | XV... o SOU74=Sre
K, (2; a.) 9619262474 XVL ... .. 957042551
Rilo npc SB7b56 754 | XVI. .. .. 10083493
a ee yess ees | XVIII .. .. 106963-91
Xi .:,-- 4. “Wsslo-sie XIX. .. - Qugeaeeoe
The first column represents the Angulata of various degrees of
fineness, and the second column the Navicula Rhomboides and
Amphipleura pellucida, which, however, in many specimens, are
finer still.
* Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ Dec., 1869.
Monthly Microscopical of High-power Definition. 311
Journal, June 1, 1870.
TABLE OF NEw CriTIcCAL STANDARD MEASURES.
Critical Angle,
Focal Power, No. of Seconds, Seconds,
Maker, Length. | Diameters. | APetture. ved st Oniatte Brand ard
easure,
cr °o " W
Wales .. a 475 140 VIII. IBS TI _ 407°103
Hartnack ar Sard 1062 155 aK 300° 1e 333° 08
Natchet She eae ay 920 oe VAS Paes 407-103
” se. ele st 1600 a IX. 586° 22 366°39
” oo we ost 1600 ae XII. 450°72 281-70
JNOIIES GG ad oe to 800 160 XII, 225°36 281°70
aS do Seon ao 800 ac 20 225°36 281-70
ag Mon, S68 as 800 oe Velie 325°68 407-103
Ge slaaerd aed eee 800 i XV.| 183-20 229-00
Powell & Lealand | 3; 1000 170 | XIX. 183°20 183°20
Tolles* Aon. pC + 550 170 XIX, | 100°76 183°20
From this Table it will be seen that by reducing the detailed
experiments to one uniform standard test of angular visibility, at
a power of 1000, the order of merit in which the performance of
the glasses should be placed is dependent upon the closest lines re-
solved, or rather counted.
"
The XIXth band resolved at 183 by the 3, Powell and Lealand.
229
le
” t ” ” ” 10 Tolles.
» XIIth ” ” 281 yy wo »
» XIIth ” ” Zee aoa
ee oth: zi “ 281, |= Natchet.
3 th 3 a 333 yay Hartnack.
a eth 5 i 366 ,, <4, Natchet.
” VIIIth ” ” 407, Set
VEL F Ahi: ego) aa Bled
In this result it will be seen that the bands arrange themselves
in the order of difficulty of resolution. The XIXth band, at 1000
diameters, closely resembles y? Andromede, the severe double star
so difficult for telescopes.
It will be extremely interesting to hear that our American
brothers can resolve the strize of known diatoms, having them
arranged from 120,000 to 150,000 lines to the inch.
The writer has found in practising upon Nobert’s lines some
curious phenomena with a Powell and Lealand ~;th immersion
(oth converted). Spurious lines can easily be formed by. oblique
light so as to actually represent the empty spaces between the bands
as filled with divisions!
In some cases a false diffraction line exactly divides a pair of
lines so as to make ¢hree instead of two.
* These lines seen at 100”*76 satisfactorily by Mr. Stodder and Mr. Greenleaf,
p. 136, ‘Quart. Journal Microscopical Science,’ July, 1868, quoted supra.
312 On a New Critical Standard Measure [eens rere
The lines appeared the most distinctly and sharply defined when
the corrections were so managed with direct light that each groove
appeared like a convex cylindrical glass thread.
When the diffraction lines were separated from the real in a
particular manner, then they obliterated the true lines altogether.
In other cases the finer lines were transformed into irregular
wavy coarser lines, and too few in number; or the band appeared
streaked with one or two lines just at points where diffraction lines
coincided like a vernier with the true, rendering all the rest in-
visible.
‘
it "
' a
it :
ial i
it
H
I
Vernier Diffraction Lines (dotted) seen in Nobert’s Plate more or less close to the true.
With oblique light the spectral lines appear, as it were, to float
away from the true according to the focussing, corrections, and
obliquity. The spurious diffraction lines, no doubt, form the
greatest obstacle to the full and fair resolution of these celebrated
lines. Now, however, that they have been fairly photographed, we
may smile at that peculiar prejudice (in favour of a theory) which
represented the resolution impossible because of the interpretation
of the undulatory theory of light. Even Herr Nobert himself for
a long time believed in this impossibility, and has, as far as we are
informed, never himself seen the XI Xth or even the XVIIIth band.
Yet their invisibility depended upon the fault of the glasses, not
upon the precision of his truly wonderful ruling machine. In some
cases I have observed the ruled lines broken down, as it were, and
a fine displaced thread left after the ruling; but the edges of the
lines are a perfect marvel of smoothness and truth.
Having tried several experiments upon ruling glass with a
diamond point, I have been surprised to find that there was one
position into which the axis of the holding tool must be rotated,
and one only, in which ¢rwe shavings and curls of glass could be
obtained: all other positions causing fracture, chipping, and split-
ting of the ruled edge of the intended groove. But these beautiful
lines are as uniform in general as glass threads, and apparently
formed of a semi-circular groove; to which shape probably the
diamond is cut by grinding with diamond powder on a soft iron
disk to the semi-circular curve, so as to cut and plough a clean and
perfect groove at one stroke, and several points are experimented
with till the most efficient cutting tool can be selected.
~iiaen ia ea of High-power Definition. 313
The visibility with a standard power of 1000 diameters may be
thus calculated in seconds—
No. of seconds sub- 20627 x 1000 *
6” = ¢ tended by a pair of
lines in a band
~ No, of divisions to English inch,
and the corresponding angle in seconds is given in the last column
of the above Table. In order now to erect a real standard of de-
fining. power and tabulate results, the working microscopist having
measured by camera lucida the number of dines of beading to the
inch of any diatom, has only to divide 20627000-0 by the number
of lines per inch, and the result in seconds gives at once a standard
of the critical angle of observation at 1000 diameters; when the
nearer it approaches 1838” the closer will his observation equal the
celebrated test of Nobert’s XIXth band. In the writer's opinion,
some of the finer diatoms, especially the more delicate specimens of
Rhomboides, are equal to the XI Xth band test, and the beading of
which, the central lines or ribs forming the median line being much
closer in contact than the XIXth band of Nobert, is one half more
severe.
But all European microseopists will long acknowledge that a
world-wide microscopy is deeply indebted to the genius of Herr
Nobert for the production of his exquisite workmanship on glass.
Mr. Stodder informs us that Dr. Barnard made five counts of the
XIXth band with a Spencer ~yth and a Tolles’ 4th, and that
(January 29, 1868) he writes that the observation was made with
dry objectives. The mean of the counts are reckoned at 110,820
lines to the inch instead of 112,688.
Dr. Woodward gives the number of lines per millimétre per
inch taken from Harting, and Mr. Stodder, the number to the
English inch, on the principle that if a thousand and one lines are
drawn in a given space, there are 1000 spaces and 1001 lines; but
as it is the separating interval with which we are concerned, from the
centre of one line to the centre of the next, I prefer considering each
separation the y,'o>th instead of yor for Band I.
English microscopists would greatly esteem a statement of Dr.
Barnard’s own results. We on this side of the water can only felicitate
our American friends upon every advance they can make ahead of
us here, even though they surpass us.
Few observers could equal Mr. Stodder’s keenness of sight in
clearly and satisfactorily resolving the XIXth band with a power
.of 500, as it implies a critical angle of 100 seconds, a thing, how-
ever, by no means impossible, although it is equivalent to discerning
* T may add the more correct value of the factor 20627000 is to be found by
dividing unity by the value of a second, sin. 1” = -0000048481368, and for any
P
other power P and number of divisions N, 6” = 20627 x yo 20627 xP +N.
314 On a New Critical Standard Measure [yore aie eo
with the naked eye 112 lines drawn to the inch, placed at ten inches’
distance. Counting them is another thing altogether.
Since writing the above remarks, I may add that a careful ex-
amination of Dr. Colonel Woodward’s wonderful photographs of
Nobert’s lines, including the XI Xth band, shows spurious lines at the
left hand of the striated bands much more distinctly delineated than
the band itself. Indeed, the XIXth appears flecked with a peculiar
waviness, mottled as it were with the tremulous motion of a heated
stratum of air as seen through a land telescope on a hot summer’s
day. ‘The lines are there indeed, but more or less continuous. ~ i
am of opinion that were Dr. Woodward in possession of the 1th or 7,th
recently constructed by Messrs. Powell and Lealand, either as dry
or water lenses, the lines of the XI Xth band would now be pictured
as sharp and clear as the spurious lines at the edges, which will be
probably reduced by a better definition.
Dr. Woodward distinctly states that Mr. Stodder and Mr. Green-
leaf were not able to count the lines. So lowa critical angle as 100
seconds, indeed, could hardly enable the acutest sight to perform
such an optical feat. Our distinguished President informed me he
could see telegraph wires } inch in diameter at 800 yards’ distance,
or a subtense of one in 115,200: or as one in 206,270 nearly equals
one second, the telegraph wire would thus be slightly under two
seconds. We may conclude that very keen eyes may see a line
only two seconds in diameter. Nobert’s X1Xth band, with a power
of 550, gives a hundred seconds between the centres of each con-
tiguous line, yet it required a power of 1000 diameters and a critical
angle of 183” to enable Dr. Woodward to so discern the line as to
be able to count them with certainty with our best ~;th immersion of
that date. Without entering into any description of the optical
causes which render these lines so indistinct, even at 200 seconds of
separation in the microscopic field, an interesting account might be
given of the sensibility of the eye as affected by “ personal errors
of observation,” and the ordinary discriminating vision of average
observers.
But any one who can count the lines with 250 on the Angula-
tum will perform almost the identical feat claimed by Mr. Stodder.
For this gives nearly a critical angle of 100", reckoning the lines of
Angulatum 52,000 per inch.*
There is nothing in the nature of vision to divorce microscopical
from telescopic fields of view. In both cases the final image is
presented to the eye for vision by the eye lens at its focal points in
the plane of the stop. In both the actual image is seen not close, but
a distance of ten inches, more or less, from the eye. The experience
of astronomers therefore gives a rich fund of data for estimating
_ 20627 x 251:85
j 52000
*
= 100’'1 nearly.
“et ee ad of High-power Definition. 315
keenness of vision and its measures as applied to the microscope.
Microscopists can draw largely, therefore, on such recorded observa-
tions. It has already been observed that the smallest angle at
which parallel lines can be numerically distinguished with a high
power of 1000 diameters is 183 seconds, or in round numbers 200
seconds. Now there is a singular congruity between this critical
angle and that required for fairly dividing the most difficult double
stars.
The celebrated Mr. Dawes, so renowned for observing powers,
the discoverer of Saturn’s inner gauze ring like a crape veil, proposed
“@ Polaris,” which has a small companion of the ninth magnitude,
18"-6 distant from the pole star, as a general standard test, if the
telescope and eye of the observer are good, for a power of 80 diame-
ters. Now, in the field of the eye lens, this double gives a critical
angle of 80 x 18”: 6, or 149” nearly. Considering the brilliance of the
pole star compared with the faintness of the companion, it is indeed
a very severe standard test for the human eye. But I will venture
to relate a few more examples of critical angles of definition :—
Diameters. Critical Angle.
y’ Andromede ., + apart, seen with .. .. 300 .. 150
e Bootis 2 a > 3g, ace eG pian ZUC
x SoM eval! 5 elongated with.. 250 .. 250
(ares A ve Osa Sut ctinelyadivideds 0) 27000 eau kideo
a” Cancri 1°4 Ay oo onl) loot ae UAE, ay B20
+ 0°6 0. ea Wath mirror, 9. 300)> 92.2 e180
F part, one of Herschel’s \ ,~
n Corone Borealis 1 of ae a aay aig je sak Ben cdl See
wv? Orion 2°8 apart, 9isilver mirror 212+ .. 593°6
There is a curious similarity of these critical angles, at which
the double stars were resolved, to the angles at which Nobert’s
lines were seen with various instruments and powers.
* Browning’s silver-glass telescope, 101th inch aperture.
+ These examples of definition are taken from ‘ Celestial Objects for Common
Telescopes :’ Rev. T. W. Webb.
| Professor Epwarps’ paper “ On Diatomaceze.”—Owing to great
pressure on our pages the continuation of this article is unavoidably
postponed. | :
Monthly Mi copical
( 316) Journal, June 1, 1870.
NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT NOTICES.
Protoplasm ; or, Life, Matter, and Mind. By Lionel 8. Beale, M.B., F.R.S.
2nd Edition. London: Churchill, 1870.—We have only to state
in reference to this the second edition of Dr. Beale’s interesting
book, that it is much enlarged and contains a new section on the
Mind. It isan able display of the author’s well-known views in
reference to the early development of the tissues, and embraces an
attempt to apply these views to some of the problems, half physical,
half metaphysical, which of late years have attracted the attention
of thinking biologists. Whatever opinions may be held as to the dis-
pute between Dr. Bealeand Mr. Huxley, it is certain that the volume
itself is full of interest both to the microscopist and the ordinary
educated man.
The Cell-doctrine: its History and Present State, dc. By James Tyson,
M.D., Lecturer on Microscopy in the University of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1870.—It is surprising how
very little is known by medical men generally of the arguments
for and against the cell-doctrine of Schwann and Schleiden.
Notwithstanding the admirable essay published by Professor
Huxley many years since in the ‘ Medico-Chirurgical Review,’ and
the numerous fine memoirs which Dr. Beale has given us from
time to time, it is still a fact that very few know how the question
as to the mode of origin of the tissues now stands. It was to meet
this want, and, at the same time, to help to promulgate Dr. Beale’s
views, that the author of the present volume prepared this treatise.
The book is in great part a compilation, but it also details some
original observations of the author’s. It contains a handsome
coloured plate, copied from one of Dr. Beale’s works, and has a
few woodcuts intercalated in the text. It is further provided with
a most copious bibliographical list, which (although some of the
names are misspelt here and there), must prove very useful to
those engaged in investigation on this subject. As we have said,
it is in great part compiled, and treats historically of the different
opinions on the generation of the tissues which have been put
forward both before and since the time of Schwann and Schleiden’s
famous essays. It is the first book in which we have seen any
thorough epitome and fair recognition of Professor Huxley’s views;
and though Dr. Tyson dissents from these, as he does from many
others, we must say that his statement of the several opinions of
conflicting anatomists is characterized by fairness, clearness, and
honesty. We said that one of his objects has been to support
Dr. Beale’s ideas, but this requires more qualification ; for, though
he gives a general adhesion to Dr. Beale’s doctrines, he dissents
from these in so far as they give a structureless character to the
germinal matter. In the author’s own words, “We deem it
incorrect, therefore, to describe germinal mattcr as in all instances
lyf
Monthly ee Lao | NEW BOOKS, WITH SHORT NOTICES. 317
structureless, and prefer with Robin to describe it as sometimes
granular. Indeed, if we mistake not, Dr. Beale, in his earlier
descriptions, also characterized it as granular.’* The book is one
which every student of general histology should possess. It is,
unquestionably, the most comprehensive essay on the whole subject
which has yet been published.
Zeitschrift fiir Parasitenkunde. Herausgegeben von Dr. Ernst
Hallier, Professor der Botanik in Jena, und Dr. F. A. Ziirn.
Erster Band. Jena: Mauke’s Verlag.—We hope to notice this
the first part of a new and valuable journal of Parasitology more
fully in our next number. In the meantime we would direct
our readers’ attention to it. It is a thick 8vo journal, with six
large folding plates, and some hundreds of exquisitely-drawn figures
of vegetable (fungoid) parasites of different kinds, and contains
some thirty different communications on various departments of
parasitology.
Recherches sur la Composition et la Signification de Vceuf, basées sur [étude
de son mode de Formation et des Premiers Phénomenes Embryon-
naires. Par Edouard Van Beneden, Docteur en Sciences Na-
turelles, Bruxelles. Hayez, 1870.—It is only necessary to
say of this splendid quarto that it is the great memoir which
obtained the prize offered by the Belgian Academy for the
best essay on “The Anatomical Constitution of the Egg in the
different Classes of the Animal Kingdom, its Mode of Forma-
tion, and the Signification of the different Parts which compose
it.” The work, which has been “crowned” by the Academy, is, it
must be confessed, one well worthy to take its place beside the
ereat memoirs of Von Bir and the other masters in embryology.
The aim of the author has been to show the relation between the
ovum and the cell, and thus to demonstrate whether any and what
analogy exists between the ova of different classes of animals. In
a word, these labours have been directed to the discovery of those
differences which exist between the ovum as the product of a single
gland, and the ovum as it proceeds from two separate glands,
“ vermigenous” and “ vitellogenous.’ In dealing with this com-
plex question, M. Van Beneden has investigated the structure and
development of the ovum in an immense multitude of species rang-
ing over the intestinal worms and Turbellaria, Crustacea, Birds and
Mammals. The fruits of his work are recorded in nearly 300
pages which constitute this essay, and are figured in the twelve
admirably-drawn plates appended to the text. In addition, there
is furnished a very able historical sketch of the progress made in
the knowledge of this branch of embryology. The chief conclusion
at which the author arrives has been already in part stated in a paper
which appeared in these pages, but it may thus again be stated:
—<“Tn every ovum, whether of a mammal or a bird, a crustacean
or a Trematode, we find a protoplasmic cell whose nucleus is the
germinal vesicle, and whose nucleolus is Wagner’s corpuscle.
* ¢ Archives of Medicine,’ vol. ii, p. 189.
318 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SOIENCE. [Yontnal Sune l tio.
This, which we have termed the germ, or egg-cell, and which we
regard as the first cell of the embryo se forme partout de la méme
maniére ; it always presents the same characteristics and produces
by division the first cells of the embryo. But the vitellus of the egg
is composed of two elements; the one, the protoplasmatic, repre-
sents the substance (corps) of the egg-cell; the other, the nutritive,
forms what we have called the deuto-plasm of the ovum. This
deuto-plasm is the accessory part of the vitellus ; it is sometimes
absent, arises in various ways, presents un-uniform relations to the
protoplasm, and undergoes very different operations in the course
of the first embryonic phenomena.” M. Van Beneden’s treatise
is one which should be in the library of every. student of natural
science.
PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
The Relation between Ascidians and Vertebrates—This important
fact, which was mooted a couple of years since, seems to be better
established every day. In the last number of Max Schultze’s ‘ Archiv’
(Band VI., Heft 2) Professor Kiipffer, of Kiel, has a very important
paper on the subject, illustrated by three exquisite plates detailing the
development of Ascidia canina. The memoir will well repay careful
study.
The Ganglion-bodies of the Cerebrum.—Dr. Rudolf Arnt, of Griefswald,
contributes to the above journal a very valuable paper “On the Structure
of the Nerve-cells of the Brain.” He especially describes the peculiar
ganglion-cells whose prolongations, several in number, can often be
traced to a considerable distance, thinning out and ending in exquisitely
delicate filaments, which are covered with minute globular particles
attached to them almost as grapes are on a stalk.
Terminations of the Nerves in the Skin—Herr C. J. Eberth, who has
been working at the problem of the mode of termination of the nerves
in the skin, has published recently the results of his inquiries, especi-
ally with regard to the skins of dogs and cats. Many of his prepara-
tions were made with the chloride of gold solution, and they lead him
to believe that the nerve filaments pass even beyond the papille, and
apparently travel through the basement membrane and into the epider-
mis. The gold solution, however, is possibly a dangerous one for
inquiries of this delicate kind, and it certainly seems as if Herr Eberth’s
drawings were capable of another interpretation than that which he
puts upon them.—Schultze’s Archiv, Band VI., Heft 2.
A New Microtome, which will interest some of our readers, is de-
scribed in the last number of Max Schultze’s ‘ Archiv,’ by Herr W. His.
Its construction is too elaborate to be described without the aid of the
woodcuts contained in the paper. Its cost is about 51.
ee MicrosaeG | PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE, 319
Animal Life at Great Depths in the Ocean.—So much interest has
attached to this subject since the publication of Dr. Carpenter’s inter-
esting report, that the history of the progress of discovery in this
direction is especially attractive just now. Those who wish to read a
short but well-condensed account of the development of our knowledge
of this subject will find it in a paper by M. A. J. Malmgren, in Siebold
and Kélliker’s ‘ Zeitschrift’ (April 1st). Beginning with the earlier
observations of Sars, Koren, Danielssen Loven, and others, it then deals
with the labours of Edward Forbes, Dr. Wallich, Milne Edwards, and
at last brings us down to the inquiries of Carpenter, Thomson, and
Gwyn Jefirys.
Structure of the Central Nervous System of Vertebrates.—One of the
longest and most important memoirs published on this subject is that
by Professor Ludwig Stieda, of Dorpat. It is not very abundantly
illustrated, but it gives not only the author’s own observations in detail
on the whole central nervous system in various animals, but deals
critically with those who have devoted attention to this subject, and
especially our distinguished countryman, Mr. Lockhart Clarke. It
extends over nearly 200 pages.
Termination of the Nerves in Glands is the title of a fine paper by
Professor Krause in the last number of Reichert’s ‘ Archiy fiir Anatomie’
(April). The author traces the nerves to the follicles of the glands,
and sometimes to the cells.
The Structure and Affinities of Sigillarta.—Principal Dawson’s (of
Montreal) views on this subject differ in some particulars from those of
Mr. Carruthers, whose interesting papers have appeared in these pages.
In a memoir communicated to the Geological Society (May 11th) the
following account of the above is given :—With reference to Sigillaria, a
remarkably perfect specimen of the axis of a plant of this genus, from
the coal-field of Nova Scotia, was described as having a transversely-
laminated pith of the Sternbergia type, a cylinder of woody tissue,
scalariform internally, and reticulated or discigerous externally, the
tissues much resembling those of Cycads. Medullary rays were
apparent in this cylinder ; and it was traversed by obliquely-radiating
bundles of scalariform vessels or fibres proceeding to the leaves. Other
specimens were adduced to show that the species having this kind of
axis had a thick outer bark of elongated or prosenchymatous cells.
The author stated that Professor Williamson had enabled him to
examine stems found in the Lancashire coal-field, of the type of
Binney’s Sigillaria vascularis, which differed in some important points
of structure from his specimens ; and that another specimen, externally
marked like Sigillaria, had been shown by Mr. Carruthers to be more
akin to Lepidodendron in structure. These specimens, as well as the
Sigillaria elegans illustrated by Brongniart, probably represented other
types of Sigillarioid trees, and it is not improbable that the genus
Sigillaria, as usually understood, really includes several distinct
generic forms. The author had recognized six generic forms in a
previous paper, and in his ‘ Acadian Geology ;’ but the type described
in the present paper was that which appeared to predominate in the
320 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. [Mouttily Microscopical
fossil Sigillarian forests of Nova Scotia, and also in the mineral charcoal
of the coal-beds. This was illustrated by descriptions of structures
occurring in erect and prostrate Sigillariz, on the surface of Stern-
bergia casts, and in the coal itself.
The Relation of Vorticella to Actinophrys—In a letter published
in ‘Scientific Opinion’ (May 11th) Mr. C. Staniland Wake records
some interesting observations on this subject. Having described his
method of making a number of organic infusions, and stating the
nature of the bodies subsequently found in them, he says :—The
infusions produced, moreover, bodies of a circular form, which I have
now little doubt were encysted forms of Vorticella. In addition to
these, however, were a number of larger bodies of different shapes, the
nature of which I could not for some time determine, That they were
animal organisms I did not doubt. Their appearance—that of a nearly
circular and nucleated cell, with an outer faintly-defined rim—was
sufficient to induce this belief. No motion was at first noticeable, but
I soon found that the shape of these bodies altered, and I at once set
them down as having an ameebal character. This idea appeared to be
confirmed by the fact that free-moving amcebse were also present in
these infusions. I have not studied the changes of Vorticella, and
therefore I was much surprised, on examining these infusions some
days later, to find a great number of these forms in full activity. What
is the explanation of this fact? It was soon made apparent by a re-
ference to Pritchard’s fine work on Infusoria. At plate 27, Pritchard
gives several figures of Vorticella microstoma, this being, I have no
doubt, the form which was so plentiful in my infusions. On plate 23,
moreover, several forms are figured, which I at once recognized as
those which I had supposed to be amcebal. In Pritchard these are
classed with Actinophrys, but they are described as having been figured
by Stein as phases in the development of Vorticella microstoma. Hight
of these phases are given by Stein, and of these Nos. 1 and 2 in
Pritchard almost perfectly represent the forms produced in my
infusions. In addition, however, to Vorticella microstoma were several
other analogous forms, among them one much resembling Actinophrys
linguifera or Acineta (Pritchard, pl. 23, fig. 17). Since I noted the
above facts, most of the Vorticella have disappeared, and the circular
bodies have increased very largely in number, the smaller ones being
extremely numerous. These bodies are nearly always associated with
the fungoid matter. They evidently increase in size, and seem to me
to be phases of the encysting process of Vorticella microstoma, as
figured by Dr. Carpenter in his work on the Microscope. In addition
to the infusoria referred to, the infusions now contain several other
forms, among them Kolpoda cucullus.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Jane 1, 1870. ( 321 )
NOTES AND MEMORANDA. oe
A Graduating Diaphragm.—In a recent number of the ‘ Chemical
News’ there appears a letter from Mr. Henry Morton, of the Franklin
Institute, Philadelphia, in which he quotes from the Journal of the
Institute (February) an account “of a new and very ingenious con-
trivance by Mr. J. Zentmayer.” The instrument is a graduating
diaphragm. It consists of two cylinders or rollers with parallel axes
and surfaces in contact, having similar conical grooves on their sur-
faces, and fine teeth cut at one end of each, which, gearing together,
cause them to rotate in unison. There is, theoretically, an objection
to a diaphragm of this construction, from the fact that its opening will
not always be in the same plane—that is, the smallest cross-section of
the space between the rollers will not always be equidistant from a
plane at right angles to the line of sight and passing through the axes
of the rollers. With the larger opening, this smallest section will be
nearest to, and with the smaller, farther from, such a plane. In prac-
tico, however, this difference is so small as to be entirely unimportant,
and may even, in some cases, be turned to advantage. There are other
forms of gradually adjustable stops which have been employed with
more or less success, but few, according to Mr. Morton, involving so
many elements of durability and convenience.
A New (?) Combination Odjeciive—At the meeting (March 9)
of the Microscopical Section of the Boston (U.S.) Natural History
Society, Mr. C. Stodder exhibited a new objective of unique construc-
tion made by Tolles. With its draw-tube closed it was a 38-inch;
when fully drawn out, a 4-inch; it had a working distance of only
1? inch. He also remarked that Professor Hulenstein had written
him that Nobert and himself had resolved the seventeenth band of
Nobert’s test-plate with a 41-inch objective made by Tolles; they had
been unable to do so with any other objective.
The Schooner-yacht ‘Norna’ has started on her trip of dredging
on the west coasts of Spain and Portugal. Her owner and master,
Mr. Marshall Hall, is accompanied by Mr. W. 8. Kent, of the British
Museum ; and as Mr. Kent is one of the active members of the Royal
Microscopical Society, we may expect good results from his labours.
Dr. Michael Foster, the eminent Teacher of Microscopic Anatomy
in University College, and one of the Secretaries to the Biological
Section of the British Association, has been elected Prelector in Phy-
siology at Trinity College, Cambridge.
A New American Natural History and Microscopical Society.
—There has just been started in the city of Baltimore a society of
fifty members, called the “Maryland Academy of Sciences.” It is in-
tended to pay special attention to microscopy. The following list of
the officers may be useful to those societies which desire to correspond
with the new Academy :—Philip T. Tyson, President; John G.
VOL. III. Y
322 CORRESPONDENCE. ony Ter ie
Morris, D.D., Vice-President; Edwin A. Dalrymple, D.D., Corre-
sponding Secretary; Charles C. Bombaugh, M.D., Recording Secre-
tary; John W. Lee, Treasurer; P. R. Uhler, Curator; A. Snowden
Piggott, M.D., Librarian; J. B. Uhler, J. De Rosset, M.D., and F, E.
Chatard, jun., M.D., Assistant Curators.
Mr. Carruthers’ New Monograph.—Among the new monographs
to be issued by the Paleontographical Society is one by Mr. W.
Carruthers, on the Fossil Cycades. We look with interest to the
appearance of the work, and we believe that it will demonstrate very
effectually the great value of the microscope in paleontological re-
searches.
The Chair of Physiology in Prague—This chair, which was
previously held by the late Professor Purkinje, an Honorary Fellow
of the Royal Microscopical Society, has been given to Herr Hering,
whose splendid researches on the minute structure of the liver our
readers are familiar with.
Irish Diatomaceew.—The Rev. E. O’Meara is preparing for the
Royal Irish Academy a list of the Irish species. All new species
will be figured. Mr. O’Meara has laboured so long and industriously
at this department that his work will doubtless be highly prized by
microscopists.
Parasitic Fungi on Cereals.—M. E. Fournier has commenced a
series of papers on this subject in the ‘ Revue des Cours Scientifiques.’
The first is on the Ergot of Rye.
The Germ Theory.—At the meeting of the Royal Irish Academy
on the 9th of May, Dr. Stokes read a paper which showed that putre-
faction can take place in closed cavities to which air had not been
admitted.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Mr. Stopper’s Dirricutry aout “ Aous.”
To the Editor of the ‘ Monthly Microscopical Journal,’
Roya. MicroscoricaL Socrnry, Kina’s CoLurce,
May 14, 1870.
Dear S1r,—In the last number of the ‘Monthly Microscopical
Journal, Mr. Chas. Stodder, in his letter “On the Resolution of
Nobert’s Nineteenth Band,” says, “I do not know what Mr. Powell calls
‘ Acus’ (there isno such genus in Pritchard).” The diatom which is
sometimes called Navicula acus is described in Pritchard under the
name of Amphipleura pellucida, Kiitzing, and must not be confounded
with Navicula acus of Ehrenberg, which is Synedra subtilis, Kiitzing.
Yours very truly,
Water W. REEVES.
Monthly Mi ical
Journal, June 1, 1870. ( 323 )
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.*
Kino’s Coitecr, Vay 11, 1870,
Rev. J. B. Reade, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
It was stated, relative to the question of the alteration of the day
of meeting, of which notice had been given by the Council solely with
the view of consulting the convenience of the Fellows, that as it had
been represented that many of the Fellows had engagements on the first
Wednesday in the month which would preclude their attendance at
the Society’s meetings, the Council proposed to withdraw the motion
for the alteration of the 20th Bye-law, which was to have been mado
that evening. This was done with the consent of the meeting.
A list of donations to the Society was read, and thanks given to the
respective donors.
Mr. H. Lee moved a vote of thanks to Mr. C. Stewart, F.L.S., for
the trouble he had taken in preparing the catalogue and arranging the
objects exhibited at the soirée. The arrangements had been most suc-
cessfully carried out; and the character of the soirée had been much
improved through the display of Mr. Stewart’s own splendid collection,
as well as by the deep-sea dredgings of Dr. Carpenter.
This vote was unanimously passed.
It was moved and unanimously approved that a vote of thanks be
presented to Dr. Carpenter for his very interesting exhibition of objects
at the soirée; and also to Mr. Lee, by whom valuable aid had been
iven.
2 The President said that soon after his Annual Address had been
published a letter had been received from Mr. Hankey, of Chicago,
who established the State Microscopical Society of Illinois (to which
allusion had been made in the Address), in which that gentleman
expressed a strong desire to become a member of the Royal Micro-
scopical Society. He (the President) thought that, considering the
high degree of efficiency to which the State Microscopical Society had
been brought, it would be but a fitting compliment to pay to Mr.
Hankey to propose that his name be added to the list of Honorary
Fellows; and he would therefore read the certificate approved of by
the Council, and propose that it be suspended till the next meeting,
when the election would take place.
The certificate was suspended.
A letter addressed to Mr. Hogg by Colonel Dr. Woodward was
read, in which special reference was made to the papers of Dr. Pigott
on “ High-power Definition.” The letter was accompanied by photo-
graphs: one of the Podura scale magnified 3000 times by Powell and
* Secretaries of Societies will greatly oblige us by writing their reports legibly
—especially by printing the technical terms thus: H yd ra—and by “underlining ”
words, such as specific names, which must be printed in italics. They will thus
secure accuracy and enhance the value of their proceedings.—Ep. M. M. J.
y 2
324 PROCEEDINGS OF socreTIEs. [Soni Mined iro,
Lealand’s ;!,th immersion lens, representing exactly the appearances
made so familiar by the drawings of the late Richard Beck; the other
representing P. angulatum, and particularly remarkable for the round-
ness with which the dots are brought out.
The following letter was then read to the meeting :—
War DEPARTMENT, SURGEON-GENERAL’S OFFICE,
Mr. Jasrez Hoae, Wasuineton, D.C., April 23, 1870.
Dear Sir,—I have been reading with great interest the papers of
Dr. Pigott on the nature of the markings of certain test-objects, and
particularly of the Podura scale. The novel views he advances struck
me as so interesting that I at once began to re-examine the specimens
I had on hand. JI must confess that up to the present moment I have
been unable to satisfy myself of the correctness of his interpretation
of its phenomena; and yet the fact that he appears to have convinced
so distinguished a microscopist as the Rev. J. B. Reade, makes me
incline to caution in expressing my opinion.
I have had no difficulty in seeing the beaded appearance of the
Podura scale which he has described, “ green upon a pink ground, or
pink upon a greenish ground,”* or greenish blue or blue on a ground
ot various shades of red or the reverse, with various lenses, especially
the 1th of Wales and the immersion +),th of Powell and Lealand, by
taking out the condenser and illuminating the scale by a parallel
pencil of sunlight reflected by a plane mirror placed somewhat
obliquely about 20 inches from the stage. I know, however, of no
ethod of illuminating the microscope more likely to produce inter-
ference phenomena, and should have set the appearance down as such
without hesitation but for the high authorities to which I have alluded.
As just intimated, the colour of the pseudo beads varied from green
to blue on the one hand, to pink or deep red on the other; and this
appearance appeared to me to depend simply on the degree of colour-
correction of the objective used, and corresponded to phenomena
observed with the same lens on other objects. Still I do not wish to
come to a premature conclusion, and write you with the hope that you
can obtain for me from Dr. Pigott two or three slides with scales in
which he has seen himself the appearance he has described. I should
like to make a careful examination of the matter, but desire to feel
sure that I am dealing with scales from the same species of insect,
since this has been made such a point.
Since Mr. Pigott has politely alluded to certain photographs of the
Podura scale made under my supervision some time ago, I enclose
some made by myself since reading his paper, which show what I con-
ceive to be the true appearance of the scale. I should like very much
to see a photograph representing Dr. Pigott’s views in a manner satis-
factory to himself, but fear this is asking too much, unless indeed my
distinguished friend Dr. Maddox can be induced to undertake the
task. I also enclose a photograph I have just made of the Angulatum
scale, which exhibits still more distinctly the structure shown by the
* ‘Monthly Microscopical Journal,’ December, 1869, p. 300.
Tain PROCEEDINGS OF SOOIETIES. 325
photographs, made under my supervision, which I contributed to the
Microscopical Society some time since.
Will you not, my dear sir, read this letter and exhibit the accom-
panying photographs at the next meeting of the Microscopical Society ?
I have the honour to be, -
Very respectfully,
J. J. Woopwarp,
Assist.-Surgeon and Brevet Lt.-Col. U.S.A.
Mr. Slack remarked that the effects produced by Dr. Pigott had
no connection whatever with the mode of illumination adopted by
Dr. Woodward. Dr. Woodward’s method of removing the condenser
and using the direct light of the sun reflected through the object was
objectionable, as it was well known that if a blaze of light is sent
into the microscope false appearances are exhibited. Dr. Pigott’s
mode of illuminating is entirely different. He can show the per-
formance of the finest objective of Powell and Lealand’s in the ordi-
nary way; and by introducing an apparatus of his own, for correcting
residuary aberration, the definition of known objects is improved, and
the beadings of the Poduwra scale are immediately seen. He had spent
along evening with Dr. Pigott, who had performed a number of experi-
ments with lenses which left no doubt on his (Mr. Slack’s) mind that
the best of them produce spherical aberrations.
A very striking experiment was made by converting the micro-
scope into a telescope, and viewing with the objective to be tested
artificial double stars ingeniously contrived by Dr. Pigott, and con-
sisting of minute discs of light, the diameters and interspaces of which
were both known. A badly-corrected glass would not divide them at
all, and a well-corrected glass of Powell and Lealand’s, which just
divided them, gave smaller discs and larger interspaces—thus coming
much nearer true definition—when Dr. Pigott’s correcting apparatus
was introduced.
Mr. J. Beck inquired whether Dr. Pigott had used a simple glo-
bule of quicksilver in order to correct the faults that arise from
spherical aberration, and whether in his method of illumination either
outward or inward coma was apparent ; and also whether the rings of
light expand evenly, or whether they expand on one side of the focus
only.
Ar. Slack said that Dr. Pigott had used globules of mercury, but
did not consider them so severe a test as others he had devised; as it
was well known to mathematicians that these globules were not per-
fectly spherical, and they were not illuminated by direct light.
The President wished to confirm Mr. Slack’s observations upon
Dr. Pigott’s discoveries. In answer to Mr. Beck, he stated that
Dr. Pigott does show bright points of light in concentric rings on
both sides of the focus. Other experiments clearly prove that he does
very materially diminish spherical aberration. The flame of a lamp,
for instance, under a really good object-glass, is seen to be surrounded
with a halo of light ; but as soon as the “aplanatic searcher” is intro-
326 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES, — [Monthly Microscoplcal
duced by Dr. Pigott between the eye-piece and the object-glass, the
image is as clear, bright, and definite as when the flame is seen with
the naked eye. This he considered a very satisfactory proof of the
diminution of spherical aberration. It was known that he (the Presi-
dent) doubted at first the accuracy of Dr. Pigott’s interpretation of
the Podura scale; and that he could not feel perfectly convinced
until he had satisfied himself that the representations were those of
the true test-scale, by examining some of his own test-objects by Dr.
Pigott’s method. He now, however, believed that Dr. Pigott had
conclusively proved that the beads so distinctly visible under Dr.
Pigott’s arrangement are characteristics of the scale. He (the
President) thought that the method of illumination employed by
Dr. Woodward could hardly lead to a correct representation, as had
been stated by Mr. Slack. Dr. Pigott’s whole arrangement is totally
different, and leaves the impression on the mind that what the eye has
seen does in reality exist.
Mr. Beck said the remark made with regard to the want of true
sphericity in globules of mercury had no force as against his advocacy
of their use for correcting aberration. The value of the test consisted
in the ease with which a simple globule could be separated into
minuter globules, each of which had the capacity of reflecting a point
of light.
The President said that small points of light used by Dr. Pigott
were equivalent to small globules of quicksilver.
Mr. Lee then read a paper of Dr. Bowerbank’s, of which notice
had been given at the previous meeting.
The thanks of the meeting were presented to Dr. Bowerbank.
Mr. Holmes then read a paper describing an invention of his own,
by which, through the use of two object-glasses, or two halves of
object-glasses, a binocular and stereoscopic view of opaque and trans-
parent objects can be obtained; and also a means of producing, by
certain mechanical appliances, such motion of the optical parts of the
instrument, and such combinations, as shall secure at the will of the
operator either binocular or monocular vision.
After some time had been devoted to the examination of the
instruments exhibited by Mr. Holmes, Mr. Brooke said he thought
that it would be a matter of extreme difficulty to obtain the necessary
accuracy of centering with halves of lenses only, and that it would be
impossible with high powers, say with anything above 4-inch, with
halves of lenses only to give a good definition.
Mr. Slack believed that Mr. Holmes had greatly exaggerated the
defects of definition with the Wenham prisms. A first-rate instrument
showed difficult test-objects nearly as well when the prism was used as
without it. It also appeared to him that optical errors of diffraction
must be introduced by the plan of using halves of lenses. He doubted
the possibility of effecting the perfect division and centering of high
powers.
After some further discussion on this subject, the President said
that it appeared to be the general impression that Mr. Holmes had
produced an instrument capable of giving a perfectly stereoscopic
Monthly Microscopical] = PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 327
view of an object, but that the definition was faulty, which was excus-
able in amateur work. There could be no doubt that the mechanical
arrangements were most admirable.
The President also stated that before he adjourned the meeting he
wished to allude to the statement in his Address that Dr. Woodward
was the only observer who had succeeded in resolving Nobert’s 19th
band, containing 112,688 lines to the inch, with a power of 1000
linear. Mr. Charles Stodder, of Boston, had however preceded Dr.
Woodward in resolving this band, as appears in the ‘ Monthly Micro-
scopical Journal’ for May. In this letter Mr. Stodder has directed
our attention to a paper from himself, “On Nobert’s Test-Plate,”
published in the ‘Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science’ for
July, 1868. This paper having been published in our vacation had
been overlooked, otherwise he (the President) would have gladly
relieved Mr. Stodder’s mind from any suspicion of unfair dealing by
giving the following quotation :—“ With Tolles’ 3th immersion,
angular aperture 170°, B eye-piece, power 550, Mr. Greenleaf and
myself both saw the 19th band satisfactorily. Thus being probably
the first ever to see lines of 112,000 to the inch, and establishing the
fact of the visibility of such lines, contrary to the theory of the
physicists.” Hereby Mr. Stodder, as well as Dr. Woodward, had
supplied “a strong fact in favour of the immersion system,” which
was the real point in question; though at the same time it should be
borne in mind that Colonel Woodward in his communication to the
Society had thrown some doubt as to the nature of the lines seen but
not counted by Mr. Stodder. The President added that Mr. Stodder
seemed to have forgotten that Messrs. Harrison and Sollett, of Hull,
were the first to discover and describe the Navicula acus, which has
made “the acus” a familiar term in England.
The meeting then adjourned to June 8th, when Mr. J. W. Stephen-
son, F.R.A.S., will exhibit and describe a New Form of Binocular
Microscope, and Mr. James Bell, of the Laboratory, Somerset House,
will read a paper, “Experiments on Fermentation and Parasitic
Fungi.”
Donations to the Library from April 13th to May 11th, 1870 :—
From
Land and Water. Weekly shee ew eel 9s Swe! ws | itor,
Society of Arts Journal. Weekly .. «. «6 «1 « +. Society,
Nature. Weekly .. .. + 0+ 00 2» 08 00 «© 8 Lditor.
Scientific Opinion, Part XVIII. Editor.
Set of Proof Impressions from the Plates illustrating Mr.
Suffolk’s Lectures to the Quekett Club .. Se eee
The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society :—
John Graham Berry, Esq.
Rev. Charles Burrows.
W. T. Suffolk, Esq.
Water W. REEvEs,
Assist.-Secretary.
Monthly Mi ical
( 328 ) [“Sournat, Sune 1, 1370.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Recherches sur le Systéme latéral du Nerf pneumogastrique des
Poissons. Résumé d’Anatomie. Par le Docteur J. S. Fort, Professeur
libre d’Anatomie. Avec 73 figures dans le texte. Paris. Delahaye.
Nouveaux Eléments de Botanique, contenant lOrganographie,
l’Anatomie, la Physiologie végétale et les Caractéres de toutes les
Familles naturelles. Par Achille Richard. Paris. Savy.
Mémoires de la Société Linéenne du Nord de la France. Amiens,
Lenoel Hérouart.
Recherches sur les Crustaces d’eau douce de Belgique. Par M. F.
Plateau. II’. et IIT’. parties. Bruxelles.
Matériaux pour la faune Belge: Crustaces isopodes terrestres. Par
M. F. Plateau. Bruxelles.
Die Stammverwandtschaft zwischen Ascidien und Wirbelthieren.
Nach Untersuchungen uéber die Entwicklung der Ascidia canina von
Herrn ©. Kupffer. Bonn Cohen & Sohn.
Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie von Herrn EH. Klebs.
Berlin. Hirschwald.
Untersuchungen aus dem Institute fiir Physiologie und Histologie
in Graz. Herausgegeben von A. Rollet. Leipzig. Engelmann.
Das Wachstum der Pflanzen von Herrn J. Knott. Landshut.
Thoman.
Urber den Ursprung und die Vermehrung der Bacterien. Von
Herrn 8. Polotebnow. Wien. Gerold’s Sohn.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, June 1, 1870.
( 829 )
INDEX TO VOLUME III.
—_+—
A.
AsrcH, M., on the Structure of certain
Hailstones, 42.
Actinophrys, 320.
Address of the President of the Royal
Microscopical Society, 113.
Acassiz, Mr, A., on the Development of
Echini, 251.
Amoebee and Monads, 164.
Animal Life at Great Depths in the
Ocean, 319.
Animals: the Structure of the Muscles
in, 46.
Articulates: Recent Works on the Em-
bryology of, 255.
Ascidians and Vertebrates, the Relation
between them, 318.
B.
Batey,Cuas., Esq., on Pollen considered
as an Aid in the Differentiation of
Species, 94.
BatprAnt, M., on the Constitution of the
Ovum in Sacculine, 99.
Barrett, CHas., on a new Tube-dwell-
ing Stentor, 188.
Becuamp, A.,and A. Estor, MM., on the
Origin and Nature of Blood-globules,
162.
Ue 64, 112, 176, 224, 272,
328.
Biliary Ducts: the Termination of the.
By Dr. Sonmipt, 101.
BLANELEY’s, Mr. FREDK., New Revolv-
ing Stage and Tank Microscope, 209.
Blood-corpuscles : the Chemical Consti-
tution of the Nuclei of the. By Dr.
Brunton, 43.
as diagnostic of Species. By Pro-
fessor GULLIVER, 45.
in the Urine: the diagnostic Value
of, 253.
Blood-globules :
of, 1
BowERBANK, Dr., on the Structure of
the Siliceo-fibrous Sponges, 43.
— J.S8S., LL.D. Reminiscences of
the Early Times of the Achromatic
Microscope, 281.
the Nature and Origin
Brain Sections, Mounting of. By Dr.
Bastian, 49.
Branchiopoda,
208.
Bridgesia spicata, the Peculiar Out-
growths of. Dr, Masrmrs, 203.
Brownrne, Jonny, F.R.A.S., on a -
Method of Measuring the Position of
Absorption Bands with a Micro-spec-
troscope, 68.
Bryozoa, Fossil, 101.
Dr. Manzoni on, 251.
the Development of,
C.
Carpenter, Dr. W. B., Description of
some peculiar Fish’s Ova, 177.
on the Shell-structure of Fusu-
lina, 180.
—— on the Comparative Steadiness of
the Ross and the Jackson Microscope-
stands, 183.
—— on the Reparation of the Spines
of Echinida, 225.
CarruTHeErs, W., New Monograph, 324.
— on the Structure of the Stems of
the Arborescent Lycopodiaces of the
Coal Measures, 144.
—— on the Structure of Fossil Fern
Stems, 252.
Carter, Mr. H. J. On a new Species
of Protococeus, 42.
—— on the Development of Sorastrum,
2 pe A., on a Diaplasmatic
System of Vessels, 43.
Cells, Brass, Mr. T. W. WonFor, on,
51.
Cercarize, Parasitic on Lymnea Stag-
nalis. By Japrz Hooce, 232.
Cerebrum, the Ganglion-bodies of the,
318.
Chlorophyll Corpuscles, the Movement
of the, 99.
Clionia celata, the Afferent Canals in.
By M. Lron Variant, 100.
Clip, an Improved Spring. ByAW Ee:
MARSHALL, 47.
Conuins, CHas., on the Dissecting
Microscope, 104.
Committee, a Diatom, 210.
330
Cryptogamia, the Histology of the
Petiole in, 208.
Crystals, Microscopic, in Minerals. By
Mr. I. Lea, 164.
—— in Gems, 253.
Cunirt, Caries, Observations on
some points in the Economy of
Stephanoceros and Melicerta, 240.
D.
Dancer, J. B., on the Microscopical
Structure of Milk, 36.
Darker’s Films, a New Method of using.
By Epw. Ricuarps, 186.
Dawson, Principal, on the Structure
and Affinities of Sigillaria, 319.
Definition, High-power, further Re-
marks on. By Dr, Roysron-Picorr,
M.A., 192.
— Remarks on High-power. By F.
H. Wenuan, 300.
on a New Critical Standard
Measure of the Perfection of High-
power. By Dr. Roysron - Picorr,
M.A., 305.
Dental Tissues, Staining of, 251.
Diamonds, Alge inclosed in, By Herr
Dr. Gorrert, 43.
Diaphragm, a Graduating, 321.
Diatomacese, Notes on. By Professor
A. M. Epwarps, 249.
— a History of British, 255.
—— the Irish, 322.
E.
Earth-worm, the Anatomy of the, 44.
Echini, the Development of. By Mr.
A. Aaassiz, 251.
Echinida, on the Reparation of the Spines
of. By W. B. Carpenter, M.D.,
225.
Epwarps, Professor A. M., Notes on
Diatomacez, 249.
Eozoon, the Structure of. By Professors
Rowney and Kine, 204.
Euphausia, the Larval State of, 44.
16
Fellow of the Royal Microscopical
Society, the Son of a late, 48.
Fern Stems, the Structure of Fossil. By
Mr. CarruTHErs, 252.
Fippian’s, Mr. Txos., New Method of
adjusting the Focus of Microscopes,
165.
INDEX.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, June 1, 1870.
Fishes, the Lateral Line in. By Herr
F. Scuutrz, 44.
new Minute Bones in.
fessor GULLIVER, 45.
Fish’s Ova, a Description of some pecu-
liar. By W. B. Carpenter, M.D.,
F.RS., 177.
Foraminifera of the Genus Trocham-
mina, By Messrs. Rupert JonEs,
&e., 42.
—— obtained during Dr. CarPenrEr’s
last Expedition, 253.
Foster, Dr. Micuant, 321.
Fungi, Microscopie, the Cultivation of.
By R. L. Mappox, M.D., 14.
— and Disease, 255.
— Parasitics, 322.
Fusulina, on the Shell-structure of. By
W. B. Carrenter, M.D., F.RS.,
180.
By Pro-
G.
Gems, Microscopie Crystals in, 253.
Germ Theory, the, 322
Glands, Termination of the Nerves in,
319.
GéprerT, Herr Dr., on Algz enclosed
in Diamonds, 43.
Gorgonacez, on the Caleareous Spicula
of. By Wm. 8. Kent, F.Z.8., &., 76.
Granpky, M., on Nitrate of Silver as
seat in Microscopic Investigations,
100.
GreEeNnLEAF, Mr. R. C., on the Resolu-
fon of Nobert’s Nineteenth Band,
259.
Gregarina gigantea of the Lobster, 47.
GuLLIveR, Professor, on Blood-corpus-
cles as diagnostic of Species, 45.
, on some new minute Bones in
Fishes, 45.
H.
Hacen, Dr. H., on Professor Listing’s
Recent Optical Improvements in the
Microscope, 96.
Hailstones, Structure of. By M. Asicu,
42,
Hairs, Vegetable, 51. -
Henstey, Dr., on the Muscular Fibres
of the Ventricles, 43.
Heterogeny, Jottings by a Student of.
By Mercaure Jonnson, M.R.CS., 25.
Histology, Stricker’s Handbook of, 49.
Hoae, Jabez, on Cercarix, 232.
Hotmes, Samvuet, the New Binocular
Microscope, 273.
Houxuey’s, Professor, Classification of
Animals, 50.
Monthly Microscopical”
Journal, June 1, 1870.
J
Icicles in Plant Cells, 203.
Infusions, Mineral, Organisms in. By
C. STANILAND WAKE, 6.
Infusoria, a Contribution to the Tera-
tology of. By J. G. Tatvem, 194.
Insects, the Development of, 45.
J.
Jounson, Mrroatrr, M.R.CS., Jottings.
By a Student of Heterogeny, No. IL.,
25.
on Ponceane, or Aniline Red, as a
Substitute for Carmine in Microscopic
Colouring, 167.
, on the Development of Monas
Lens, 195.
Jones, Rupert, on Foraminifera of the
Genus Trochammina, 42.
K.
Kenneort, Professor A., on the Micro-
scopical Structure of Meteorites, 42.
Kent, Wm. 8. on the Culcareous
Spicula of the Gorgonacez: their
Modification of Form, &e., 76.
bp
Lea, Mr. Isaac, on Microscopic Crystals
in Minerals, 164.
Leptothrix and Vibrio Bacillus, 163.
Lister, the late Joseru Jackson, F.R.S.,
&c., Obituary Notice of. By Joszru
Lister, F.R.S., 134.
Loss, Evuis G., on Nobert’s Test Lines,
104.
Lycopodiacen, the Arborescent, of the
Coal Measures, on the Structure. of
the Stems of. By W. CarruTHErs,
V.LS., 144.
Lymphatics, the Investigation of the.
By Dr. G. Scuwasg, 44.
——, Rhythmical Contractions of, 45.
M.
McIntreg, 8. J., on the Structure of the
Scales of certain Insects of the Order
» Thysanura, 1.
MciIntosu, Dr. W. C., on the Stylet-
Region of the Ommatoplean Pro-
boscis, 65.
McNasz, Dr., the mode of Examining
the Microscopic Structure of Plants,
31, 154
INDEX.
331
Manppox, Dr. R. L., on the Cultivation
of Microscopic Fungi, 14.
Dr. R. L., on an Apparatus for
Collecting Atmospheric Particles,
281.
Magnesium and Electric Light as ap-
plied to Photo-niicrography. By Lieut.-
Col. Woopwarp, 290.
Manzoni, Signor, on Fossil Bryozoa,
101.
—, Dr., on Italian Fossil Bryozoa,
251
Marsuatr, W. P., on an Improved
Spring Clip, 47.
Masrts and Van Later, MM., Professors,
Experimental Researches on the
Anatomical aud Functional Regene-
ration of the Spinal Cord, 236.
MAaAskELYNE, Professor, the Microscope
in the Examination of Meteorites,
251.
Melicerta, Cuas. Cusirt on, 241.
Meteorites, the Microscope in the exa-
mination of. By Prot. MaskrLyne,
251.
, the Microscopical Structure of. By
Professor A. Kunneort, 42.
Microscope, how to choose, 49.
, Collins’s Erecting Dissecting. By
A. SwWINTARD, 52.
,on Professor Listrne’s recent
Opticalimprovements in, By Dr. H.
HaGan, 96. ;
and Camera combined, 102.
——, Collins’s Dissecting. By Cuas.
CoLuins, 103.
,a new Mcthod of adjusting the
Focus of. By Mr. Tos. Fippiay,
165.
—— Stands, on the Comparative Steadi-
ness of the Ross and the Jackson.
By W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.RS.,
183,
——, American. Recent Report of the
Judges on, 205.
, a New Binocular, 209.
——, a Revolving Stage and Tank. Mr.
F. BLanKLeEy’s, 209.
——, the New Binocular. By Samvurn
Houmrs, 2738.
New Binocular. Appendix to
SamvurL Hoximes’s Paper on, 277.
Reminiscences of
By Dr. Bowrr-
the Early Times of.
BANE, F.R.S., 281.
Microscopie Objects, a New Treatise on,
50.
Investigations, Nitrate of Silver as
an Aid in. By M. Granpy, 100.
Microscopists, Chemical, an Italian Prize
for, 49.
332
Microscopy in Dublin, 102.
Micro-spectroscope, Method of Measur-
ing the Position of Absorption Bands
with. By Jonn Brownine, F.R.AS.,
68.
Microtome, a New, 318.
Milk, on the Microscopical Structure of.
By J. B. Dancer, F.R.A.S., 36.
Mollusks, the Auditory Organs of Fresh-
water, 47.
Monas Lens, the Development of. By
MercatFe Jounson, M.R.C.S.E.,
195.
Morren, M. Ep., on the Cause of Vari-
ation in the Leaves of Plants, 99.
Movcuet, M., on a New Instrument for
cutting thin Sections of Wood, 75,
208.
Muscles in various Animals, the Struc-
ture of, 46.
N.
Navicula acus, WaureR W. REevEs on,
322.
Nerves in the Skin, the Termination of
the, 318.
Nobert’s Test-Lines, Extis G. Logg on,
104.
——, Dr. Royston-Picorr on, 305.
, Nineteenth Band, 254, 257, 259.
Norna, the Schooner-yacht, 323.
O.
Obituary Notice of the late JosrpH J AcK-
son Lister, F.R.S., 134.
Objective, a New (?) Combination, 321.
Ocean, Animal Life at Great Depths in
the, 319.
Ommatoplean Proboscis, on the Stylet-
Region of the. By W. C. McInrosx,
M.D., &e., 65.
Opaque Objects, ToLLEs’ New Method
of Illuminating under High Powers,
49,
Organisms, on the Colouring Matters
derived from the Decomposition of
some Minute. By H.C. Sorsy, F.R.S.,
229.
P.
Particles, Atmospheric, onan Apparatus
for Collecting. By R. L. Mappox,
M.D., 286.
Phenie Acid, the Growth of Organisms
in Contact with, 163.
Puiuuirs, Mr, J. A., on the Microscopic
Structure of Rocks, 166.
INDEX.
Monthly Microscopica!
Journal, June 1, 1870.
Photography and the Microscope, 49.
Photo-micrography, the Magnesium and
Electric Light as applied to. By
Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel J. J.
Woopwarp, U.S. Army, 290.
Physiology in Prague, the Chair of,
322.
Picort, Dr. Royston, on the Markings
on the Podura Scales, 13.
—- Royston, M.A., Further Remarks
on High-power Definition, 192.
—,, Dr. Royston, on a New Critical
Standard Measure of the Perfection
of High-power Definition as afforded
by Diatoms’ and Nobert’s Lines,
305.
Pinguicula, the Development of the
Flower in, 208.
Plants, the Mode of Examining the
Microscopic Structure of. By W. R.
MoNas, M.D.E., 31, 154.
— the Cause of Variation in the
Leaves of. By M. E, Morren, 99.
Cells, Icicles in, 203,
Podura Scale, the Markings on. By
G. Royston-Pieort, M.D., 13.
Pollen; considered as an Aid in the
Differentiation of Species. By Cas.
Batey, Esq., 94.
Ponceane, or Aniline Red, in Micro-
scopic Colouring. By MerrTcaLre
JOHNSON, 167.
President of the Royal Microscopical
Society, the Address of, 113.
Prize, an Histological Entomological,
208.
Prizes, Belgian, open to Microscopists,
207.
Proboscis, Ommatoplean, on the Stylet-
Region of the. By W. C. McIyrosu,
M.D., 65. .
Protococeus, a New Species of. By Mr.
H. J. Carrer, 42.
Q.
Quekett Club, the Journal of, 49, 108.
R.
Reeves, WALTER W., on Navicula acus,
322.
- Ricnarps, Epwarp, on a New Method
of using Darker’s Films, 186.
Rocks, the Microscopic Structure of.
By Mr. J. A. Pumaires, 166.
Rotifera, Observations on the, 44.
Rowney and Krye, Professors, on the
Structure of Eozoon, 204.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, June 1, 1870.
s.
Sacculine, the Constitution of the
Ovum in. By M. Baxprant, 99.
— the Egg of, 253.
Sanpers, Atrrep, M.R.C.S., on an
Undescribed Stage of Development
of Tetrarhynchus Corollatus, 72.
Scumipr, Dr. H. D., on the Termination
of the Biliary Ducts, 101.
Sigillaria, the Structure and Affinities
of. By Principal Dawson, 319.
Silkworm Culture, the Microscope in,
208.
Skin, Termination of the Nerves in the,
45, 318.
Societies, New Microscopical, 48.
Society, a New American Natural His-
tory and Microscopical, 321.
SomeERVILLE's, Mrs., Work on Molecular
and Microscopic Science: a New
Edition of, 208.
Sorastrum, the Development of. By
Mr, H. J. Carter, 42.
Sorsy, H. C., F.R.S., on the Colouring
Matters derived from the Decom-
position of some Minute Organisms,
229,
Spectroscopic Examination of Coloured
Fluids. By H. R. Lankester, 43.
Spinal Cord, Experimental Res: arches
on the Anatomical and Functional
Regeneration of the. By MM. Masrus
and Van Latr, Professors in the Uni-
versity of Liege, 236.
Sponges, the Structure of the Siliceo-
fibrous. By Dr. BowrnrBank, 43.
Sponges or Worms, 132.
Spontaneous Generation, the Theory of,
254.
Stentor, a New Tube-dwelling. By
Cuas. Barrert, M.R.C.S., 188.
Stentor Barretti, 191.
Stephanoceros, Observations on some
points in the Economy of. By Cuas.
Cusirt, A.I.C.E., 240.
SropprerR, Mr. Cuas., on the Resolu-
tion of Nobert’s Nineteenth Band,
257.
Suppuration, the Mechanism of, 164.
Srwntarp, Dr. A., on Collins’s Erecting
Dissecting Microscope, 52.
Aw
Tarem, J. G., a Contribution to the
Teratology of Infusoria, 194.
Teratology, Microscopic, 165.
Tetrarhynchus Corollatus, on an Unde-
scribed Stage of Development of. B
ALFRED SanpeErRS, M.R.C.S., &c.,
72.
INDEX.
333
Thysanura, the Structure of the Scales
of. By 8. J. McInrinxz, 1.
Totes’ New Method of Illuminating
Opaque Objects under High Powers,
49,
U:
Urine, the Diagnostic Value of Blood-
corpuscles in the, 253.
Wi
Vaginicola, a New. By Mr. F. J. Warner,
165.
Ventricles, the Muscular Fibres of the.
By Dr. Hens.ey, 43.
Vertebrates, Structure of the Central
Nervous System of, 319.
Vessels, a Diaplasmatic System of. By
Dr. T. A. Carter, 43.
Vorticella, the Relation of, to Acti-
nophrys, 320.
W.
Wake, C. Sranmuanpd, on Organisms in
Mineral Infusions, 6.
Warner, Mr. F. J., on a New Vagini-
cola, 165.
Welsh Fasting Girl. The Microscope
in the Case of the, 209.
Wenuam, F. H., Remarks on High-
power Definition, 300.
Wonror, Mr. T. W., on Brass Cells, 51.
Wood, Thin Sections of, on a New Instru-
ment for Cutting. By M. Movucaer,
75.
Woopwarp, Lieut.-Col., on the Mag-
nesium and Electric Light as applied
to Photo-micrography, 290.
—— Dr. J. J., Remarks on Dr. Pigott’s
Papers, 326.
Woopwarp’s, Dr., Article in No, 12 of
this Journal, 50, 103. —
New Books, witH SHort Novices.
Cell-doctrine: its History and Present
State, &c. By Jamzs Tyson, M.D.,
316.
Das Mikroskop und Seine Anwendung.
Von Herrn H. Hager, 41.
Der Bau des Menschlichen Korpers,
&e. Von Dr. C. Ausy, 41.
Handbuch der Lehre von den Geweben
des Menschen und der Thiere Heraus-
gegeben, Von Prof. Stricker, 41.
8384
Protoplasm ; or Life, Matter, and Mind.
By Lionet 8. Beary, M.B., F.R.S.
2nd edition. 316. ay
Recherches sur la composition et la
signification de V(#iuf, basées sur
l’étude de son mode de formation et
des premiers Phénoménes Embryo-
naires. Par E. V. Breneprn, Docteur
en Sciences Naturelles, Bruxelles.
317.
The Anatomy and Physiology of the
Blow-fly (Musca Vomitoria). By B.
T. Lownz, M.R.CS., 40.
Untersuchungen zur normalen und
Pathologischen Anatomie der Fro-
schaut. Von Herrn D. Eserrn, 41.
Zeitschrift fiir Parasitenkunde. Von
Dr. Ernst HAuuier. 317.
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.
Aberdeen Microscopical Society, 223.
American Microscopical Society, 208.
END OF
INDEX.
Monthly Microscopical
Journal, June 1, 1870.
Birmingham Natural History and Mi-
croscopical Society, 59-110.
Brighton and Sussex Natural History
Society, 61, 109, 173, 270.
Bristol Microscopical Society, 109, 174.
Croydon Microscopical Club, 255.
Illinois State Microscopical Society, 63.
Liverpool Microscopical Society, 222.
Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society, 57, 59, 107, 172, 216.
Manchester Microscopical Section of the
Lower Mosley Street Schools Natural
History Society, 108.
Old Change Microscopical Society, 102,
165, 175.
Oldham Microscopical Society, 174.
Quekett Microscopical Club, 55, 170,
215, 268. 4 Ve
Reading Microscopical Society, 60, 108,
1738, 223.
Royal Microscopical Society, 52, 105,
167, 211, 260, 264, 323.
Tunbridge Wells Microscopical Society,
110, 174, 223, 271.
VOLUME IIl.
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