Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-22
A NIGHT w1TH THE MICROSCOPES.
Interesting Things Seen and Heard at the
Microscopical Society's Soiree.

Interesting Things Seen and Heard at the
Microscopical society's soiree.
Queer things and odd things, and dead things
and squirming things, and pretty things and
ugly things, and all sorts Of things, in short
were shown to the wondering gaze of 500 peo-
pie last night in one Of the corridors of the
High School under the influence of high-pow.
cred microscopes aided by the light Of two OF
three dozen oil lamps 1t was the annual ex-
hibit of the Microscopical Society Of this city,
which held its seventh yearly soirss in the
building. According to custom the anniversary
was begun by an address to the audience, as
sembled in the lecture hall Of the school, by the
president OF the society, DR.. Thos. Taylor who
was introduced by the vice president, DR.. c. H.
Stowell, In few neat words Of praise for the ad-
vanced work done by this eminent microscopic
DIR. Taylor's address dealt with the progress of
the science and the practical results achieved
wonderful spread Of the work, indicated by the
TACT that twenty years ago there was scarcely q
single instrument In general use, whereas there
are now Thousands being utilised in an effort to
pry into the secrets of nature. He spoke e.
pecially OF his own work in practical micro
scopy In the line of investigation of animal fats
with especial reference to the detection Of
impurities In butter and lard, and he gave
some simple rules for the detection of
stearins in lard and Of oleomargarine. His
advice was to boil lard and spread some on a
glass slide. II IL be pure the coat will be per-
fectly smooth-an even cloud-but II there be
any compound within it its presence will be in
dicated by the presence Of white spots. The
same wiz be true of butter but there Is . better
test for this The suspected substance should
be boiled and carefully strained through o
CLOTH IL 1t be pure and fresh the result will
be perfectly odorless, but IL there be impuri-
ties one will not want to smell at the straining
cloth twice. These rules, Of course, he went on
to say, have nothing to do with the microscope,
which develops the tests further and shows that
the white spots on the glass are crystals. The
microscopical examination of the crystals Of
butter and lard show some beautiful results,
and DR.. Taylor proceeded to show some Of
these on the screen with the aid of q lantern.
The colors were beautiful showing character
istlcs Of the various fats. The coloring, DR..
Taylor went on to explain, was due to the eff
feet OF polarized light. which was used in order
to give greater definition TO the outlines of the
crystals and to bring out certain inherent
Qualities that exist in them Under similar
circumstances the same crystal will, under the
same sort of light, give the same colors. There
Is characteristic appearance about the crys-
tails OF fats that enables the investigator to rec
ognize the nature of the fat at glance. Sew
eral different specimens were shown, which DR..
Taylor announced in turn as being cat fat,
horse fat, short-horn beef fat, dog fat and,
finally, human fat.
THE ExurBrrroN.
When the exhibition was concluded the au-
dience adjourned to the corridors of the first
floor. where there was long line of tables, on
which the oil lamps shone and the polished
tubes OF the microscopes glistened and around
which the people crowded for two hours in an
effort to see the strange things there exhibited
The exhibits were as follows: Section of
human lung. Zeiss; nailers lung, Hartnack; DR..
q. n. Acker. TrichinR, Bausch and Lomb; Dr.
Walter w. Alleger. Stomach Of turtle, Gent
mayer, Theological; DIR. Z. A. Balloch. Tumor
OF brain, Zentmayer, astrological; pathological
specimens, Zentmayer, large; knife carrier,
Dr.. 1: W. Blackburn. Various tissues Of plants,
showing their structure; six Bauseh and Lomb,
model and special forms; Prof. E. s. Burgess
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, Bausch and Lomb; Dr.. c.
L. Caldwell. Transverse section ostrich egg
shell, Bausch and Lomb; DR.. A. B. Coolidge.
lrichlna, Bausch and Lomb; DIR. Cooper Cur
tice; Brazilian beetle. Bausch and Lomb, special
DR.. II. A. Dobson. Section of finger, Bausch and
Lomb, universal; Walter c. Duff. Circulation
Of blood in fish, Crouch; H. II. Doubleday
Foraminifera, Bausch and Lomb, college, DIR.
j. NJ. Flint Quartz crystals between mica,
polariscope, Bausch and Lomb; infusoria,
polariscope, Bausch and Lomb; Richard Fos-
ter. Polycystlna. Beck, ideal; Pond life, Bausch
and Lomb; DIR. E. A. Gibbs. Ameba, Bausch
and Lomb; John Grinsted. Skin of frog in
jected, Bauseh and Lomb, model; ciliated
epithelium of oyster, Bsusch and Lomb, model;
DR.. d. 3. Lamb. Tubercle bacilli, phthisis, I-6
objective, Bausch and Lomb, universal the
same after treatment with Koch's lymph,
Bauseh and Lomb, Harvard; DIR. j. Melvin
Lamb. Crystallized gold, queens acme, No. 8;
Dr.. Collins Marshall Typhoid fever bacilli.
showing aagslla, Zeiss, No. i, DIR. v. A. Moore.
Ethyl gallate, polariscope, Seibert; Lewis
Mooers. Seed vessel Of poppy, Beck, popular;
DIR. 5. J. Radcliffe. Eggs water snail, lymnia
stagnalis, Beck, popular; bouquet of flowers,
queen household: DR.. Robert Reyburn. Tongue
of rabbit, Reiehert; DR.. II. A. Robbins Tran
section Of bone showing Haversian canals, Gent
mayer, astrological; DIR. C. ". Richardson.
Pond life, Bausch and Lomb, concentric; DIR.
VIM. II. Seaman. Circulation of blood in frog,
Zentmayer, astrological, A. n Skinner Potas-
SUM chlorate, polariscope; G. W. Smiley. Sec
ton human scalp, Beck, ideal; DIR. c. II. Stow
ell. Section Of granite, polariscope, Bausch
and Lomb, investigator; embryo Of chick,
thirty-six hours incubation, Harvard; j. NJ.
Stsdman, b. s. Pure and compound lard.
Large Zeiss, Bulloch, &C.; DIR. Thomas Tay-
lor. Common flea, Bausch and Lomb, univsr-
sal; j. VI. iznaga. Banded agate, polariscope,
Bausch and Lomb, professional; +. I. Chap
man. Section Of spinal cord (human), Gent
mayer, astrological; E. b. Seibert.