Doncaster Microscopical and General Scientific Society
The Rev Canon Brock (President) in the chair. These were also present, the Rev W. R. Weston & Mr. Withington (Vice Presidents) and eighteen other members. 1
In his opening remarks the President alluded to the great gratification it afforded him to be present at the first meeting of the Society which appeared to be an eminently successful one. On entering the room he was quite struck with the array of instruments on the table, and doubted not, that with such appliances much valuable work would be done. The formation of this Society had given him great pleasure and it was a very satisfactory thing that in Doncaster a means had been provided of engaging in a study so elevating to the mind & by which such an insight into the work of God could be obtained as by the microscope. If the discovery of the telescope had given evidence of the insignificance of our own planet as compared with other worlds the subsequential discovery of the microscope had quite compensated for this by revealing the marvelous beauty of almost everything around & beneath us. He thanked the members for placing him in the position of president, and he should take care to be present when possible.
He then upon Mr. Stiles to read his paper on “The microscope and how to use it”.
Mr. Stiles (secretary), in his opening remarks, spoke of the satisfactory progress made by the society since its establishment three weeks ago, thirty members having already joined. He then described the construction of the microscope, He then described the construction of the microscope, noticing in detail the uses of each part, and the best mode of arranging the various pieces of apparatus for securing good results during observations. Stages & Condensers of different forms were shown, and their peculiarities pointed out. The process of measuring minute objects and of sketching minute objects were also alluded to.
In the second part of his paper Mr. Stiles entered into a general and interesting description of the method of mounting opaque objects, more especially those large enough to require the protection of a cell.
The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to Mr. Stiles.
We understand that the subject will be resumed at the next meeting on the 17th inst.
Note 1
The top part of the cutting was torn away, so the initial paragraph has been reconstructed from the minute book.