CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 7, 8 June 1883, Page 23

CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

_ . , .„. „ Christchurch, June 2. THE members of the Literary Society were treated on Monday evenIng, May 28, to another of the lectures, promised by the President, the subject selected on this occasion being an examination of various objects through the microscope. There were five of these instruments used. The objects being placed, the lecturer explained their property, construction, and other peculiarities whilst the members proceeded on their examination. The first object was the petal of a Deutsia flower which, when seen by the naked eye bad nothing in it to attract attention, but when viewed through the microscope presented to the observer a cluster of beautiful sparkling stars, which are made up of silica or flint, which the plant has the property of drawing up from the ground. The hairs on the back of a very common fern were under the next glass. Most people are acquainted with the brownish coloured moss found covering the earth on a flower pot, which they would consider to be the last thing having beauty in it. This moss throws up a number of stalks, each bearing a bulb which ends in a cap ; under this cap are a number of fine teeth, in the centre of them being some very delicate net work. All this, save the outlines of the bulb, is not visible to the naked eye, but presents a very pretty sight, even through the microscope. A curious shaped worm-like plant was displayed under the fourth instrument whilst under the fifth were the scales on the wing of an) Australian butterfly, some brown and others a bright blue, hanging similar to tiles on a house. The members having folly examined those objects, they were replaced, by another set. This consisted of the spine of a starfish the shelfc of oyster Bpawn, a part of a Brazilian beetle, which was described as the most gorgeous object possible to imagine. Anyone having seen it will agree with me that "gorgeous" is not a word half strong enough to express it beauties. The pollycystina is a little animal almost too small to be seen by the unaided vision ; it is to be found in most of the seas of the world, and is also to be met with in stones which have been at one time under water. By means of the microscope, it can be seen that it lives in a little shell of great variety and beauty, which is dotted all over with tiny holes, through which it puts forth its feelers to collect food. The next object was a little animal of the sea anemone family, made up of a number of cells, or chambers, each of which are found, when viewed through the microscope, to be full of spikules lying in all directions. These are for the purpose of strengthening the fcody of the animal, as it is generally found where the action of the sea is strongest. Another series shown were diatoms, which are a species of water plants, having all the seeding properties of animals, even to propelling themselves about in the water. These are found both in salt and fresh water, being of the most diverse and fantastic forms. They are not discernible to the naked eye, yet to such perfection has art arrived, that on some of the slides there were drawn out by lines of these, stars and geometrical figures, several o£ them being within a space of a third of an inch in diameter. The lectuie was most instructive and entertaining, being greatly enjoyed by those present, who by this means were enabled to form a conception of the workmanship, beauty, and uses of things, which "to our unaided visions, seem formless, colourless, and useless.