34 now TO WORK 



It is beyond the power of language to describe the characters 

 of many structures in such a way that their appearance could be 

 reproduced in the mind of another, and even if this could be 

 done, so wonderfully delicate and minute are the observed differences 

 in many cases, that any attempt to classify and arrange our observa- 

 tions, without drawings, would be hopeless, and must become more 

 impossible in proportion as observations multiply ; while the different 

 meaning which different persons attach to the same words and 

 phrases, introduces another difficulty in our attempt to collate and 

 deduce inferences from the observations which have been made. 



Now surely, at this present time, our knowledge would have been 

 much more extensive as well as more accurate, if instead of long 

 descriptions we had been furnished with accurate drawings of the 

 minute structure. It is true that all persons cannot draw well, but 

 a very little patience will enable any one to copy a microscopical 

 specimen. An accurate copy, although it be very roughly executed, 

 has an aspect of truth which is unmistakeable, while a drawing which 

 is the offspring of the imagination instead of a simple copy of 

 nature, bears the mark of untruth in every line, however elaborate 

 and unexceptionable its execution may be. Errors of observation 

 are, I am convinced, much more easily detected in a drawing than 

 in verbal description. A mistake or misinterpretation expressed in a 

 drawing can, and at length must be, corrected by subsequent obser- 

 vation, while ill-observed or misinterpreted facts, cloaked in obscure 

 language, may be propagated for years, and no matter how false they 

 are, it may be very difficult to refute them. I would, therefore, urge 

 upon every one the importance of making drawings at whatever cost 

 of time and labour ; it is worth any sacrifice to do really good work, 

 and if every observer could but record a few accurate delineations 

 of structure during his life, the result of the united labour of those 

 now working would be very great. 



I would also strongly urge upon observers the importance of at 

 once agreeing upon some general plan of delineating objects, so that 

 our observations may be useful to all, while the task of those who 

 will hereafter have to arrange and deduce conclusions from our work 

 will be much facilitated. The value of many beautiful drawings 

 would be greatly increased if a scale of tooths or joooths of an 

 inch was appended to them, and the magnifying power of the 

 object-glass stated. This would not have added five minutes to the 

 time required for the task, while it would have rendered the drawings 

 comparable with others. In some, the magnifying power is not even 

 mentioned, and in others there is reason to believe it has been 

 wrongly computed. Every one who copies an object should state 



