HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



97 



THE MICROSCOPE AND FINE ART. 



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T is obvious from 

 Mr. Suffolk's pa- 

 per, in the March 

 number, that he 

 has not quite 

 caught the idea of 

 a microscopical 

 drawing, as a 

 work of thehighest 

 possible finish, or, 

 as a graphic de- 

 lineation where 

 the subject has 

 been laboriously 

 worked up, like a 

 miniature, to a 

 point, when it be- 

 comes " art." The 

 old notion, of equi- 

 distant lines ruled 

 on glass, placed 

 in the fccus of an eye-piece, to correspond with 

 lines drawn on the paper to guide the position of 

 an object, is practical to the extent of enlarging a 

 subject, even to the dimensions of a diagram, or for 

 measurements — but, for a highly-finished painting 

 of some semi-transparent or opalescent subject, such 

 a method of fixing positions cannot be employed— 

 the pencilled " squares" on the paper are difficult to 

 erase, and you can never permit any " rubbing out " 

 on paper designed for tender drawing and delicate 

 colouring — so, for preliminary outlines we must fall 

 back upon the old Wollaston Lucida giving double 

 reflection, the sketch coinciding with the object, when 

 afterwards seen by direct vision, which the delusive 

 neutral glass tint reflection does not effect. 



It is possible, the style of drawing suggested in the 

 January number was not sufficiently explained — the 

 plates, illustrating the works of Owen, Quekett, 

 Bowerbank, and the earlier volumes of the society's 

 Transactions are familiar to the writer, who can 

 therefore appreciate the value of the purely scientific 

 work both with the pencil and the graver ; but, beyond 

 this, there is microscopical painting, something 

 in advance of technicality, in fact, touching the 

 domain of fine art. 



No. 209. — May 1882. 



There are at least three well-defined characteristics 

 of microscopical drawing, the purely scientific repre- 

 sentations of tissues, when powerful objectives are, 

 with rare skill, used to explore as it were the very 

 penetralia of organic structure ; then a style, most 

 engaging, rapid, 'decisive ; memoranda, if you will, 

 but vastly useful, the result of a plan young 

 microscopists should adopt, of having constantly by 

 the side of the instrument a block of drawing or 

 cartridge-paper, and boldly, without hesitation or the 

 aid of lucida, jotting down and washing in with colour 

 things unexpectedly turning up, generally life. The 

 drawings which Mr. Bolton distributes with his tubes 

 of organisms are excellent examples of this bold and 

 ready style of sketching ; in this way living desmids 

 may be watched and noted, the subdivision of micras- 

 terias may be observed at intervals, and recorded in a 

 rough, but not the less graphic way, and such are valu- 

 able as being direct impressions of the mind. Drawing 

 as an aid to investigation has been neglected. It is 

 positively certain that many phases in the life history 

 of minute plants and animals have been seen and passed 

 over, well deserving the record of even'a rough sketch. 

 No microscopist with any idea of building up and 

 retaining an experience should work without either 

 pencil or pen, but beyond this tentative work is finished 

 " art." Why should not the microscopist in such a 

 matter emulate the best painters of ' ' still life " ? Such 

 transcripts from the instrument may not reach the 

 status of "scientific value," but these efforts do not 

 degrade its use, the polypidum of a zoophyte must 

 surely be as elevating and as interesting a subject 

 as a peacock's feather, a jay's wing, or a cut lemon — 

 but personal feeling has its influence, for no occupa- 

 tion can be more absorbing or more fascinating than 

 obtaining fair representations of fine objects as seen 

 through the magical tubes. 



It may be said — that every one has not the ability 

 to do, or to produce such things ! But, it is im- 

 possible to conceive any mind, led by natural in- 

 clinations to contemplate the revelations of the 

 microscope, destitute of taste, or of an appreciation 

 of beauty of the highest order. The culture of the eye, 

 as exercised by the use of the instrument, is the very 

 touchstone of art sensibility ; and young beginners 

 may be comforted with the solid fact that practice 



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