1^2 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



croscopist but we have gained the natur- 

 alist, the modern efficient professional 

 naturalist, and the modern populariza- 

 tion of nature interests. 



Our author concludes his excellent ar- 

 ticle with this sentence, "If this is done, 

 the coming generation will see the revi- 

 val of the good old microscopy, and the 

 revivication of the good old microsco- 

 pist." I believe we need to revive only 

 the zeal and devotion of the old time 

 microscopist and apply them to the use of 

 the microscope as one of the many aids 

 in being a naturalist. The building has 

 been erected ; now let us make it our 

 home. There are plenty of well devel- 

 oped microscope objectives, plenty of 

 well devised methods. Now let us have 

 the use, in nature, with the enthusiasm 

 and zeal of the old time microscopist. 



The Guide to Nature advocates not 

 the formation of clubs of amateur mi- 

 croscopists, but Chapters of nature stu- 

 dents who will freely use the microscope 

 or any other apparatus that will aid in 

 the knowledge and the love of nature. 



Special terms are only to distinguish 

 special things. When that thing be- 

 comes universal the special term is 

 dropped. Sir Isaac Newton may have 

 heard discussions of "gravitationists." 

 No one now is a "gravitationist," be- 

 cause all are in that list. The word 

 evolutionist is dying for tne same 

 reason. If a boy purchases a bicycle, do 

 we need to differentiate him as a bicy- 

 clist; or if a man purchases an automo- 

 bile, is he an automobilist? No. Those 

 machines of locomotion are too common 

 for that. 



So mourn not if the words by which 

 we used to designate an intellectual pur- 

 suit and its cultivator are nearly obso- 

 lete. Let us bury them, even if with 

 tears for the past, in the ground of com- 

 mon use. So, too, expel the term cam- 

 erist; as well say field-glass-ist, vascu- 

 lumist or net-ist. 



So long as people shall see, shall have 

 minds to "know and hearts to love, I have 

 not the slightest fear that the use of the 

 lens will become less in those phases of 

 nature where a lens is needed. 



The very commonness of microscopy 

 has made the term microscopist no long- 

 er necessarv. Common use as well as 

 disuse can make a term obsolete. We all 



have had our regrets, our tears — yes, 

 even The Guide to Nature its spas- 

 modic attempts at resuscitation. And 

 no one appreciates the pathos of it all 

 more than the editor ! 



We mourn for the death of amateur 

 microscopy and for that of microscopy 

 of any kind. 



Let us rejoice in the fact that there 

 have been born the nature lover and the 

 student who use the microscope. Let 

 us all combine to increase that use. 

 the amateur's interests. 

 Since writing the above, I have re- 

 ceived from one of the most proficient 

 of the old time amateur microscopists a 

 letter from which I quote the follow- 



ing : — 



"The amateur cared, and now cares, lit- 

 tle about 'cell structure,' structure of nu- 

 cleus, differentiation of staining fluids, tech- 

 nical descriptions of some creature of 

 which he never heard until the proceedings 

 of some learned Society asked him to read 

 of it. and in which he feels no interest. 

 Ray Lankester says that the amateur has 

 disappeared because science bas r-fcomo 

 too difficult for him, dealing as it now 

 deals, chiefly with cell structure and stain- 

 ing fluids. The amateur never tried to do, 

 nor wanted to do, such work. He was con- 

 tent to leave all that to the professional. 

 What he wanted was to talk and write about 

 his own observations and to ask his friend 

 or reader, 'Have you seen that?" although 

 the observation may have been an eon old 

 and the common property of every profes- 

 sional in Christendom. All that he wanted 

 was 'to potter about on the edges of things." 

 He has vanished principally because there 

 is now no longer any excuse for 'fighting ob- 

 jectives' nor discussing angular aperture. 

 Abbe's N. A. killed all that by settling the 

 question for the rest of time." 



