SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS. 



135 



cMSYAID 



^ 



THE AMATEUR MICROSCOPIST. 



BY PROFESSOR EARL DOUGLASS, CARNEGIE) 

 MUSEUM, PITTSBURG, PA. 



Not many years ago there were, all 

 over our land, enthusiastic students of 

 microscopy, men and women who used 

 the microscope for the delight that it gave 

 them. They knew their microscopes as 

 horsemen know the horse, and took as 

 much pride in beautiful instruments as 

 lovers of animals take in fine herds. 

 The manufacturers of microscopes made 

 instruments of grace and beauty, yet 

 some enthusiasts had their microscopes 

 made after their own designs. As 

 breeders breed fine heads or legs on their 

 horses, so microscopists made improve- 

 ments, as they fancied, on regularly man- 

 ufactured instruments. 



But the microscope was not a mere 

 toy. No invention, perhaps, has been of 

 more practical service to man. Besides, 

 men who were using- the microscope for 

 the delight of looking into another world, 

 there were many who were studying 

 human tissues and physiological pro- 

 cesses, and discovering, in the unknown 

 realm, the mystery of disease and death, 

 and doing it as a business. 



It is undoubtedly true that the most 

 important discoveries were made by men 

 who were stimulated by the fascination 

 of discovery, but these men used the mi- 

 croscope as an axe, a typewriter or any 

 kind of machine is used. They wanted 

 the implement that was best adapted to 

 their work. Many of them objected to 

 the graceful, beautifully constructed mi- 

 croscopes which our American manufac- 

 turers had made. They did not com- 

 plain so much of their optical qualities, 

 but they said they were too tall, not com- 

 pact enough ; they were not built right. 



THE LENS 



for convenience and long continued 

 work, as thev required an unnatural po- 

 sition of the body, especially of the head 

 and neck; so they sent to Germany and 

 bought the heavy, often clumsy, and 

 comparatively unsightly instruments 

 which were manufactured there. As 

 American manufacturers were making 

 instruments to sell, they listened to the 

 controversy and profited by it. They 

 saw that there was a demand for the 

 compact laboratory microscopes, so thev 

 made instruments after the continental 

 model, and at the same time also made 

 those that were more artistic. 



But for some reason microscopy be 



gan to wane. 



Many of the thriving 



microscopical societies died out. The 

 beautiful monthly periodical, "The Mi- 

 croscope," was bought by a more tech- 

 nical journal which lived for a few years 

 and then became extinct. Go now to the 

 catalogue cards of a large library and 

 under the reference to nearly every mi- 

 croscopical periodical you will read this 

 epitaph, "No more published." The mi- 

 croscopist seems now almost extinct and 

 the word by which we used to designate 

 him is nearly obsolete. Some of us do 

 not like to have the word dropped from 

 the vocabulary, for it calls up so manv 

 pleasant associations, so many fond 

 memories, and then, too, some of us 

 believe that a principle is involved. The 

 microscopists did a splendid work in the 

 development of microscopical science 

 and they did it from pure love, not on 

 account of any sordid interests. The 

 making of money is perfectly legitimate, 

 and thorough investigation in some 

 special practical line is necessarv to the 

 advancement of science, but among the 

 most noble human characteristics are 



