THE president's ADDRESS. 97 



tion of sucli instraments througli town and country implies a wider 

 and more general spread of opportunities and facilities for micros- 

 copical research. 



But no great improvement has been effected of late in the micros- 

 cope itself; and no addition of striking importance has been made 

 to our accessory apparatus. This can be no matter for surprise — 

 hardly perhaps for regret. The ingenuity and skill of the makers, 

 aided by the suggestions and directions of practical microscopists, 

 have "developed" the microscope to its present state of high excel- 

 lence with an almost marvellous degree of rapidity. We can well 

 afford to await with patience the still higher excellence "which 

 sooner or later w^ill certainly be attained. Multiplication of speci- 

 mens, rather than elevation of tyj^e, has of late been the order of 

 the day among the microscopes. 



In the introduction to the first edition of his well known treatise 

 on the microscope, Dr. Carpenter says — " The statements of 

 theorists as to what may be accomplished, are so nearly equalled 

 by what has been effected, that little room for improvement can be 

 considered to remain, imless an entirely new theory shall be devised, 

 which shall create a new set of possibilities." But since this pas- 

 sage was written many important advances have been made. 

 Wenham's Binocular has been invented and come into general use. 

 We have been furnished with object glasses of far higher power, 

 with better definition and greater facility of working than would then 

 have been deemed possible. Objectives on the immersion system 

 have been successfully made and advantageously used. The Spec- 

 troscope has been applied to the microscope. Such and such like 

 improvements have been effected within the last few years. We 

 cannot be too cordial in our acknowledgments of what has been 

 done. But still we may look with hope and confidence for some- 

 thing more. Granting that the stage of theoretic perfection has 

 been reached, there is yet ample scope for practical advancement in 

 various directions. At any rate, it seems so to me. Permit me to 

 indicate one or two directions in which I venture to think some- 

 thing may be done, and to state my reasons for hoping that ere 

 long something ivill be done. 



It appears to me that the Stereoscopic Binocular Arrangement is 

 not even yet so fully appreciated as it ought to be. Some of its 

 advantages are sufficiently estimated, but others, and those perhaps 

 the greatest, are almost ignored. 



