Preface 



This little book is intended, as was the first edition, to supplement 

 Gray's "Microtomist's Formulary and Guide," a work too large for prac- 

 tical use in elementary classes. It seemed both to the author and his pub- 

 lishers, when these two works were first projected, that the field of micro- 

 scopical technique presented an unusual dilemma. One horn was the 

 necessity of providing an authoritative and exhaustive account of the 

 main techniques developed since the invention of the art; the "Microto- 

 mist's Formulary and Guide," published in 1954, covers every branch of 

 biological microtechnique and contains some forty-five hundred literature 

 references. The other horn was the necessity of providing college teachers 

 with a practical, inexpensive text that would cover the main requirements 

 of undergraduate students in the fields of bacteriology, botany, zoology, 

 premedicine, and medical technology. This horn proved much the sharper 

 and this second edition of the "Handbook of Basic Microtechnique" dif- 

 fers considerably from the first edition of 1952. The author cannot too 

 strongly express his gratitude to the several hundred teachers who have 

 written to him suggesting improvements, and regrets only that it is im- 

 possible here to acknowledge by name his debt to each of them. 



The first major change has been the introduction of a new first section, 

 of three chapters, on the microscope and elementary photomicrography. 



The former first section on the processes and materials of slide making 

 has now become the second section and has been both altered and 

 expanded. The alterations have chiefly involved the substitution of meth- 

 ods or formulas (e.g., Delafield's hematoxylin) preferred by most teach- 

 ers for methods or formulas (e.g., Carazzi's hematoxylin) preferred by 

 the author. The expansion of this section has been through the inser- 

 tion of a brief synoptic chapter on types of microscope slides and the 

 introduction of new techniques and methods in general demand. In this 

 respect it has not been possible to satisfy every request without violating 

 the stated purpose of this book. There is scarcely a technique in the 

 175 double-column pages of Part I, or a formula in the 500 closely set 

 pages of Part II, of the "Microtomist's Formulary and Guide" that some- 



