THE PRESENT POSITION AND THE FUTURE OF THE 

 MICROSCOPE— A GENERAL SURVEY. 



By J. E. Barnard, 



President of the Royal Microscopical Society. 



Mr. J. E. Barnard, President of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society, then delivered an address, of which the following 

 is a condensed report, in which he indicated future lines of 

 development in microscope design and in microscopy. 



On behalf of the Royal Microscopical Society, I trust I may 

 be allowed to convey to Sir Robert Hjadfield the expression of my 

 great appreciation of the efforts he has made, resulting in the 

 holding of this Symposium. The subject is one that is in need of 

 discussion; but, had it not been for Sir Robert's scientific insight 

 and energy, it is unquestionable that the meeting would never 

 have taken place. As the time that is allotted to me is of necessity 

 short, it will be impossible to give anything like a full survey of 

 the subject of microscopy. I shall, therefore, be compelled to limit 

 myself to such points as appear to me to be of interest, although 

 I admit that I am not always selecting the ones of greatest impor- 

 tance. 



An examination of the programme of this Symposium might 

 lead to the conclusion that the subject of metallography was the 

 most important branch of microscopical research. In point of fact 

 this is not so. Although the importance of the subject is admitted, 

 yet the amount of attention given to it is not anything like so 

 great as that devoted to biological researches. It is therefore pro- 

 bably quite true that ninety per cent, of the microscopes in use 

 at the present time, whether in this or any other country, are in 

 the hands of those who are working at biological subjects. Even 

 of this class, the science of medicine will absorb the greater portion ; 

 and it is therefore unfortunate that the medical side of the subject 

 is treated so lightly — at least, if we may judge from the programme. 

 It is, I am afraid, only in accordance with the accustomed atti- 

 tude in medical circles for little interest to be taken in pure micro- 

 scopy, although in diagnostic work the importance of the micro- 

 scope has never assumed a larger place. 



In view of the paucity of contributions on the biological side, 

 I shall, therefore, direct more attention to this than I should other- 

 wise have done, and the few remarks X make will be more par- 

 ticularly in relation to the microscope as used for biological research. 



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