ADDRESS BY SIR HERBERT JACKSON, K.B.E., F.R.S. 



At this stage Sir Herbert Jackson delivered an 

 Address, which is printed on page 218 of this Report, owing 

 to an unavoidable delay in preparing it for publication. 



Professor F. J. Cheshire, C.B-.E., President of the 

 Optical Society, read a paper on " The Mechanical Design 

 of Microscopes." 



THE MECHANICAL DESIGN OF MICROSCOPES. 



By Professor F. J. Cheshire, C.B.E., 

 President of the Optical Society. 



The optical industry in this country, as the result of war expe- 

 rience, has been specially recognised by the Government as a 

 key industry, which, in the national interests, therefore, must be 

 encouraged and preserved. 



Now the microscope, whether considered from the point of view 

 of the great and increasing demand which it makes upon the highest 

 technical knowledge and skill of the optician and the mechanician, 

 the importance of the work which it is called upon to do, or the 

 great demand for it, stands forth as the most important of all optical 

 instruments. It is thus the keystone of the arch of a key industry. 

 The optical industries of any country which is producing micro- 

 scopes for which there is a world's demand must be in a healthy 

 and thriving condition. Conversely, any country which fails to 

 produce a microscope to meet the world's demands is very unlikely 

 to have the reputation for producing, on a commercial scale at 

 at any rate, important optical instruments of any kind. The 

 production of the microscope may therefore be accepted as the touch- 

 stone of national success in optical activities generally. The impor- 

 tance of this point must be insisted upon — when England can pro- 

 duce microscopes in large numbers for the world's markets, the 

 success of her industries will be assured. Until it does so, that 

 success cannot be accepted as assured. 



