1158 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



LABORATORY PHOTOGRAPHY. 



HIGH-POWER PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY. 



There is a fascination about the use of the microscope and camera together 

 that can hardly be experienced when either instrument is operated alone. In 

 its simpler aspects, moreover, photo-micrography may be enjoyed by any one who 

 possesses the ordinary microscopical and photographic apparatus. By make- 

 shift adjustments and adaptations, it is possible to arrange the separate parts 

 into a workable series so that the amateur photographer may add the making of 

 enlarged pictures of small objects to his other accomplishments and the micros- 

 copist may secure permanent records of the transitory images that have so often 

 delighted him. 



It is otherwise, however, with those who attack the problem of producing 

 photo-micrographs which represent a high amplification of the object — 1000 

 diameters or over. This branch of the work should not be undertaken without 

 serious purpose and the best of apparatus. 



Here makeshifts are out of place. The great degree of accuracy and the 

 nicety of adjustment demanded of each part of the apparatus makes it necessary 

 to employ an installation that is especially designed for its own particular 

 purpose. With such assistance, only, can the scientist achieve any valuable 

 results, for it is only the scientist who would have the time and patience 

 requisite for work of this character. There must be some end in view aside 

 from the mere gratification of an idle curiosity to see how big a picture of a small 

 object can be made. This purpose finds itself in the desire of investigators to 

 present to their fellows as accurate and as complete a conception of their material 

 as it is possible to give. The value of photography as an aid in this direction is 

 being more and more appreciated and nowhere more than among those who 

 have to deal with the almost ultra-microscopic structure of the organic cell. 



Not that photographs are designed to supercede the customary drawings. 

 Both sun image and pencil image have their places as aids in the elucidation of 

 the text. The former exhibits, often in a bewilderment of detail, the whole field 

 of the study ; the latter presents concretely the investigator's interpretation of 

 the essential facts. A comparison of the two by one acquainted with the subject 

 will enable him to reach an opinion as to the validity of the writer's conclusions 

 such as would be impossible if only one method of delineation had been used. 



In recognition of this fact, many writers upon histological and cytological 

 subjects now enrich their papers by supplementary plates of photographs and 

 drawings, which, with the text, enable a reader to obtain as complete a mental 

 image of the subject as can be acquired without a personal examination of the 

 specimens. Such a work as Wilson's " Fertilization and Karyokinesis of the 

 Ovum," wherein the author's skill in observation is supplemented by the 

 beautiful photographs of Dr. Leaming, is an excellent example of what may be 

 done in this direction. 



As a realization of the importance of this class of illustration grows, the 



