DR. BEALE, ON THE MICROSCOPE. 265 
for applying photography to the illustration of microscopic 
objects. Dr. Beale supplies with this edition a photo- 
graphic plate of microscopic objects taken directly from 
the object. The delineation of the objects is so accurate and 
minute that Dr. Beale has thought it necessary to supply a 
lens with his book, in order that his readers may use it whilst 
studying the book. ‘This certainly is a novelty, and suggests 
the possibility of some one writing a work on a particular de- 
partment of microscopic research, and supplying a set of 
specimens and a compound achromatic microscope gratis to 
the purchaser of each copy of the work. 
Dr. Beale alludes to the fact that the first attempt at illus- 
trating microscopic subjects by means of photography was 
done in the first volume of the New Series of the ‘'Transac- 
tions of the Microscopical Society,’ and published in this 
Journal for January, 1854. We have a copy of this plate 
before us, and we think it fully justifies continued attempts 
at using photography for microscopic illustration. In our 
copy the distinctive characters of the proboscis of a fly mag- 
nified 180 diameters are perfectly retained; and although 
they bear no comparison with Dr. Beale’s plate, yet it clearly 
indicates that no fear need be entertained of the permanence 
of such illustrations, when entrusted to competent hands. 
And now, it may be inquired, why has not photography been 
more extensively employed to illustrate microscopic papers? 
We reply, for ourselves, that it is a matter of expense. As 
far as any estimates of expense for such plates as we have 
needed is concerned, we may say at once that they have 
never been less than three times the expense of the same 
illustrations by stone or wood. It has seemed to us that the 
advantages to be gained would not justify the expense, and 
this is the reason of photography not being used by ourselves. 
At the same time we should like to have it known that we 
are open to communication from any photographer who 
would undertake to reproduce microscopic objects for the 
illustration of our papers. 
Although Dr. Beale has departed from the form of the 
lecture, which his work originally assumed, and divided it 
into chapters and sections, he has not departed from the easy 
style of the lecture, nor failed to throw in as he has proceeded 
his opinions on the great physiological questions of the day. 
Thus, he ends a chapter on the “ cell’’ with these remarks : 
The living cell, then, consists of germinal matter and formed matter, 
The first is the matter upon which alone growth, formation, conver- 
sion, and multiplication depend, and these vital processes never occur 
unless germinal matter, with its marvellous vital power, is present. 
