1897 THE MICROSCOPE. 9 
Microscopic Microscopy. 
T. O. REYNOLDS, M. D. 
KINGSTON, N. H. 
It is to amateurs again that | would address myself: 
Were you studying geography and wishing to know in 
detail the map of your own county it would be better if you 
first saw asa whole, a map of North America. Then take 
the United States; next your own state and later, an en- 
larged map of the county you desired to know thoroughly. 
Just so in microscopy. So much more good can be 
had with low powers. The use of a two inch or one inch 
objective gives you the ‘‘North America” of your investi- 
gation. Then by reducing your field of investigation 
you not only have a better knowledge of the /ocus, but 
are astounded at the amplification you get of minutia. 
Most novitiates “thirst” for high powers. Let me sug- 
gest: You ought not to have them, 
A good low power with proper study put on the sub- 
ject under investigation will teach much more of nature 
than a higher power illy understood. 
And who can understand a high power but one who 
has delved in the labyrinth of experiment. Don’t do it 
at first. Learn to Jove the object sought and bless your 
microscope afterwards. 
This leads me to say something which took me years 
to find out. Most first purchasers of a microscope delve 
at it for the pleasure they get out of the magnification. 
The joy of seeing a fly as big as an elephant! A hair as 
big as tence stake! But this is not microscopy. One 
should have a definite aim in view; something you desire 
to know; something you really want to find out; a desire 
to advance in your knowledge of the material universe 
of things. 
Then, the microscope becomes merely a means, an in- 
strument to the furtherance of your mental oLject. This 
is microscopy. 
