THE MICROSCOPE. 169 



croscopist. This is only one of the somewhat despised forms: 'Only 

 a collector,' with an elevated head and a righteous shrug, is a phrase 

 often heard. But in great economical systems 'mere collectors' play 

 a most important part. This solid world, with its fertile plains, is 

 just a vast collection gathered together by collectors, organic and 

 inorganic. And collectors provide the material for others to work 

 on and work up. The higher workers not infrequently have neither 

 the time nor the opportunity to collect, and, so far as the prepara- 

 tion of microscopic mounts is concerned, have often not the manual 

 skill and delicacy of touch to be successful. Such must depend for 

 their mental pabulum in its raw state on others. And there is work 

 of immense importance to be done by the 'mere collector.' If such 

 cannot add to our knowledge by their own investigations, if from 

 their brains can come no world-shaking theories that shall make 

 their name and our society's name familiar as household words, 

 they can add to the treasures of our cabinet, their quick-seeing eye 

 can pick out new forms, their diligent feet can take them to unex- 

 plored parts, and their delicate hands can mount their finds in such a 

 way that the true investigator will be able to read with his glass, as 

 in a glass, natural riddles, adding to the world's store of knowledge. 

 Our society cannot afford to despise the collector. Far from it; we 

 will thankfully receive from any quarter, and ardently welcome, 

 genuine specimens of M. evocationes. 



"M. taberndrius, or the tradesman microscopist. A large and 

 growing species, every day producing novel varieties, and one that 

 in these days must be treated with no little respect. Utilitarianism 

 has invaded the old halls of science, and in these modern days not 

 one but many a philosophers's stone has been found in the crucible of 

 the chemist and the jar of the electrician; and mean homes have 

 turned palaces, and common delf silver-plated, 'at least, through 

 fortunate discovery. Yes, gold in abundance has followed in the 

 track of the scientists. All this is but vero verius, nothing more 

 true. In saying the scientific plaything of yesterday is the mighty 

 machine of to-day — the toy of an enthusiast one day, the necessity 

 of life to thousands the next — it would be but a work of supereroga- 

 tion to remind you of the giant strides made in the development of 

 electric science and practice. In our own line we can perhaps look 

 for no startling discoveries that shall revolutionize the world of 

 daily life, but there is yet room for the Microscopista tabernarius. I 



