THE-AICP^COPE- 



:ated 



Vol. XII. 



WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL, 1892. 



No. 4. 



The Yalue of Photography to the Mieroscopist. — I. 



By V. A. LATHAM, F. R. M. S. 



ANN ARBOR, MICH. 



The use of photography in microscopical work is one of the 

 great advances of the day, and yet some authorities are beginning 

 to condemn the combination on account of certain bad results 

 which occur, and these are often due to inexperience on the part 

 of the operators. The more generally photography is known 

 the better the results will be, and one subject must go hand in 

 hand with the other. Again, many specimens are not fit for 

 photographing, either through bad hardening, bad staining, or 

 bad mounting. 



Some people prefer drawings of the sections, but in this we 

 have more dangers to contend with than can well be enumerated. 

 Each man's range of vision differs, his ideas, and his power as a 

 draughtsman. People sometimes make drawings of morbid con- 

 ditions produced by disease in tissues of which they never saw 

 the normal structure. Magnification is often wrongly given. 

 Photography has the power to overcome all this by giving an 

 exact representation of the specimen. Errors in the print can 

 be easily detected by any one who knows the subject. But re- 

 touching the negative should not be done, for when discovered 

 discredit is thrown on the whole work.' 



Photographs are of the utmost value in the study of histologi- 

 cal, pathological and bacteriological specimens. The best speci- 

 mens for photomicrography are the thin preparations which lie 

 as much as can be in the same plane. Certain advantages are 

 left to the draughtsman, while others remain with the photog- 



