1892.] THE MICEOSCOPE. 101 



new and unknown provinces. The student must acquire dexter- 

 ity and the power of seeing and describing what he sees. This 

 done, he may pass on, if his aptitudes so suggest, into tlie work 

 of investigation. 



The different aims of these three classes, investigators, amateurs, 

 and students, give rise to different demands, so far as equipment 

 is concerned. Special appliances to secure special purposes will 

 naturally appear in an outfit designed for discovery. The bac- 

 teriologist will surround himself with an array of ovens, culture 

 tubes, and media which would be useless rubbish in an ordinary 

 laboratory. The amateur may rightly insist upon beauty in his 

 apparatus, and upon accessories whose only service is to make 

 the microscopic image more beautiful and thus a greater delight 

 to the eye and to the understanding. The student has limited 

 time. He wishes to secure the utmost of discipline and acquire- 

 ment by the use of that time. Simplicity must then be his watch- 

 word. No contrivance which does not serve an important pur- 

 pose should be allowed to usurp the attention which ought to be 

 directed through the outfit to results. 



Methods are now being used with good results in some institu- 

 tions where the appliances cannot be provided with unlimited 

 liberality. Few colleges at the present time are likely to make 

 the mistake, formerly too common, of expending a large sum 

 upon one huge instrument encumbered with such a maze of wheels 

 and levers and what not, as to require a preliminary training in 

 applied mechanics to operate it. It is true, however, that a large 

 number of instructors do not have confidence in the worth of the 

 really admirable instruments both of foreign and American man- 

 ufacture which may be purchased by institutions at about thirty 

 dollars each. For students' use these instruments are all that can 

 be asked, and might well be chosen even when expense was not 

 a weighty consideration. 



In my own laboratory eighteen students are provided for, with a 

 possibility of arranging for thirty when it is demanded by large 

 classes. The place of the microscope in the instruction given 

 will best be understood by an outline of the biological work done 

 by the scientific students during their course. Biological studies 

 begin with the freshman year. The first term is devoted to gen- 

 eral biology, using Sedgwick's and Wilson's work as *a guide. 

 Microscopical technique is given in connection with the study of 

 protoplasm, cells and cell activities, and such other matters as 

 are properly introductory in the line of instruction. It seems 

 best carefully to avoid putting forward this technical acquisition 

 as an end in itself, but the effort is to lead the student to a point 

 of experience where he cannot proceed without appealing to the 

 microscope for aid. On this plan the true relation of the instru- 

 ment as a means to certain results is satisfactorily indicated, and 



