116 THE MICROSCOPE. [May, 



used Canada balsam, making it myself so as to get a white sam- 

 ple without any trouble : a saturated solution of acetate of potash, 

 glycerine and dammar varnish, and Canada balsam. 



It is to be greatly deplored that the papers, books, and discus- 

 sions on photograph}' should give the uninitiated the idea that it 

 is a very complicated and difficult art, dependent upon daylight, 

 and that unless a person had the necessary time during the day 

 and was an expert in photography it would be useless to attempt 

 the application of the art. As is known to many, any microsco- 

 pist, armed with a small text-book and with a simple apparatus 

 which he can even make himself, can after a little practice pro- 

 duce faithful pictures. Of course there are difficulties and indeed 

 always will be, but as many have to be encountered elsewhere 

 than in photography. A beginning has to be made somewdiere, 

 and the tyro's first efforts may as usefully and with as great hope 

 of ultimate success be directed to this branch of learning as to 

 any other. It is a matter of certainty that his first attempt will 

 be failure from under-exposure, fog, frills, stains, etc., but with 

 landscapes this would possibly have been the same. We all 

 know that general photography had better be acquired when pos- 

 sible. As resrards the books suitable for work in this line it is a 

 difficult thing to select, for thus far I have not seen a book 

 which can safely be placed in the hands of an amateur. Even if 

 great care is used the chances are that he will not succeed, simply 

 because here and there a necessary point has been ignored, too 

 simple, so the author thought, to be printed. When a book for 

 amateurs is written the process should be carried out at the sa??ie 

 time, and then let the method be tried by an amateur. I will 

 mention several works which may be useful to amateurs : A 

 pamphlet by ]Mr. vStanley, Optician. London Bridge, England, 

 which is worthy of beginners ; a chapter in G. E. Davis's Prac- 

 tical Microscopy, ist ed., pp. 207-228; Beale's How to Work 

 with the ]Microscope, 4th ed., Part IV, p. 229, and the Bibli- 

 ography at the end of the book ; Micro-Photographs and How to 

 Make Them, bv J. H. Jennings, 3^-., published in England; a 

 paper in the International J.- of Microscopy, Aug., 1S91, by Vere- 

 ker ; a pamphlet by the Blair Camera Co. on Photography ; a 

 good text-book of photographv is Abney's " Instruction in Pho- 

 tography " (Piper & Carter) ; Photography Applied to the Mi- 

 croscope, F. W. Mills and I. C. White ; Dental Cosmos, vol. S, 

 p. 248 ; Micro-Photographs and a New Method to Make Them ; 

 Sternberg's Alicro-Photographs is good, but is perhaps scarcely 

 up to date; Malley, A. C, Photo-Micrography, 2d ed. ; Bous- 

 field, E. C, a small work on Photo-Micrography; Crookshank, 

 E., Photography of Bacteria ; this is nearly out of print, and is a 

 good practical work, but a revision to bring it up to date is now 

 necessary ; for those who wish for the Micro-Photographs in 



