1893.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 277 



the stern formality of scientific requirement, is a finished " pic- 

 ture." At this crucial point the capability of the microscopist 

 and artist blend, involving knowledge of the subject, the ar- 

 rangement of optical apparatus, judgment, and study in the 

 methods of procedure. A drawing may be true in its scientific 

 aspect, and possess artistic features of decided interest — the one 

 may incorporate the other. 



Although the bias of an expert microscopist and practised ar- 

 tist may not often touch the same mind, it is certain that when 

 a keen perception is directed to complications of beauty, with 

 rare conditions of light, and effulgence of color, the instrument 

 becomes the very touch-stone of artistic feeling, and, beyond 

 mere beauty (which, in visible nature, is inexhaustible) there 

 are revelations of structural form, qUaint elegancies, mysterious 

 changes of tissues, and embryological developments, under ra- 

 diances, hidden, not only from ordinary familiarity, but even 

 from the cognisance of many who have not had the opportu- 

 nity of exhausting the resources of a fine instrument, with all 

 its accessories. 



A microscopical drawing may be absolutely true, and an ar- 

 tistic grace secured, by preserving line for line what is actually 

 presented, assuming the preparation to be fairly perfect, in 

 other words, not drifting into a stilted diagrammatic style, or 

 wandering from close observation, because the subject appears 

 to have a certain regularity ; no two cells, vessels, or fibres ar.) 

 absolutely alike ; to give " life " to a picture, every part of the 

 structure should be a portrait, the pencil deviating from accu- 

 racy melts into falsity and confusion, uniformity is fatal, and ob- 

 scures important differentiation of parts ; again, in order to de- 

 lineate what is expected, or wished to be seen, aiming at " cor 

 rection," is to be avoided ; it is b^ter to draw imperfections, if 

 they be present. An overlapping or torn structure often reveals 

 an important fact, so patent is this, that a "fabricated " draw- 

 ing may be detected in a moment, especially of Diatomaceous 

 or Infusorial forms — a broken fragment, a solitary individual, 

 is the clue to a perfect whole, or group ; such built up arrange- 

 ments have no charm beyond technicality. A good represen- 

 tation possesses a mingled quality of accuracy and imperfection, 

 a paradox, which stamps its value! Suppose a preparation of 

 vertical section of human scalp of rare excellence, double stained, 



