1895.] MICHOSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 353 



Orders flocked in from near and far. Meanwhile, the as- 

 sociation between Spencer and Eaton had proved unprofit- 

 able ; Eaton withdrew and left Spencer in a crippled con- 

 dition. The old shop was breaking up, and most work- 

 men went over to Tolles, who now rented the upper floor 

 of an unused barn. Among these workmen were John 

 Grreen, Austin Glidden and James Morrison, as glass- 

 workmen ; and Charles X. Dalton, Orlando Amos, Clar- 

 ence, the son of Spencer, and 0. T. May (Spencer's son- 

 in-law), as brass- workmen. In 1867 he moved to Bos- 

 ton, and established the "Boston Optical Works," under 

 the patronage of several prominent merchants and manu- 

 facturers. 



Tolles liked his occupation from the first day ; it was 

 most truly a case of love at first sight, and was verily a 

 love that grew stronger and stronger as time went on and 

 the possibilities in the field of optics opened up before 

 him, and until it took complete possession of him to the 

 exclusion of everything else. And to the end that he 

 might achieve the best possible results in the line of his 

 work, no man ever labored more devotedly or found 

 greater satisfaction in the doing of his work than did he. 

 Bat the story of his life has also its dark side, and only 

 a few of the many who enjoyed and jjrofited by the fruit 

 of his labor were aware of it. For more than twenty-five 

 years, and while he was doing his best work, he labored 

 constantly under the great disadvantage of very poor 

 health, and many a time he was at his work in his shop 

 when most men would have taken a rest. In his younger 

 days he had a severe attack of pleurisy which left a pain- 

 ful sensation in his side, aggravated always by the least 

 cold or indisposition. Add to this the disadvantage, 

 which many times proves quite as fatal to genius, of be- 

 ing poor — at times without the requisite means with which 

 to j)rosecute his work under conditions that would insure 



