354 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Nov. 



the best results from his inventions and discoveries, and 

 we must admit that he was a martyr to his trade. He 

 was poor all his life, and when he died in the hospital, he 

 had no decent suit of his own to be bnried in. The cause 

 of his poverty was partly due to his poor judgement in 

 money affairs. " For instance, one day he received nine 

 hundred dollars for work delivered, and as he generally 

 was in debt, he j^aid out every cent, not leaving himself 

 enough to pay for his dinner the next day. 



The relation between Spencer and Tolles was always 

 a friendly one ; even when Tolles was at the head of a 

 large shop, he took his work to his former teacher for ex- 

 amination and suggestions as to its quality and improve- 

 ment. Spencer helped him in various ways; he aided 

 him to get his patent on the binocular eyepiece, and as- 

 sisted him enough on his solid eyepiece, to give Spencer 

 the right to use it. Only great inen act in that way. 

 Tolles was not a scientific optician like Spencer and Zent- 

 mayer; he was not accustomed to figure out his formulae 

 with pencil and paper, but he got the greatest results by 

 experimenting and by his unsurpassed mechanical skill. 

 His greatest achievement was the 1-75 objective, some- 

 where about 1874, the only one in the world, and at pre- 

 sent in the possession of Dr. E. Cutter, of New York. 



Tolles' education was somewhat neglected. He there- 

 fore took to reading, and soon acquired a general knowl- 

 edge of the arts and sciences as well as of the writings of 

 the poets and select writers. He was very reserved and 

 modest, and no one could vex him more than to mention 

 any of his merits in his presence. He abhorred noisy 

 company ; it disgusted him, and he did not hesitate for a 

 moment to show his dislike. He was well known in Lon- 

 don and Paris, and received the degree of A. B. from Col- 

 by University, of Maine. In 1872, he had a lively contro- 

 versy with F. H. Wenham, an optician of London, about 



