PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



" The Methods of Microscopical Research " 

 formed a portion of the " Studies in Microscopical 

 Science," a serial publication in four volumes, issued 

 and edited by the author, and was embodied (as a 

 treatise) with Volume II. of that work. The recep- 

 tion accorded to it induced the author to publish it 

 as a separate work. The first edition was rapidly 

 taken up, and the book soon became out of print 

 and unobtainable. In response to a very general 

 demand it is now re-issued, this (the second) edition 

 being greatly enlarged and the work, indeed, almost 

 entirely re-written. It embodies the full results of 

 the author's thirty years' experience in microscopical 

 work, all the formulae from his private note book, all 

 his own special processes and methods of working, 

 and all his simple inventions for perfecting the work 

 and ensuring absolute cleanliness and permanence 

 in preparations. Nothing has been concealed, every- 

 thing has been fully described and explained, and 

 so plainly that the author entertains the hope that 

 the treatise will be found really practical, and so will 

 enable the student and the amateur microscopist 

 to make preparations worth studying and retaining 

 as cabinet specimens. 



