6 METHODS OP MICROSCOPICAL RESEARCH. 



Thus, the processes of pulverisation, levigation, 

 sectionising, and grinding of bones, teeth, minerals, 

 and rocks are beset by difficulties of detail which 

 prove to be insurmountable obstacles to the tyro 

 until he shall have acquired the necessary know- 

 ledge and skill, under which they to a great extent 

 disappear, or are more or less easily surmounted. 

 So, also, want of success in section-cutting, stain- 

 ing and mounting specimens is referable to the 

 ignorance or neglect of minute precautions, to the 

 want of absolute cleanliness in all processes, and 

 the absence of the delicacy of manipulation without 

 which success is impossible of attainment. In the 

 opening pages of " How to Work with the Micro- 

 scope," 1 Dr. Beale makes the following observa- 

 tions : " Manual dexterity, although subordinate 

 to many higher mental qualifications, is as essential 

 for the successful prosecution of microscopic obser- 

 vation as it is for that of every kind of experi- 

 mental science. It assists us in the discovery of 

 new means of inquiry and in devising methods by 

 which difficulties may be surmounted. Without 

 skilful manipulation we can neither teach by 

 demonstration facts which have been already dis- 

 covered, nor hope to extend the limits of observa- 

 tion and experimental knowledge. It is not, 

 therefore, surprising that many of the most impor- 

 tant facts which have been recently added to 

 microscopical science, have been discovered by men 

 who had previously well-trained themselves in ex- 

 periment particularly in practical chemistry and 

 minute anatomical dissection. Improvements in 



1 Fifth edition, London, 1880, p. 1. 



