2 /..,: :/:Ci? 



and this now really constitutes the chief, if not the only, 

 objection to photography as applied to the microscope. 



Photo-micrography may be approached from either of two 

 sides : by the microscopist who wishes for a method of recording 

 his observations, or by the photographer who has exhausted 

 his interest in landscape work, portraiture, or what is usually 

 referred to as ordinary photography, and is looking for a new 

 field of work. 



The microscopist will certainly have by far the easier task, 

 as the difficulties encountered are chiefly those of the proper 

 use and adjustment of the microscope, rather than the master- 

 ing of the technical difficulties of the purely photographic 

 portion ; even the latter are now, by the constant simplification 

 of photographic processes, greatly minimised. 



On the other hand, the photographer who wishes to enter 

 upon a new field will find that in order to attain any degree 

 of success he has to master the use of the microscope as an 

 optical instrument, and also to acquire a general knowledge 

 of the objects which he wishes to photograph. 



The earliest examples of the application of photography 

 to the microscope are coincident with the days of the daguerreo- 

 type : so that it may be said to have started from the earliest 

 times when photography was practicable at all. At that time, 

 however, the microscope was in a comparatively rudimentary 

 condition particularly so far as its optical parts were concerned. 

 In recent years so much progress has been made in the pre- 

 paration of specimens for the microscope, and in methods of 

 staining, that photo-micrography has steadily improved in the 

 results which it has -enabled us to obtain. Also the reproduction 

 of photographs, whether microscopic or otherwise, for the 

 purpose of book-illustration, is now so extremely good that 

 this method of delineation has become possible for subjects 

 which but a very short time ago could not have been dealt 

 with at all. 



Photography itself, however, for a long period suffered from 

 considerable disabilities, and was surrounded by technical 

 difficulties . The great skill and experience needed to work 

 successfully the only process then available i.e. the so-called 

 ' wet-plate ' process hindered any but expert photographers 

 from attempting it. Consequently photo-micrographic work 



