224 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [October, 



Synopsis of a Course in Microscopy for Pharmacists. 



By Dr. H. M. WHELPLEY, 



ST. LOUIS, MO. 



[Read before the American Pharmaceutical Association, Old Point Comfort, Va., 1890.] 



The following synopsis is intended as a guide for a course of home 

 study, and not for such work as can be followed in a College of Phar- 

 macy, where students receive individual instruction, and have the ben- 

 efit of object lessons. 



Unfortunately we have no works upon Microscopy which can be 

 taken as text-books for home instruction. There is a rich supply of 

 works on Microscopy as applied to medicine ; several volumes have 

 been written for the microscopist who works in Chemistry, and the 

 number upon the use of the microscope in the study of Botany is not 

 small ; we even find works devoted to the application of microscopy in 

 petrology. At no far distant day we shall have works upon microscopy 

 for druggists. 



In order to apply the Microscope to pharmacy, the druggist should 

 be proficient in botany and pharmacognosy ; in other words, he must 

 have the advantage of home reading or a pharmacy college training. 

 Colleges of pharmacy in this country now have departments devoted 

 to microscopical work, but those who graduated a few years ago did 

 not have such training. Many at present overlook the value of micros- 

 copy while they are students, and defer the study until they have en- 

 gaged in business. 



Although the educated pharmacist has quite an advantage when he 

 takes up the study of microscopy, the same as he has in daily pursuits, 

 still he whose opportunities for study have been very limited, can ad- 

 vantageously follow out a course of home study. The microscope can 

 be taken up in connection v^ith pharmacognosy, chemistry, and other 

 studies which must be pursued. 



One of the branches which is usually overlooked in colleges of phar- 

 macy is physics. The average student receives but a very meagre training 

 in this branch during his school days. In order to comprehend the 

 principles upon which the microscope is constructed, a person must be 

 familiar with that branch of physics. Therefore every person taking 

 up a course of study in microscopy should first familiarize himself with 

 optics. The chapter upon this subject given in the works on micros- 

 copy is scarcely sufficient ; it is better to study some work devoted to 

 physics. Chapter VII in Norton's Natural Philosophy is very good. 

 The chapter upon optics in Steele's Fourteen Weeks in Physics is also 

 of value. 



After mastering optics study the microscope as an optical instrument. 

 Microscopes are divided into simple and compound. 



It is best for the home student to confine his first work to the simple 

 instrument. Purchase Manipulations of the Microscope by Bausch (a 

 fifty cent book) ; also, How to Work with the Microscope, by Phin 

 ($1.25) ; a new edition has just been issued. Simple microscopes 

 are not expensive ; you can purchase a good one with three separate 

 lenses for from twenty-five cents to two dollars and fifty cents. 



Do not begin by studying drugs and objects the structure of which 

 is unfamiliar, but examine such things as the integument on the palm 



