CHAPTER XVIII 



CHEMISTRY AND THE MICROSCOPE 



TO thoroughly comprehend the various uses to 

 which the chemist may put his microscope, it 

 is necessary to have a knowledge of chemis- 

 try. The science is so wide in its scope that no single 

 chapter could do justice to it. There are analyti- 

 cal chemists, scientists whose aim is to find out the 

 composition of various substances; biological 

 chemists who deal with the many problems of life 

 in which chemistry plays a part, but we need not 

 attempt to detail all the branches of this highly 

 specialised science. 



Chemical analysis is founded upon the fact that 

 when certain chemicals are mixed together they 

 will, or they may, unite to form quite a different 

 chemical. This newly formed chemical is probably 

 a different colour to the substances which were used 

 in its making, or again the original chemicals may 

 be soluble in water and the new chemical insoluble, 

 in which case it will form a cloudiness known as 

 a precipitate. An example may help to make our 



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