277 



OBITUARY NOTICES. 



EDMUND JOHNSON SPiTTA, L.R.O.P. (Lond.), 

 IVi.R.C.S. (EnsOi F.R.A.S., F.R.M.S. 



It is with very great regret we have to record the death on January 

 21st of Dr. Edmund J. Spitta, who for four years was President of 

 this Club. Dr. Spitta was born at Clapham sixty-eight years ago, 

 and after a successful career as a studeiit settled down there in 

 general medical practice which lasted for thirty years. During 

 that period he found time to contribute very largely to more than 

 one branch of microscopical science. When he retired from 

 practice and went to live at Hove in 1904, he had greater freedom 

 and was able to devote much of his time to this subject. It was 

 at this time he became President of our Club, and the enthusiasm 

 and energy which he devoted to the office for four years have had 

 a very marked efiect on the prosperity and success of the Club 

 during recent years. 



Photomicrography and the optics of the microscope claimed 

 his attention more particularly than the biological side. So far 

 back as 1898 he published in collaboration with Dr. Charles 

 Slater, then Bacteriologist at St. George's Hospital, an Atlas of 

 Bacteriology, containing more than a hundred plates of photo- 

 micrographs of Bacteria. More recently he brought out his 

 well-known manual of Photomicrography (1st ed. 1899). But his 

 chief claim to be looked upon as an exponent of the optics and 

 use of the microscope is his work published under the title 

 Microscopy. This has now passed through three large editions, 

 the third being issued only last year (1920). This book is dedicated 

 to the " Council and Members of the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club " and is a general treatise on the construction, optics and 

 use of the microscope. 



Dr. Spitta was a man of a sanguine temperament and a some- 

 what dominating personality, but those who were most likely to 

 disagree with him readily recognised his sincerity. 



The use of the portrait of Dr. Spitta (PI. 5) we owe to the 

 courtesy of the Council of the R.M.S. and the Editor of the 

 Journal. 



