MARcH 22, 1912] 
This enterprise, while never profitable 
financially, owing its existence for many years 
to the liberality and public spirit of a few 
wealthy citizens of this city, was epoch ma- 
king for the industry, nevertheless; for the 
microscopes and small telescopes produced in 
its dingy shop attracted the attention of the 
whole scientific world and set standards not 
only for America, but Europe as well. To Mr. 
Dalton was entrusted the making of all the 
metal work which embodied the intricate de- 
signs of the great optician. 
The freely spoken encomiums of the best 
instrument-makers of Europe attesting to the 
superiority of workmanship of the Tolles ob- 
jectives have more than once made special 
mention of the excellence of their metal 
work. This Boston company was all too short 
lived, owing to the untimely death of Tolles 
in 1883, but many of Tolles’s instruments, 
treasured to-day by connoisseurs as still un- 
equalled, remain as fitting memorials of the 
genius of this master optician, and will also 
keep alive the memory of the clever mechan- - 
ician whose deft workmanship contributed so 
much to their excellence. 
For one or two decades preceding and im- 
mediately following the Civil War there was 
a widespread popular interest in the micro- 
scope among cultivated people as a form of 
amusement, although much serious scientific 
work was done likewise. Microscope clubs 
were common throughout the land, and in 
England as well. Many became experts in 
microscope technique and there was an active 
demand among the wealthier of these enthusi- 
asts for the best instruments that could be 
produced, irrespective of cost. This stimulated 
the instrument-makers of England and Amer- 
ica to use the utmost skill and best workman- 
ship, and in the hands of famous opticians, 
among whom Tolles with his giant genius shone 
preeminent, the microscope was carried to a 
high degree of elaboration and efficiency. It 
was under such conditions that Charles Dal- 
ton was inspired to use his skill and cunning 
as an artificer of metals. Dalton was not a 
workman for wages only. He had that true 
love of his craft and a pride in his workman- 
SCIENCE 
445 
ship which characterized the true craftsman 
and which is vital for best results. He would 
never do mediocre work and was his own 
severest critic of his product. He made many 
of his tools and appliances and accomplished 
much by primitive but cunning methods which 
are a lost art to the mechanician of to-day, or 
made possible only by the use of elaborate 
tools. 
The death of Tolles practically ended the 
work of the Boston Optical Co. A few instru- 
ments designed by Tolles were completed by 
his workmen, but no successor could be found 
to give adequate expression to the original 
genius of the master. For many years Mr. 
Dalton has carried on the business in the old 
Hanover Street building, making repairs on 
the Tolles instruments which have been sent 
to him as the only one competent to make 
them and doing a general business in the 
sale and repairs of optical and other delicate 
instruments. 
The wane in popular interest in the micro- 
scope as a recreation for the dilettante and 
the cheap compact “ continental” instrument, 
of high optical efficiency but reduced to the 
simplest terms as to finish and accessories, in 
short a laboratory tool designed solely for the 
special work at hand has become common in 
our schools and colleges. Such instruments 
of good quality are now turned out by the 
thousands by the great manufacturers, using 
labor-saving machinery and modern systems 
of divided labor, and a good microscope is 
cheaper to-day than formerly. The elaborate 
instruments of Tolles and other great opti- 
cians of the past generation, instruments in 
which cost was subordinated to every detail 
which added to convenience and efliciency, 
masterpieces of ingenious and perfect work- 
manship, are no longer made, and with them 
is disappearing the old-time workman whose 
knowledge and craft partook almost of the dig- 
nity of a profession. 
No doubt this condition is quite in accord 
with modern ideas and economics, but there 
may be some who view the changing times 
with some regret, some who have known the 
spirit and moral fiber of the old craftsman 
