ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 1039 



It would be very interesting if Mr. Fasoldt would tell us how he resolves 

 the " numerous lines, 200,000 and over." Until he does this his claim to 

 be recognized as a " master of the masters " cannot be admitted. 



Nageli and Schwendener's 'The Microscope in Theory and Practice'* 

 — This translation of Prof. Nageli and Schwendener's well-known treatise 

 on the Microscope is at last published, after suffering almost unprecedented 

 vicissitudes. In addition to disasters to the manuscript, the whole book, 

 after being printed off, was burnt in 1884, in a great fire in the City in 

 which the printer's works were involved. Those responsible for the publi- 

 cation were so far discouraged that they practically abandoned the matter, 

 and it is due to the enterprise of the publishers that the translation is after 

 all given to the English-speaking public. Although advances have been 

 made since the book was written in several directions, notably by Professor 

 Abbe, Nageli and Schwendener's work will always be a classical landmark 

 in the history of the Microscope, and will be more especially valuable to 

 English microscopists as the first book in their language to deal with the 

 Microscope on a scientific basis unadulterated on one side by descriptions of 

 the various forms of Microscopes and microscopical apparatus, or on the 

 other by a review of the microscopical subjects of the Animal, Vegetable, 

 and Mineral Kingdoms. As such we may commend the book to a place in 

 every microscopical library. 



The following is extracted from the preface :— 



" This translation of Nageli and Schwendener's well-known treatise 

 ' Das Mikroskop ' was commenced by Mr. Frank Crisp, Secretary of the 

 Eoyal Microscopical Society, immediately after the publication of the last 

 (German) edition (1877), with the intention — as indicated by him in a 

 communication to the Quekett Microscopical Club — of filling up a blank in 

 English miroscopical literature in regard to the scientific technical 

 treatment of the theory of the Microscope, in which English text-books were 

 so deficient. 



The student refers in vain, even at the present date, to English works 

 on the Microscope for explanations of the theory of the construction of 

 objectives, eye-pieces, &c., or for the discussion of the phenomena of diffrac- 

 tion and polarization in their connection with the Microscope, or for any 

 scientific treatment of the question of interpreting microscopical images or 

 the theory of microscopic observation. These subjects are dealt with 

 systematically in German works only, and notably in that of Nageli and 

 Schwendener. 



The translation was thus undertaken with a view to placing before 

 English readers the then best known collective exposition or technical 

 treatment of these points by German writers. 



When the rough di-aft of the translation was completed, the first five 

 sheets (80 pp.), were revised and put in type, but in consequence of prior 

 claims upon his time in connection with the Eoyal Microscopical Society, 

 Mr. Crisp was compelled to relinquish the task of further revision, and of 

 passing the volume through the press, a labour which was undertaken by 

 Mr. John Mayall, jun., one of the editors of the Society's Journal. 



Just as the printing was completed, a fire destroyed the premises of 

 the printers, and the whole of the printed sheets of the volume were burnt, 

 except one set as far as p. 374, which the publishers had retained in their 

 possession, together with a few of the woodcuts. 



* Nageli, C, and Schwendener, S., ' The Microscope in Theory and Practice ' 

 (translated from the German), xi. and 382 pp. and 210 figs. (8to, Swan Sonnenschein, 

 Lowrey & Co., London, 1887). 



3 Y 2 



