Preface. 



This work is the outcome of the Microscopical Research Class conducted by me 

 during the first session held in the new Municipal School of Technology, 

 Sackville Street, Manchester, 1902-3. The course of instruction consisted chiefly 

 in working out the internal structure of the higher vegetable types. The notes 

 used were those I had written down from time to time in my private laboratory 

 work. The photomicrographs are all from specimens collected, fixed, cut, 

 stained, mounted, and photographed by myself, the reproductions from which are 

 hand-painted, direct from the microscopical productions, by my artist assistants, 

 under my supervision. 



At the end of the session I was asked by several of my students to have the 

 notes, formulae, and methods of manipulation printed and, if possible, illustrated. 

 To do this meant an enormous amount of additional work, especially in the 

 production of suitable photomicrographs for publication, most of the sections for 

 which had to be specially cut and stained to meet the requirements for 

 reproduction in colours. 



In the publication of this work I believe a long-felt want will be supplied, 

 as I have endeavoured to lay down a system of work, which, if followed out by 

 the student, will enable him successfully to carry the work through, from the 

 collecting" of the specimen to the finished microscopical preparation. Had such 

 a work been at my service twenty years ago, I feel sure that I should have been 

 spared years of persistent hard work and many disappointments. 



The chief idea in the production of this work is to simplify the methods of 

 microscopical research, in so far as relates to the specimens dealt with. There 

 is not a single diflficult problem in the work, if the student will make himself 



