419 
ON THE HIGHEST MAGNIFYING POWERS AND 
THEIR USES. 
BY LIONEL S. BEALE, M.B., F.R.S., 
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, PHYSICIAN TO KING’s 
COLLEGE HOSPITAL, PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY, ETC., IN 
king’s college, LONDON. 
I T is scarcely to be wondered at that the utihty of very high 
magnifying powers should have been called in question by 
many practical men, or that the statements made with reference 
to their use should have been received with considerable hesi- 
tation by experienced observers, who had been in the habit 
of using, for the most part, powers magnifying under 300 
diameters. These views have, it is to be feared, received 
support from the experience of some who have attempted un- 
successfully to use these high powers. It seems to me that much 
disappointment in this branch of inquiry may have resulted from 
the impression that it is only necessary to obtain the instru- 
ment and object glasses, and to look through them at a given 
object, to see all its peculiarities of structure. And when the 
experiment is made, and nothing confirmatory of the descrip- 
tions or delineations given of the particular object observed is 
seen, doubt is at once cast upon the whole, and no further trouble 
is taken about the matter. A very few experiments with a 
simple object and low powers will, however, be quite sufficient 
to convince any unprejudiced person that success entirely de- 
pends upon the manner in which the examination is conducted. 
There cannot be a greater mistake than to infer that what we 
cannot see does not exist. It is easy to bring forward many 
instances in which not a trace of beautiful structure, which 
requires special methods for its demonstration, can be dis- 
played by the ordinary processes employed. 
Minute investigation, like every other kind of real work which 
it is worth any one^s while to prosecute, requires patience, 
attention, and intelligent practice ; and, above all, it is 
necessary to begin by studying the simplest things in the 
VOL. TV. NO. XVI. 2 F 
