Transcriber’s notes:
Minor punctuation errors have been corrected silently (e.g. missingfull stops after abbreviated words such as Fig), as have the followingmisspellings: Bretahing → Breathing, Pedicillaria → Pedicellaria,Pedicelaria → Pedicellaria, Chœtonotus → Chætonotus, Spurganium→ Sparganium, veiw → view. Unorthodox spelling and inconsistenthyphenation has not been altered. Several wrongly numberedcross-references to Plates and Figures have been corrected.
Plate VIII (and its accompanying key) was originally displayedat the beginning of the book, before the Title Page, but has beenrepositioned in the body of the text in correct numerical sequence.
A black underline indicates a hyperlink to a page or illustration(hyperlinks are also highlighted when the mouse pointer hovers overthem). Page numbers are shown in the rightmargin.
The cover image of the book was created by thetranscriber and is placed in the public domain.
COMMON OBJECTS OF
THE MICROSCOPE
“COMMON OBJECTS OF THE COUNTRY” “COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SEA-SHORE”
“MY FEATHERED FRIENDS” ETC. ETC.
“A GUIDE TO THE SCIENCE OF PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY”
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limited
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The task of revising and bringing up to date a workwhich has been the guide, philosopher, and friendof thousands of commencing microscopists has been,in the present case, one of no small difficulty.On the one hand, there was the natural desire tointerfere as little as possible with the original work;and on the other, the necessity of rendering available,to some extent at least, the enormous advancein every department which has taken place in thethirty-six years which have elapsed since the workwas first offered to the public. The reviser hasdone his best not only to fulfil these two objects,but to keep in view the original purpose of thebook.
In the popular department of pond-life especially,about fifty new illustrations have been added, mostlyfrom the reviser’s own notebook sketches. Thewhole of the botanical part has been revised by oneof our first English authorities, and, in short, noeffort has been spared to make the work as accurateas its necessarily condensed form permits of. It ishoped, therefore, that it may be found not lessuseful than its predecessor by those for whom it isalone intended.
In my two previous handbooks, the “CommonObjects” of the Sea-shore and Country, I couldbut slightly glance at the minute beings whichswarm in every locality, or at the wonderfulstructures which are discovered by the Micros