vi
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
enced laboratory for an "advanced course." Then much can be accomplished in even a short one-day visit. There will come the time when
the beginner qualifies as an investigator, but he should continue to seek
out his peers and refine his technique. This, of course, is a never ending
effort for all of us, but when the investigator is sufficiently advanced to
know what questions to ask it is not difficult to improve rapidly.
Difficulties in getting started in this field result, in large measure,
from the novice's overlooking seemingly small, but actually critical details. This book therefore makes an effort to present reasons for doing
things in particular ways in the hope that the details then will seem
significant. Sometimes, no doubt, this results in wordy overemphasis. In
spite of good intentions on the part of this author, undoubtedly some
facets of the work will not be understood or absorbed easily. When in
trouble, the novice is urged to return to the pertinent parts of the text
to search for overlooked details.
Difficulties in getting started also result from the necessity of performing all sorts of essential activities on a much finer scale than most people
have had practice with. A jeweler's work is coarse by comparison. The
unaided eye is quite inadequate. This author uses binocular head loops
of varying magnifications for all sorts of tasks including tissue preparation, some aspects of section mounting, observation of the electron microscope's fluorescent screen, and examination of negatives. He is as adjusted
to these magnifying aids as to an ordinary pair of glasses. In addition,
a variety of activities require the magnifications of binocular "dissecting"
microscopes. These include sectioning, section mounting, block trimming, focusing of the electron microscope, cleaning polepieces, and preparation and insertion of apertures. Working with one's hands under such
a microscope must become facile. This writer is greatly indebted to his
first mentor in graduate school who set him to work cutting sea urchin
eggs into halves and quarters, freehand. In retrospect this was an excellent exercise in manual dexterity and the use of magnifying aids. From
the beginning the novice must realize that he must acquire this facility,
and he should deliberately develop it at every opportunity.
Some of the barriers to this world of the small and delicate are
psychological rather than physical. The person who has been dissecting
with stiff blunt forceps, and who has been trimming paraffin blocks with
a dull scalpel, is going to have to refine his tools as well as his movements, and it may prove harder for him than for an individual without
experience with conventional microtomy.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
enced laboratory for an "advanced course." Then much can be accomplished in even a short one-day visit. There will come the time when
the beginner qualifies as an investigator, but he should continue to seek
out his peers and refine his technique. This, of course, is a never ending
effort for all of us, but when the investigator is sufficiently advanced to
know what questions to ask it is not difficult to improve rapidly.
Difficulties in getting started in this field result, in large measure,
from the novice's overlooking seemingly small, but actually critical details. This book therefore makes an effort to present reasons for doing
things in particular ways in the hope that the details then will seem
significant. Sometimes, no doubt, this results in wordy overemphasis. In
spite of good intentions on the part of this author, undoubtedly some
facets of the work will not be understood or absorbed easily. When in
trouble, the novice is urged to return to the pertinent parts of the text
to search for overlooked details.
Difficulties in getting started also result from the necessity of performing all sorts of essential activities on a much finer scale than most people
have had practice with. A jeweler's work is coarse by comparison. The
unaided eye is quite inadequate. This author uses binocular head loops
of varying magnifications for all sorts of tasks including tissue preparation, some aspects of section mounting, observation of the electron microscope's fluorescent screen, and examination of negatives. He is as adjusted
to these magnifying aids as to an ordinary pair of glasses. In addition,
a variety of activities require the magnifications of binocular "dissecting"
microscopes. These include sectioning, section mounting, block trimming, focusing of the electron microscope, cleaning polepieces, and preparation and insertion of apertures. Working with one's hands under such
a microscope must become facile. This writer is greatly indebted to his
first mentor in graduate school who set him to work cutting sea urchin
eggs into halves and quarters, freehand. In retrospect this was an excellent exercise in manual dexterity and the use of magnifying aids. From
the beginning the novice must realize that he must acquire this facility,
and he should deliberately develop it at every opportunity.
Some of the barriers to this world of the small and delicate are
psychological rather than physical. The person who has been dissecting
with stiff blunt forceps, and who has been trimming paraffin blocks with
a dull scalpel, is going to have to refine his tools as well as his movements, and it may prove harder for him than for an individual without
experience with conventional microtomy.