PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
vii
This book deliberately avoids being a scholarly presentation. Credits
ordinarily are coupled only with major developments in the field. Partly
this is because it would be difficult indeed to unravel the origin of every
bit of technique. One often hears of new "tricks" by word of mouth,
perhaps many times removed from the source. This writer knows full
well that he depends importantly on the ingenuity of many in ways unknown to him.
This volume avoids the scholarly approach also in making no effort
to detail all technical proposals of the literature. There has been so much
interest in electron microscopy that its bibliography already is enormous.
However, as far as technique is concerned in this field which has expanded so rapidly, what has seemed important one year often has
dwindled to insignificance the next. Although this writer is aware that
a few individuals will object violently to aspects of technique as they
are presented in this book, an effort has been made to be conservative
and to present what is really useful and enduring. In addition, certain
new and exciting developments are presented as alternates, but it is
hoped with the clear understanding that they are still experimental and
may have only limited usefulness. Above all else, a method is presented
which the author knows to be workable, and which is certainly adequate
to get a beginner started. There will be time enough for the novice to
develop refinements or alternates later.
This writer has profited greatly from knowing most of the American
and a few of the European electron microscopists who were involved
from the first in developmental work with ultrathin sections. These investigators will recognize the fruits of their own ingenuity here and
there in this text, and perhaps this book will indirectly pay the author's
debt to these individuals by fostering an interest in what is, after all,
our common scientific enthusiasm. This writer also is happy to acknowledge that he owes much to a small group of visiting investigators with
varying experience who have worked in his laboratory, and to a group of
graduate students past and present, all of whom have been inventive.
This author's laboratory could not have been established and maintained without financial support, first from the Los Angeles Heart Association, and later from the United States Public Health Service. Thus
their share in this book is very real.
Los Angeles,
California
March
1960
DANIEL C. PEASE
vii
This book deliberately avoids being a scholarly presentation. Credits
ordinarily are coupled only with major developments in the field. Partly
this is because it would be difficult indeed to unravel the origin of every
bit of technique. One often hears of new "tricks" by word of mouth,
perhaps many times removed from the source. This writer knows full
well that he depends importantly on the ingenuity of many in ways unknown to him.
This volume avoids the scholarly approach also in making no effort
to detail all technical proposals of the literature. There has been so much
interest in electron microscopy that its bibliography already is enormous.
However, as far as technique is concerned in this field which has expanded so rapidly, what has seemed important one year often has
dwindled to insignificance the next. Although this writer is aware that
a few individuals will object violently to aspects of technique as they
are presented in this book, an effort has been made to be conservative
and to present what is really useful and enduring. In addition, certain
new and exciting developments are presented as alternates, but it is
hoped with the clear understanding that they are still experimental and
may have only limited usefulness. Above all else, a method is presented
which the author knows to be workable, and which is certainly adequate
to get a beginner started. There will be time enough for the novice to
develop refinements or alternates later.
This writer has profited greatly from knowing most of the American
and a few of the European electron microscopists who were involved
from the first in developmental work with ultrathin sections. These investigators will recognize the fruits of their own ingenuity here and
there in this text, and perhaps this book will indirectly pay the author's
debt to these individuals by fostering an interest in what is, after all,
our common scientific enthusiasm. This writer also is happy to acknowledge that he owes much to a small group of visiting investigators with
varying experience who have worked in his laboratory, and to a group of
graduate students past and present, all of whom have been inventive.
This author's laboratory could not have been established and maintained without financial support, first from the Los Angeles Heart Association, and later from the United States Public Health Service. Thus
their share in this book is very real.
Los Angeles,
California
March
1960
DANIEL C. PEASE