of objects; we shall see presently what influence the former
improvement had on the perfecting of Nägeli's molecular
theory. As microscopes improved and the questions to be
solved grew more difficult, it became necessary to bestow
increased care on the preparation of objects; it was no longer sufficient to cut or dissect neatly, and so learn the form of the solid portions of vegetable structure; measures of precaution and auxiliary measures of the most various kinds were needed
to obtain a clear view of the soft contents of cells, and to
observe the protoplasm as far as possible in a living state and
protected from prejudicial influences; all sorts of chemical
reagents were applied to make the objects more transparent,
or to show their physical and chemical characters. The
method invented by Franz Schulze before 1851 deserves to be specially mentioned; it consisted in isolating the cells in a few minutes' time by boiling them in a mixture of nitric acid and potassium-chlorate, and thus shortening Moldenhawer's process of maceration or superseding it altogether. In a word, the technicalities of the microscope were perfected in a variety of ways by Schleiden, von Mohl, Nägeli, Unger, Schacht, Hofmeister, Pringsheim, De Bary, Sanio, and others, and raised to an art which must be learnt and practised like any other art.
Young microscopists were able after 1850 to learn this art in the
laboratories of their elders, and to profit by their technical
experience and scientific counsels; schools of phytotomy were
formed at least in the German universities; elsewhere, it is
true, the old condition of things remained in which everyone
had to trust to himself from the beginning.
The general dissemination of good microscopes was accompanied by a higher standard of requirement in the execution of drawings from the instrument, especially after von Mohl had shown the way; and the invention of lithography and the revival of wood-engraving ministered to the needs of science, supplying the place of the old costly copper-plate printing. Hence we find an increasing number of beautiful drawings
