Microscopist: or a Complete Manual on the Use of the Microscope." This was the first book of its kind to be published in America, and one of the first to be published in English.
It antedates Carpenter's well-known work, which appeared in 1856 and also Beale's, which was published in 1857. Wythe states in the preface: "Since the employment of achromatic instruments, microscopic research has ceased to be merely an amusement, but has been elevated to the dignity of a science; yet so far as the author knows, no book has been issued from the American press which would serve as a guide to those desirous of applying themselves to such studies. The present work aims to supply this deficiency. In its preparation the author has aimed less at style than at information." Of the latter it contains a large amount, whose collection must have involved much labor. That it supplied a need at the time is indicated by the appearance of a second edition in 1853. Third and fourth editions appeared in 1877 and 1880, respectively. These were much enlarged and were intended as complete guides in microscopy, including histology, zoology, botany, mineralogy, and in the fourth edition a guide to clinical microscopy was also included.
That this work received recognition both in this country and abroad is attested for by Wythe's election as a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society of London and by other honors. Another sort of recognition is brought to light by a sarcastic review of an English work in the same field, which appeared in the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review about 1860. In this book, which was written by an Englishman named Jabez Hogg, in the words of the review, "whole paragraphs and nearly an entire chapter, have been copied verbatim et literatim, without the slightest acknowledgement or reference—a Hoggish proceeding, certainly." This statement is born
