On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Volume 1 (of 2)

Chapter 2: PREFACE.

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The work opens with a rigorous account of the elementary constitution of matter, treating atoms and molecules, the relations between force and matter, atomic theory, chemical analysis and synthesis, and the application of spectrum analysis to gases, vapours, and stellar composition. It then surveys microscopic botany and marine forms, outlining structure, development, and reproductive processes across algae, fungi, lichens, Characeae, liverworts, mosses, ferns, horsetails, rhizosperms, club-mosses, and the general anatomy of flowering plants. Descriptions are supported by discussion of observational methods and numerous detailed illustrations that record form and microscopic structure.

PREFACE.

Microscopic investigation of organic and inorganic matter is so peculiarly characteristic of the actual state of science, that the Author has ventured to give a sketch of some of the most prominent discoveries in the life and structure of the lower vegetable and marine animals in addition to a few of those regarding inert matter.

The Author feels bound to return her best thanks to kind friends—Sir John Herschel, Mr. Huggins, Mr. Gwyn Jeffrey, Prof. Tyndall, and Mr. T. Moore of Chelsea, who have aided in revising some of the sheets for press, and have thus counteracted the disadvantage under which she labours, of a residence abroad, and at a distance from libraries of reference.