Biology as a modern science would not exist without the microscope, just as modern astronomy would not exist without the telescope. Both perform the same function: making the invisible visible. Without microscopes, biologists would be literally blind to the vast majority of the world around them.

When we took our first high-school biology courses more than 40 years ago, they focused on survey segments—such as examining different types of plants for gross similarities and differences—and dissections of frogs and other unfortunate specimens. We were lucky to get in a few minutes a week using a microscope.

That wasn’t because surveys and dissections were the best way to learn biology. It was a matter of necessity. Microscopes were very expensive, and most school budgets were too small to provide enough of them. Many biology classrooms had only one microscope. Or none. Nowadays, although excellent inexpensive microscopes are available, most schools still come up far short, requiring each microscope be shared by two, three, or even four students. That’s no way to learn biology. Every student needs his or her own microscope.

It’s not that a student will be using the microscope every moment of every day, but that the microscope needs to be available on the spur of the moment. Every time you encounter something new to you, your first thought should be, “I wonder what this looks like under the microscope.” And your first action should be to get it under the microscope to find out.

If at all possible, you should dedicate a work area to microscopy, where the microscope and its accessories are safe from lab spills and always ready to use at a moment’s notice. For example, although our main lab is downstairs, Robert’s microscope station, shown in Figure 4-1, is a large desk next to his (even larger) main office desk. (Yes, this is an actual unretouched image of a real working microscope bench. We didn’t clean up or move anything before we shot this image, other than removing the cover from the microscope.) Switching from using the computer to using the microscope takes literally seconds, which means there’s never an excuse not to check something out under the microscope.

Different models of compound microscopes are more similar than different, but some differences do exist from model to model. The two most obvious visible differences you’re likely to encounter are the presence or absence of an inclination joint, which allows the microscope to be tilted, and whether the microscope focuses by moving the stage or the body tube.

Whatever the particular configuration of your microscope, it’s important that you be able to identify each feature and understand how it is used properly. With practice, operating your microscope should become second nature. For example, you shouldn’t have to think about which direction to rotate the focus knob to open or close focus or which direction to turn the mechanical stage control to move a specimen to the right in your field of view.

In addition to learning to use the microscope itself, you also need to learn some basic microscopy techniques, including basic slide making, making whole mounts, smear mounts, and sectional mounts, determining the dimensions of specimens, simple staining, and differential staining. There’s always more to learn, but mastering these fundamentals provides a firm foundation.

The only way to master your microscope and basic microscopy techniques is with practice and more practice. So, let’s get started.