In some ways light is an enigma. We know that it is a form of energy that is transmitted from one place to another at finite velocity and that it can be detected with the eye. In many ways it behaves as though it were composed of numerous tiny particles that travel bullet-like from one point to another. But it also behaves as though it were a wave phenomena in which the energy moves somewhat like the waves started by dropping a pebble in a pond. Because light behaves in these two seemingly contradictory ways, two different theories, the particle theory and the wave theory, have been developed to explain it. <...>

Microscopy is a servant of all the sciences, and the microscopic examination of minerals is an important technique which should be mastered by all students of geology early in their careers. Advanced modern textbooks on both optics and mineralogy are available, and our intention is not that this new textbook should replace these but that it should serve as an introductory text or a first stepping-stone to the study of optical mineralogy. The present text has been written with full awareness that it will probably be used as a laboratory handbook, serving as a quick reference to the properties of minerals, but nevertheless care has been taken to present a systematic explanation of the use of the microscope as well as theoretical aspects of optical mineralogy. The book is therefore suitable for the novice either studying as an individual or participating in classwork. <...>

This book is intended for use in an introductory optical mineralogy course. The objective in preparing the book was to present in a single volume of reasonable size both a thorough treatment of optical theory as it pertains to mineral identification with the petrographic microscope, and detailed mineral descriptions of the common rock-forming minerais. The first seven chapters <leal with optical theory and provide an introduction to the properties oflight, a description of the petrographic microscope, and a discussion of the optical properties of isotropic and anisotropic materiais. Detailed step-by-step procedures have been included to guide students through the measurement of optical properties in both thin section and grain mount. Selected spindle stage techniques also are included. <...>

Microscopy is a servant of all the sciences, and the microscopic examination of minerals is an important technique which should be mastered by all students of geology early in their careers. Advanced modern textbooks on both optics and mineralogy are available, and our intention is not that this new textbook should replace these but that it should serve as an introductory text or a first stepping-stone to the study of optical mineralogy. The present text has been written with full awareness that it will probably be used as a laboratory handbook, serving as a quick reference to the properties of minerals, but nevertheless care has been taken to present a systematic explanation of the use of the microscope as well as theoretical aspects of optical mineralogy. The book is therefore suitable for the novice either studying as an individual or participating in classwork. <...> 

В пособии дана принятая в петрографии систематика главных поро-дообразующих минералов, выделены характерные особенности наиболее важных групп минералов в их ассоциациях, представлены в табличной форме оптические и морфологические свойства минеральных индивидов и рекомендована последовательность их изучения с использованием поляризационного микроскопа. Предназначено для студентов, магистрантов и аспирантов геологических специальностей. 

В пособии дана принятая в петрографии систематика главных породообразующих минералов, выделены характерные особенности наиболее важных групп минералов в их ассоциациях, представлены в табличной форме оптические и морфологические свойства минеральных индивидов и рекомендована последовательность их изучения с использованием поляризационного микроскопа.

During the ten years since the publication of the second edition of these tables many new minerals have been described. About fifty of these are included in the third edition of Part II,  which was published in 1933, while nearly seventy are of more recent date. The author has attempted to include in supplementary tables in this printing all the new minerals which seem to be well established and adequately described as to their optical properties. Unfortunately it has not been feasible to incorporate them in the main tables, but this is probably not a very serious difficulty since the minerals in question are all very rare.

It is hoped that the use of colored paper for the table (III) classifying minerals on the basis of their color (and pleochroism) in thin section will make it easy to find the various tables quickly and conveniently

In the preparation of this printing the author has benefited by the assistance and encouragement of his wife, Florence S. Winchell.

В предисловии к первому русскому переводу справочника А.Н.Винчелла «Оптическая минералогия» мы писали:

«Труд Винчелла состоит из трех частей. Из них первая посвящена кристаллооптике н методам работы с микроскопом; вторая содержит описание минералов; третья—таблицы для  определения  минералов  под  микроскопом.

На русском языке имеются оригинальные руководства по методике кристаллоопти-ческих исследований (Никитина, Белянкина, Лодочникова и др.), а также по определению минералов под микроскопом (Левинсон-Лессинга, Лодочникова, Ларсена и Бермана и др.)- Поэтому из трех только что поименованных частей работы Винчелла наибольший интерес представляет вторая часть интересующая нас как сводка по оптическим свойствам прозрачных минералов. Нами переведена только эта вторая часть. В зарубежной литературе мы знаем два основных справочника по оптическим свойствам минералов: немецкий—Розонбуша, вышедший в 1927 г. пятым изданием, с дополнениями Мюгге, и американский—Винчелла, третье издание которого датировано 1933 г. Последний, более поздний, охватывает все прозрачные минералы, тогда как первый—только главнейшие породообразующие. Полнота справочника Винчелла особенно важна для тех читателей, которые лишены  возможности пользоваться журнальной литературой».