Photomicrographer James E. Hayden, RBP has been a consistent winner of the Small World competition for many years. Featured below is a photomicrograph of a canine skin specimen taken with darkfield illumination.

Canine Skin with Compound Hair Follicles Original Magnification: 39x Specimen: Hematoxylin and Eosin Section Technique: Darkfield Illumination

Skin sections are a favorite subject to explore because there are a lot of diverse structures that react very differently to the refractive changes of light when viewed in darkfield. Hair, in particular, being rather dense and composed of keratinized tissue, creates many visually interesting images. In this case, the cross sections through the hair follicles of the dog reveal an abstract collection of "eggs" or something similar. To the scientist, it clearly demonstrates the structure of canine hair as having compound follicles. This photomicrograph won 7th place in the 1991 Small World competition.