Chemical microscopy techniques were once a major source of information for scientists who wanted to detect the presence of metals in samples. Many microscopists used such techniques, which, when properly applied and appropriate checks for interferences made, could conclusively prove the presence of small quantities of specific metals.

The fact that the identification could be conclusive for trace amounts following relatively simple and cheap processes, and that visual evidence resulted, made these techniques quite robust, Chamot and Mason's lest “Handbook of Chemical Microscopy” is held to be a definitive resource for these techniques1. With the development of absorpilon and emission based spectral analytical techniques, the application of chemical microscopy techniques dwindled, perhaps because the skills needed by analysts using spectral techniques were to be more rapidly acquired than those involving microscopy,