Qualitative polarizing microscopy is very popular in practice, with numerous volumes dedicated to the subject. In contrast, the quantitative aspects of polarized light microscopy, which is primarily employed in crystallography, represent a far more difficult subject that is usually restricted to geologists, mineralogists, and chemists. However, steady advances made over the past few years have enabled biologists to study the birefringent character of many anisotropic sub-cellular assemblies.