Polarimetric studies of pulse sequences, mostly carried out in the 1970s, proved utterly fascinating, and, so daunting that many workers concluded that pulsar emission, like the local weather, would never be understood very well.

Current efforts, however, to use single-pulse polarimetry to study pulsar emission are proving quite exciting. Not only are recent observations better technically --- better quality and more accurately corrected for instrumental polarization --- but we now understand a great deal more about the geometry of pulsar emission and have a number of new techniques at our disposal. Consequently, it is ever more possible to choose particular observations to study particular aspects of pulsar emission and to assess their compatibility with existing theories both qualitatively and quanitatively.