RECREATIONS WITH THE MICROSCOPE 



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Edited by Dr. V. A. Latham, 1644 Morse Avenue, Rogers Paik, Chicago, Ulirois. 



Come With Us. 



How to make the microscopical de- 

 partment of this paper of most interest 

 to the greatest number is our problem. 

 To please all will be out of the question, 

 but we will do what we can to make 

 it helpful. Let readers send in their 

 opinions and we will sift out the views 

 of many. Give us their methods, their 

 pet studies, the possibilities of exchange 

 of material, or where possible send in 

 gifts of micro-material. We should be 

 glad to hear of any one who has ma- 

 terial in the following subjects true to 

 name, etc.: micro-fungi, Myxomycetes, 

 deep sea gatherings, parasites of birds, 

 fleas of animals, marine algae, diptera, 

 eggs of insects, and any other branches. 

 Journals and books in scientific lines 

 for exchange, sale or donation will be 

 helpful. 



Original notes will be appreciated 

 for our pages in terse paragraphs and 

 short papers. We call on our friends 

 to help us to fill a want, for surely in 

 the years that have elapsed since the 

 journals of microscopical sciences have 

 not been published a good many facts 

 have been hidden away. Bring these 

 out, renew your friendships, tell us of 

 your good fortune in finding pretty ob- 

 jects, new facts, new methods of tech- 

 nique, new books and forgotton tricks. 



The Microscope. 



It has often surprised me when 

 showing "something under the micro- 

 scope" at a soiree, to find how very 

 large a proportion of the public have 

 never looked clown a 'scope worthy of 

 the name, and to learn how very faint 

 and feeble an idea they have of what 

 they should see, and of the actual sizes 

 of the objects presented to them. 



Great care should be taken of a micro- 

 scope. Never put it away without dust- 

 ing it, as Izaak Walton would probably 



say, "as if we loved it," and indeed we 

 shall do so. No pursuit seems to exer- 

 cise a greater charm over its votaries ; 

 no occupation makes its followers more 

 careless of time or trouble; and this 

 charm renders the microscopist a friend 

 to his instrument, which is such a 

 never failing ally, and his devotion will, 

 be manifest in the brightness of his 

 brass, the clearness of his glass, the 

 neatness and order of his arrange- 

 ments, and above all in his readiness to 

 impart to his less well-informed ac- 

 quaintance the knowledge that he has 

 acquired by his use of the most com- 

 plete, the most charming, and the most 

 ever accessible of the scientific instru- 

 ments at our disposal. 



A Skeleton or Diatom. 



Here the snow is deep, the southwest 

 wind is roaring around the house ; 

 there is nothing to see of the green 

 pastures, and the young folks who have 

 tired of outdoors say, "Uncle show us 

 something under 'Mike' please." So 

 I get my tube of science and select a 

 slide, and I will ask my reader to join. 

 Place your eye with mine over the eye- 

 piece and look at one of Nature's mar- 

 vels. Still use a lowest power eyepiece 

 or ocular, which is the handiest and the 

 truest in nine cases out of ten, put on 

 a four-tenths or one-quarter inch ob- 

 jective, and place under it a slide given 

 by Mr. T. Chalkley Palmer, labelled 

 "Diatoms." If it were bright sunshine 

 we would need no artificial help under 

 the stage, but if the sky be at all leaden 

 hue, we must insert a "spot lens" of 

 wide angle. This will not merely pro- 

 vide a good black ground with low 

 powers but will, when using the one- 

 quarter or one-eighth inch, act as a con- 

 denser and give not only a well lit 

 field but also oblique light for re- 

 solution of test objects, with a little- 



