CHAPTER IV. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE MICROSCOPE. 



103. Table. — The Table on which the Microscope is placed 

 when in use, should be one whose size enables it also to receive the 

 various appurtenances which the observer finds it convenient to 

 have within his reach, and whose steadiness is such as to allow of 

 his arms being rested upon it without any yielding ; it should, 

 moreover, be so framed, as to be as free as possible from any ten- 

 dency to transmit the vibrations of the building or floor whereon 

 it stands. The working Microscopist will find it a matter of great 

 convenience to have a Table specially set apart for his use, fur- 

 nished with drawers, in which are contained the various Accessories 

 he may require for the preparation and mounting of objects. If 

 he should desire to carry about with him all the apparatus he may 

 require for the prosecution of his investigations in different locali- 

 ties, and for the mounting of his preparations on the spot, he will 

 find it very convenient to provide himself with a small Cabinet, 

 fitted with drawers, in which every requisite can be securely 

 packed, and of such a height that, when laid upon an ordinary 

 table, it may bring up the Quekett Dissecting Microscope (Fig. 29) 

 placed upon it to the position most convenient for use.* — If the 

 Microscope be one which is not very readily taken' out from and 

 put back into its case, it is very convenient to cover it with a 

 large bell-glass ; which may be so suspended from the ceiling, by a 

 cord carrying a counterpoise at its other end, as to be raised or 

 lowered with the least possible trouble, and to be entirely out of 



* The dimensions of the Cabinet which the Author has had constructed 

 for himself (its size being so adapted to that of the box of his Crouch's 

 Binocular that the two are received into the same travelling-case) are 

 14 inches long, 7 inches broad, and 4j inches high. In the middle there 

 are five shallow drawers, 5 inches broad, containing dissecting apparatus, 

 large flat cells, glass-covers, syringes, &c. ; on one side are two drawers, 

 each 3| inches broad, the upper one, containing slides, cells, &c, rather 

 more than one inch deep inside, the lower, for larger pieces of apparatus, 

 2 inches deep ; on the other side is a single drawer of the same breadth 

 and 3j inches deep, for bottles containing solutions, cements, <fec. 



