and Laboratory Methods. 



1681 





LABORATORY PHOTOGRAPHY. 



Devoted to Methods and Apparatus for Converting an Object into an Illustration. 



PHOTOMICROGRAPHY WITH SIMPLE APPARATUS. 



In most of the work published on photomicrography great stress is laid on 

 the apparatus, as if this constituted the main factor, the apparatus described 

 being usually the costliest sort, and entirely beyond the means of the large num- 

 ber of persons who would be most helped by the use of photomicrographs. Dr. 

 D, W. Dennis (Proceedings Indiana Academy of Science, 1900, p. 43) even 

 going so far as to say that cheap apparatus is a delusion except for low power 

 work of the simplest character and second grade quality. If this were so, and 

 if the very costly apparatus which he and some others describe were necessary, 

 there would be very little work done in photomicrography, and some of the best 

 pictures would never have been made. In reality very good results can, and 

 have been obtained with comparatively cheap apparatus, and without a waste of 

 either time or material. 



The factors, which seem to be the principal ones in the making of good 

 photomicrographs, are a fairly good microscope, a steady camera stand, and a 

 knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of the sections or mounts as to thickness, con- 

 trast of parts, color, and modifications of the light. 



The apparatus which I use and find very 

 serviceable is a " home-made " device, and con- 

 sists of a piece of board about an inch thick, 

 forty inches long, and about twelve inches wide, 

 to which are attached a shelf to hold the micro- 

 scope, and a sliding piece to carry the box or 

 bellows of an ordinary camera. Under the shelf 

 another piece of board is fastened to the first at 

 right angles, and this assists in supporting the 

 shelf, and also serves as a leg to help keep the 

 apparatus in an upright position. 



The back, leg, shelf, and sliding piece may be 

 constructed from a piece of smooth pine board ; 

 the bolts and nuts used with the sliding piece are 

 ordinary machine ones, that may be gotten at a 

 hardware store. One of the bolts must have the 

 same pitch as the hole in the camera box, by 

 which it is fastened to the tripod. 



The lens of the camera is removed, and a 

 washer of felt is glued to the edge of the collar, 

 so as to make a light tight connection with the eye-piece of the microscope. A 

 slit is made in the side of the collar, and through this slit is fitted an elliptic- 

 shaped piece of metal, having a round opening in one side, the other side being 



Fig. 1. 

 A photomicrographic apparatus. 



