624 



Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



one or more instruments of some fifteen kinds of stands, that my students and 

 visitors, as well as myself, might have a variety for comparison. Since that 

 time other styles have been added to our number. I have been with these 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. Fig. 4. 



instruments in the class-room for many years, and have used all of them myself. 

 I may be prejudiced, very likely, because that it just what I am laying at the 

 door of many others. The manufacturers make microscopes to sell, and in the 

 past, they have made them in wonderful variety, perhaps trying to suit the whim 

 of everybody. Fig. 1 represents the shape of the horseshoe foot ; Fig. '2, the 

 same in section as made of solid metal. Fig. 3 represents, on the same scale, 

 the shape of the foot of another instrument used for nearly twenty years past. 

 Fig. 4 shows a section of the same, the dotted lines indicating the depth of the 

 hollow from the lower side. The first instrument mentioned is 30 cm. high 

 and weighs six pounds ; the second one is 28^ cm. high and weighs a trifle 

 over four pounds. If the table on which the first instrument is placed is the 

 least bit curved or uneven, the foot stands on three out of four points and rocks 

 easily, while number two stands firmly on the table no matter what may be the 

 condition of the surface. When placed side by side near each other, erect or 

 inclined 20° to 30°, and a string is tied to the top joining the two, and the feet 

 crowded apart, the heavier instrument tips over before stirring the other one 

 from its "tracks." True, the narrow base can be pressed into a smaller box 

 than the other, but on the table there is room enough for a broader base. For 

 utility and for beauty, it seems to me the horseshoe foot has scarcely a thing to 

 commend it, when compared with the other here illustrated. A considerable 

 portion of the extra two pounds weight seems to be for the purpose of making 

 the stand firm on its " feet," which it fails to do. In the use of microscopes, it 

 has been my need to frequently lift them from one place to another, sometimes 

 with considerable speed. Perhaps the extra two pounds may have been added 

 partially with the view of strengthening the muscles of the arm of the one who 

 handles the instrument ; if so, the extra weight has accomplished something. 

 Michigan Agricultural College. W. J. Beal. 



