252 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



autumn, and the arbutus, -which fruits well with me, has both 

 flowers and fruit on it at the same time, which I think is also the 

 case with the laurustinus. 



I have (or had) two flourishing plants of the Eucalyptus glohu- 

 losa, three years old, and twentj' feet high, but I think this severe 

 winter has killed them. The stems at present look sound, but I 

 observe that the bark at the root, just above the ground, is separa- 

 ting from the stem, and is loose and flaccid. The ' Kew Guide,' 

 and Professor Bentley's lecture printed in the * Pharmaceutical 

 Journal' for May, 1878, supply much valuable information on this 

 tree. — \_Rev.'\ R. U. Webb, Essendon Rectory, Hatfield. 



MiCEOSCOPT. 



The Micro-megascope. — I am anxious to introduce to the members 

 of this Society a contrivance, Avhich was recently shown by Dr. 

 Matthews at a meeting of the Quekett Microscopical Club, for con- 

 verting an ordinary microscope into what Dr. Matthews calls a 

 " Micro-megascope," for the reason that it is possible to magnify or 

 diminish the object under examination at will by decreasing or 

 diminishing its distance. Some similar arrangement had been used 

 before, but Dr. Matthews worked it out independently and made 

 one great improvement, an all-important improvement, on what had 

 previously been done. 



The arrangement consists in placing a low power objective — I 

 find a 3-inch is best — in an adapter in the sub-stage. It must be 

 placed with its front combination upwards, that is, towards the body 

 of the microscope. It is this reversed position of the lower object- 

 glass that is the great point of Dr. Matthews' discovery. Another 

 object-glass — 2-inch or 1-inch, or a higher power — is placed in the 

 ordinary way on the nose of the microscope body. It is necessary 

 to remove the mirror, and to place the object on the table below 

 the lower objective. The lower objective forms an aerial image, 

 which is then magnified by the upper object-glass. 



This arrangement really converts the microscope into a low 

 power terrestrial telescope, for the object may be placed any 

 distance away, but the nearer it is brought to the lower object- 

 glass, the more it is magnified. 



The arrangement has great advantages — the object is seen erect 

 instead of being inverted as usual in the microscope — the definition 

 is perfect, and the field wonderfully flat, so that it is easy to draw 

 very convex objects with the camera lucida. 



Dr. Matthews' paper upon the subject in the ' Journal of the 

 Quekett Microscopical Club,' vol. v, p. 167, explains other methods 

 of working with it, and is well worthy of study. — Arthur Cottam, 

 Watford. 



