THE MICROSCOPE. 195 



tated chalk or Spanish whiting may be added until the solution is of 

 the consistency of thin cream. This must be applied with a rag, 

 rubbing the object to be silvered hard and thoroughly. The fluid 

 is highly poisonous, and should be handled carefully. Another 

 good silvering compound, non-poisonous, is as follows : Silver 

 nitrate, 30 grains ; common salt, 30 grains ; cream tartar, 200 grains. 

 Mix and keep dry. When required for use, moisten with distilled 

 water or rain water, and apply with a rag. A little Spanish whiting 

 improves this — cleaning the surface to be silvered. 



"fake" number two. 



" Right this way, ladies ! Here's your fine ak-reu-matock 

 duplex mickryscopes ! Magnifies five hundred times and shows the 

 annymalkewls in water. Here they are, my little miss, all a wrigglin' 

 and a squirmin', and right out of pure Mississippi water ! Only a 

 dollar apiece ! " and the Fakir was doing a land-office business with 

 the little misses around him. 



He had a stand at the Fair ground during the great October 

 Fair — an occasion which frequently brings a hundred thousand 

 people a day out to the beautiful Zoological garden where it is held. 

 His stand was ostentatiously labeled " Display of Optical Instru- 

 ments," and the "display" consisted of a score or more of the little 

 magnifiers consisting of two cheap lenses, one of two and the other 

 of a half-inch focus. They cost at wholesale three dollars a dozen. 

 He was retailing them at a dollar apiece as fast as he could hand 

 them out. 



Forcing my way through the crowd around him, I asked to see 

 the "animalcules in water" (the thing that almost everybody who 

 knows nothing of microscopy asks on seeing a microscope). In- 

 stantly he dipped an innocent-looking tooth-pick in a glass of water, 

 smeared it on the face of the smaller lens and gave it to me with 

 instructions to hold it against the light and look through it. I did 

 so, and was surprised to see the field literally covered with anguillu- 

 Icz — paste eels ! 



" And are those the animalcules of water ? " I asked. 



" Yes, siree ! All water is full of 'em. If you think that I'm 

 jokin', why just take this clean tumbler and fetch some water from 

 the bar, and try it agin." 



I took the glass, rinsed it out carefully, and filled it with ice- 

 water, fresh from the filtering apparatus. 



