THE MIcROSCcOPE. 105 
AN EDITOR’S LIFE. 
Cc. H. STOWELL. 
(Pore work is made easier and pleasanter when the 
mail brings such a beautiful letter as the one given here. 
Although the letter was never intended for publication, yet as 
we withhold the writer’s name he will forgive us: 
‘‘T am an old man, and find the working of the microscope very 
pleasant employment for the evening of life. I have gone through the 
whirl of a busy life, and got far into the afternoon of a long active day 
and now enjoy the quietude of rest, and in order to make rest pleasant 
TI bought a microscope and have for several years made it my compan- 
ion, but it was a long time before we understood each other, for 
I knew little or nothing about microscopes, and not understanding my 
friend, I often found myself awkward in-her presence, but the oftener 
we met the better acquainted and friendly we got, and now our friend- 
ship is very agreeable. One reason why we were so long in getting 
acquainted with each other was I had never handled a microscope, nor 
even have I yet had the pleasure of having the personal acquaintance 
of any one who has got a microscope. There has one lately arrived at 
the Wesleyan Female College, and that is the only one I have seen be- 
side my own. Microscopes in the State of Georgia are few and far 
between, so what I do in that line I do all alone, and many pleasant 
hours I do enjoy and have enjoyed, and none but they who have enjoyed 
it can tell how refreshing and uplifting to the spirit isan hour with the 
microscope, an hour of thoughtful, reverent study of the wisdom man- 
ifest in the construction of the minutest animalculem, the bending of 
a claw, or the articulation of a joint.’’ 
A NEW CONDENSER. 
ED. BAUSCH. 
ibe new condenser, figured with this, is in its appearance 
and performance similar to that devised by Prof. Abbe. 
The formula upon which it is constructed is however a modifi- 
cation of that used in our Immersion Lluminator. The poste- 
rior system is as large as the substage-ring will allow, and will 
transmit and condense all the rays which pass through this 
from the mirror. Its numerical aperture is about 1.42—suffi- 
