The Microscope. 191 



•stands in its histology department that I believe Bausch and 

 Lomb very kindly looked up an old odd lot which they almost 

 gave to the microscopical laboratory, and to them were added 

 Beck's ^ inch economic lenses which need no recommendation to 

 tell their value for a cheap and useful lens. The other objectives 

 are ^ Beck, Zeiss and a few miscellaneous, as B. & L :^ inch, not 

 recent makes, and Gundlach. Bausch & Lomb have few stands 

 in one of the laboratories, but the main outfit of lenses and 

 microscopes are Zeiss, Leitz and Beck. If means were to be 

 had, possibly Bausch and Lomb would be represented by their 

 first class instruments, and Michigan could then claim a place 

 in microscopical science. As yet, I think the main worker is 

 Prof Gibbes, who chiefly uses Beck's instruments. My ob- 

 jection to the American stands is the heavy make, and the ob- 

 jectives being so large and heavy when compared with other 

 makers, it being rather a strain on the adjustment to use a triple 

 * nose piece and three objectives. Personally I only care to use 

 a light double nosepiece, but when working Histology or Bac- 

 teriology one really requires a triple combination. The objection 

 given by many microscopists against the American makers seems 

 to be the greater price paid for an objective which will barely or 

 only just accomplish the work of a foreign lens. Personally, 

 this seems to be hardly the case, the difference being, in Bausch 

 and Lomb's, only slight, I believe. The great objection is the 

 weight and size. I have seen Beck's ^ and ^ economic series do 

 some very fine work, and far superior, considering the price, to 

 the Leitz's ^ homogeneous, .Beck's ^ dry which with duty is 

 about $10.00, and in this country by many professors is so well 

 thought of!! To many microscopists the two lenses of Beck 

 are all that are necessary and the cost is very small. Bausch 

 and Lomb's professional i- is a very good lens, and if the size 

 was reduced their objectives would be of greater valve. The 

 microscopes used in urinary analysis at Michigan are barely 

 worthy of the name considering the instruments of to-day, and 

 if the University could gain a friend interested in this work who 

 would be able to assist it without having the Legislature reduc- 

 ing its grant on that accOunt, microscopy and American micro- 

 scopes would be the gainers, and fewer men leave for Germany 

 and other countries to study this branch of science. 



Ann Arbor, Mich. V. A. Latham, 



