98 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[May, 



whether they will design and make 

 stands such as the laboratory worker 

 finds most useful, or, by continuing m 

 the beaten way, let the German stands 

 come into our laboratories. We are 

 led to say this because the subject 

 has recently been forced upon our 

 attention. It is quite useless to say 

 that American microscopes are better 

 than German or French ones. It is 

 not a question of what we consider 

 best. The practical question is, what 

 stand is, or will be, most in demand by 

 laboratory workers ? 



In Harvard Medical College — a 

 medical college which probably stands 

 deservedly higher than any other 

 medical school in the country — Hart- 

 nack microscopes are almost univer- 

 sally employed. In the seaside 

 laboratory at Annisquam, Hartnack 

 stands are prefcred. It is even 

 asserted, upon good authority, that 

 students who go to Germany with fine 

 American stands are almost sure to 

 discard them for German stands. 



Now, it becomes us to inquire 

 the reason for these facts. Mr. J. S. 

 Kingsley, in his book recently pub- 

 lished, the Naturalist's Assistant, says 

 that the simplest stand is the best, 

 and that American objectives cost too 

 much. These statements, and some 

 others made by the same author, will 

 rouse the indignation of our makers 

 of microscopes ; but it is a question 

 whether it would not be better to 

 accept the conditions and make stands 

 that are adapted to the wants of 

 students, rather than to attempt to 

 reform or educate the Harvard pro- 

 fessors up to an appreciation of the 

 excellency of American stands and 

 costly objectives. 



Let us look at this matter fairly. 

 It is useless to say that such men as 

 we find at Harvard do not know 

 what is best for their own use. They 

 find that a small, low stand is best. 

 Why ? liecause the kind of work they 

 do requires a stand that can be used 

 in an upright position with ease and 

 comfort. Substage accessories are, 

 for their work, generally useless, 



hence no additional space is required 

 beneath the stage. Say what we will 

 about the discomfort of a vertical 

 microscope, there is a great deal of 

 laboratory work in which the instru- 

 ment must be used in that position. 



Within a few years some of our 

 makers have introduced stands which 

 can be highly recommended for 

 laboratory work, and we have seen 

 many of them in colleges throughout 

 the country. 



As regards objectives, it is confi- 

 dently asserted that good Hartnack 

 lenses can be baught for less than cor- 

 respondingly good American lenses. 

 For ourselves we do not care to 

 venture an opinion upon this subject. 

 We give the opinions of others for 

 what they are worth. 



It seems not unlikely that they are 

 due to the wide-spread impression 

 that cheap American objectives are of 

 very inferior quality, and that our 

 makers can only produce good lenses 

 at a high price. We are aware this is 

 not true, but it is not " we " that buy 

 the objectives for the laboratories. 

 Then too, it is considered that if an 

 American objective is a good one it 

 must have a collar-adjustment, which 

 increases its cost. What is wanted 

 for laborator}' work is good objectives 

 without collar-adjustment to compete 

 with those of Hartnack, Zeiss, and 

 others. 



That we have them there is no 

 doubt, but it remains to convince 

 purchasers of the fact that they can 

 be sold equally cheap. We are not 

 advocating the use of inferior objec- 

 tives, but of good objectives with 

 lenses in fixed mountings. 



Errata. — We notice two typo- 

 graphical mistakes in the report of the 

 President's address before the New 

 York Microscopical Society, Page 6 

 col. I, line 6 from bottom, Circularc 

 should be cirailare. Page 66, col. 2, 

 line 8 from bottom, "organisms hi 

 which" should be "organisms on 

 which." 



