226 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[December, 



Notes From Abroad. 



Although the Editor, ckiring his 

 sojourn in London, was unable to visit 

 many persons engaged in the manufac- 

 ture of microscopical apparatus whose 

 acquaintance he would most gladly 

 have formed, he found time to call upon 

 some of the most celebrated makers 

 of microscopes, and was greatly inter- 

 ested in many things — so many, in- 

 deed, that only a small proportion of 

 them can be mentioned in this article. 



The first optical establishment visit- 

 ed was that of Messrs. Ross & Co., 

 where we saw the various operations 

 of lens grinding, and where we had 

 the satisfaction of meeting Mr. F. H. 

 Wenham, who has been the presiding 

 genius of the microscopical depart- 

 ment for many years. 



At present Messrs. Ross & Co. are 

 not producing many objectives for the 

 microscope, having confined them- 

 selves mainly to improving their stands, 

 which have reached a high degree of 

 perfection, as our readers already know 

 from the descriptions published from 

 time to time in these columns. As 

 regards the optical appliances for the 

 microscope, however, they have not 

 been idle. On the contrary, for 

 months Dr. Schroder has been at work 

 for them, calculating the curves for a 

 series of objectives which Messrs. 

 Ross & Co. expect will be far su- 

 perior to any lenses yet seen. Whether 

 these expectations will be fully realized 

 remains to be seen. There are some 

 persons in England who affect to de- 

 spise the work of a great mathematician 

 and scientific optician who presumes 

 to produce objectives for the micro- 

 scope by calculation. They may be 

 wise in their own conceit for a time, 

 but we can have no sympathy for them 

 if, in the end, they find themselves 

 left behind. Certainly the enterprise, 

 and spirit of appreciation of strictly 

 scientific labor, shown by Messrs. 

 Ross & Co. in engaging the services 

 of Dr. Schroder, in the hope of im- 

 proving the microscope, as well as 

 other optical apparatus of their manu- 



facture, deserves to be cheerfully re- 

 cognized by every one. 



It is with no little satisfaction, there- 

 fore, that we are able to announce 

 that already there is sufficient evidence 

 to justify their expectations. We have 

 seen two new objectives, a half-inch 

 of 40° and a one-inch of 30°, in shop 

 mountings, made according to form- 

 ulas calculated by Dr. Schroder, 

 which were so exceedingly good that 

 we w'ould unhesitatingly pronounce 

 them to be the best we ever saw. 

 This is, indeed, not the verdict of a 

 thorough and extended trial ; but we 

 cannot resist the impression that it 

 would be fully borne out by further 

 examination. Both objectives were 

 made with two systems of lenses, and 

 a half-inch with an angular aperture 

 of 60° with three systems, is to be 

 made as one of the series. It is, per- 

 haps, just to add that these objectives 

 are not yet to be obtained, as many 

 more calculations have to be made 

 before the series is complete, and the 

 manufacturers prefer not to receive 

 orders until they are prepared to fill 

 them. 



Perhaps few microscopists visit Lon- 

 don without making a call at the well- 

 known establishment of Messrs. R. & 

 J. Beck. We spent half a day very 

 agreeably with Mr. Kemp at the manu- 

 factory, where we saw the entire pro- 

 cess of making stands and objectives. 

 Messrs. R. & J. Beck have, probably, 

 the largest plant in England, and they 

 turn out about a thousand microscopes 

 in the course of a year. Their stands 

 are so well known in this country, 

 through the wide distribution of Mr. 

 Walmsley's catalogues, that it would 

 be superfluous to describe any of them 

 here. It was exceedingly interesting 

 to see the ingenious machinery used 

 in turning out and smoothing the rough 

 brass castings to make a beautifully 

 finished stand. Of all the manufac- 

 tories Ave visited, that of Messrs. R. 

 & J. Beck was the most interesting and 

 best arranged. 



Mr. Crouch seems to be doing a 

 large business, and he has some excel- 



