THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



Vol,. XV. AUGUST, 1894. No. 8. 



A New Support for the Microscope. 



• By R. B. COUTANT, M. D. 



TARRYTOWN, N. Y. 

 WITH FRONTISPIECE. 



Every microscopist who uses his instrument in an up- 

 right position, has felt the need of a suitable support for 

 it, one in which the problems of height, compactness, 

 stability and the means of illumination are satisfactorily 

 solved. No dealer in accessories supplies such an article 

 and workers are forced to improvise one when occasion 

 requires. An appliance specially devised for the purpose 

 is seldom met with outside of well equipped laboratories 

 and is not always to be found in them. The writer, after 

 employing various make-shifts, invented the stand about 

 to be described which answers all the purposes for which 

 it was designed and besides is attractive in appearance. 



The support is intended for the use of microscopes of 

 large or small size in either an upright or an inclined 

 position. It consists of two wooden boxes, triangular 

 prisms in shape, one of which slides within the other 

 and adds ten inches to the height of the stand when fully 

 drawn out. Means are provided for securely fixing the 

 movable box at any point within this limit. The stand is 

 vertical in position and when in use is placed wedgewise 

 between the legs of the observer, permitting a close 

 approach to it and the use of an instrument in the erect 

 position without fatigue. 



The inner box supports a double top between the layers 

 of which a lamp-carrier swings horizontally through an 



