264 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Sep 



Notes on Microscopy. 



JOHN. H. COOKE, F. L. S., F. G. S. 



Micro-photography. — This is one of the simplest and 

 best methods known for making permanent records of mi- 

 croscopic studies. It is not, however, so universally used 

 as it should be, and this, not so much for the few difficul- 

 ties that it offers, as on account of the mistaken ideas as 

 to the cost of the apparatus required. Good work may 

 be done by a patient and skillful manipulator with an or- 

 dinary camera, or any. other makeshift arrangement; but 

 such good work would, in all probability, be rendered still 

 more valuable by the use of apparatus specially designed 

 for the work. The question of cost can no longer be con- 

 sidered seriously as an obstacle to its practice. There are 

 now several makers who are prepared to sell well-made 

 cameras for photo-micrographic work at prices consider- 

 ably less than the cost of an ordinary camera. Messrs. 

 Griffiths, Highgate Square, Birmingham, have a particu- 

 larly good apparatus, consisting of a well-made bellows 

 camera, extending from twelve to thirty inches, and at- 

 tached to a neat base, carrying camera, microscope, and 

 condensers. The object is readily focussed in any posi- 

 tion by means of a long, adjustable brass rod which is at- 

 tached to, and runs the whole length of the camera, and 

 which is connected with the milled head of the fine adjust- 

 ment screw of the microscope by means of a silk thread 

 passing over a grooved wheel at the end of the rod. It is 

 made in half-plate size with carriers for smaller-sized 

 plates, and its price places it within the reach of all. 



Camera. — The photography of living bacteria and other 

 cultures cannot be successfully accomplished with a hori- 

 zontal camera. The use of an upright apparatus is the best 

 but it is open to many objections, chief among which are 

 its instability, the difficulty of focussing, and the fatigue 

 it occasions the operator. Mr. Brightman, has devised a 



