48 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Feb., 



A Substitute for Spring Clips. 



By ARTHUR M. EDWARDS, M. D. 



NEWARK, N. J. 



I have an old microscope, an upright one, one of the 

 old French pattern, in fact it is the same as I first pos- 

 sessed over forty years ago, with achromatic lenses, 

 dividing, which has a stage with a fine adjustment fixed 

 to it. 



Last spring, I was using it as a finder for certain 

 b>w power objects. There were no spring clips to the 

 stage by means of which the object could be fixed. This 

 does not so much matter when the microscope is up- 

 right, but even then when using a lens of about one-half 

 inch focus it is difficult to fix the object. No matter how 

 careful you are the object will slide out of the way when 

 you let go of it. The movement is not easy and when a 

 mechanical stage is used it becomes impossible to fix it 

 entirely. 



Under these circumstances, I contrived the following 

 apparatus. I find it very useful and so I describe it for 

 the benefit of those who are also in want of something 

 of the same kind. 



I cut with a strong pair of scissors a strip from a 

 corset steel. Now this is poor steel but it cuts rather 

 easily and bends nicely. This strip is about as wide as 

 the spring clips usually are on the stages of microscopes, 

 that is to say a little wider than an eighth of an inch. 

 This is bent until it forms a spring. One end is rounded 

 off and this end is for the spring to fasten down the 

 slide to the stage. The other end is carried under the 

 stage flat to the opposite side of the stage. The whole 

 is bent down until it forms a spring. In this way an ex- 

 cellent spring clip is made and I really found it very ser- 

 vicable. This is a cheap spring clip, for it cost nothing 

 except the labor of cutting and the old corset spring. 



