60 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[March, 



That the black-ground illumination obtainable by means of the Abbe 



condenser is not entirely satisfactory 

 v\ ith high power, or wide-angled ob- 

 jectives, need give the prospective 

 purchaser no uneasiness. The con- 

 denser is the best in existence, ex- 

 cept perhaps the oil-immersion of 

 Messrs. Powell and Lealand. of Lon- 

 *''3 11 don. And all of the special adap- 

 1" ^^S^^KKIB*^! / v"f t itions made in this country are equally 



y Wi good. Thev do not differ in their opti- 



\ .--' ssr- ,1 cal portions, except so far as the aper- 



ture is concerned, but in the manner 

 of introducing the diaphragms, which 

 affects only the price of the appliance, 

 and that in all the forms, seems unnec- 

 essarilv high. 



Mr. Zentmayer's modification of 

 the Abbe condenser is shown in the accompanying figure. 



Zentmayer's Abbe Condenser. 



A Land Title Settled by The Microscope. 



By W. D. BIDWELL, M. D., 



LEAVFNWORTH, KANSAS 



Yesterday a microscope decided the title to So acres of land. There 

 was verbal testimony on both sides of the case, but one party intro- 

 duced in evidence some lead pencil memoranda alleged to be of different 

 dates, but which his opponent claimed might have been prepared at 

 the same time. The microscope showed that there was a decided dif- 

 ference in the marks on each paper, — the one being made on a soft or 

 vielding surface, the other upon a hard and smooth surface ; one mark 

 was clear and square cut, the other irregular and uneven. An experi- 

 ment made yesterdav showed that marks made with the same pencil 

 under similar circumstances to those existing when the memoranda 

 were made produced results opposite to those present in the papers, 

 thus making it extremely probable that the tWo were written with dif- 

 ferent pencils as well as at different dates. Then again, on one mem- 

 orandum a figure 2 was made over a figure o, and the close resemblance 

 of the two marks in point of evenness and shading made it very prob- 

 able that the " 2" was made on the same day as the " o " as an after- 

 thought, and was not a correction made some months later as suggested 

 by opponent's counsel. Upon these appearances alone, confirming 

 each other as thev did, rested the decision in this case. Personally. I 

 should not like to rest my title to property on so slight a basis ; but 

 other testimony being equally balanced, and these two appearances 

 being confirmatory of each other and of the testimony of the witness of- 

 fering them, the judge decided in his favor, and, as I think, rightly. 



This case would probablv not have come to me for an opinion but 

 for a very interesting munler case a vear ago in which I testified as to 

 the character of certain stains on clothing. 



February 14, 18S0. 



