COMMON OBJECTS WORTH EXAMINING. 275 



employment for his pocket-lens, he may at first feel that 

 his compound microscope will never afford him either 

 amusement or instruction. How glaring and how laugh- 

 able will such a mistake appear after six months' use 

 of the instrument ! When recommending a friend to 

 purchase a microscope, he will speak of that conclusion 

 as an amusing episode in his life. Yet the beginner, 

 especially if alone, or if without even a friend to sug- 

 gest, or an experienced microscopist to instruct, must 

 necessarily be somewhat at a loss as to how to make a 

 start, and I know of no remedy for this unpleasant feel- 

 ing except to experiment. Take the first small object 

 that may be convenient, place it on a glass slip, and ex- 

 amine it with a low-power objective ; add a drop of wa- 

 ter, cover it with a thin glass square, and note the change 

 in its appearance. But do not imitate the man who re- 

 turned his microscope to the manufacturer because, as 

 he said, it would not show the crystals in sugar. After 

 much questioning it was discovered that he had placed a 

 huge lump of loaf-sugar on the stage, expecting that the 

 crystals would at once be conspicuous. And do not imi- 

 tate the man who put on his stage a piece of anthracite 

 coal direct from the bin, expecting it to reveal its vegeta- 

 ble nature and fern fragments or impressions without 

 any previous preparation. A lump of sugar or of coal 

 is a dark object when an attempt is made to throw light 

 through it by a microscope mirror, yet both are beau- 

 tiful ami interesting when viewed as opaque objects, 

 with the light reflected on them from the mirror swung 

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