1891.] 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



157 



A Consideration of Some of the Parts of a Microscope Stand, of 

 Interest to Pharmacists.* 



By Dr. H. M- WHELPLEY, F. R. M. S., 



ST. LOUIS, MO. 



There is a constant increase in the number of pharmacists who study 

 the use of the microscope as it is applied to the drug business. This, 

 pf course, has the effect of causing a greater demand for instruments 

 which are employed in drug stores. I have sometimes thought that an 

 enterprising manufacturer of optical goods would place on the market 

 a microscope especially designed for the use of pharmacists, or, at least, 

 one that could be advertised as being especially a " druggists' micro- 

 scope." It is not probable that, as yet, the demand from pharmacists 

 has become sufficiently great to attract the special attention of manu- 

 facturing opticians. I do not consider this, as might be expected, a 

 source of regret ; for, in reality, the pharmacist does not require a 

 special instrument, rigged with novel devices and decked with new ac- 

 cessories. The needs of the druggists are met by the microscopes 

 which are already in the market. In selecting an instrument, the first 

 thing for consideration is the stand. With a good stand for work, the 

 druggist is ready to add and make use of such quality of optical parts 

 as his requirements may suggest and his means justify ; but with a poor 

 stand the possessor is always at a disadvantage, even with the bestof 

 optical parts. 



Griffith Club Microscope. 



The stand may be defined as a compound microscope without opti- 

 cal parts. Since the optical parts are the only esential portion of a 

 microscope, and we can do no work whatever without them, this may 

 seem like defining a gun as the portion of that fire-arm without lock, 

 stock, or barrel ; but such is not the case. The stand is devised solely 

 for the purpose of using the optical parts to the best advantage. There- 

 fore, any one can readily see that the more perfect the stand the greater 

 the amount of work to be accomplished with the complete instrument, 



*Read before the St. Louis Club of Microscopists. 



