THE AMATEUR MICROSCOPIST DURING WARTIME. 65 



seen by the hand glass simply, and I was delighted to find that 

 the tall sergeant was getting quite able to distinguish a number 

 of different types of rotifer by their movement and size. Many 

 of my readers will perfectly understand that, on recalling to mind 

 the appearance of, say, a Philodina swimming or crawling, Syn- 

 chaeta, called the " swallow of the waters," Brachionus with tail 

 anchored and wagging its body violently, Pterodina of dainty 

 shape and almost disappearing edgewise, Anuraea with its ever- 

 lasting somersaults, Polyarthra skipping with the speed of light, 

 Triarthra with its long flashing sword blades and Euchlanis in 

 its glorious crystal armour. 



All the time it was becoming very obvious that we should have 

 to bring more instrumental power to bear, and as it did not seem 

 to be practical politics to get a valuable instrument out under 

 our uncertain conditions, I determined to rig up some makeshift 

 kind of microscope. With the object glasses of a pair of little 

 Galilean telescopes I made an objective of about 2-in. power, 

 and this tried with a brown-paper tube and wooden limb 

 gave such promise that I fitted up a wooden tripod stand with a 

 spot lens substage made from a 1-in. flash-lamp lens. On the 

 large wooden stage a sliding bar held by a pair of rubber bands 

 made a very efficient support for the slides, which were cut from 

 broken window glass with a file, the cover-glasses being of the 

 same material, and supported on the slip by three tiny pellets of 

 cobbler's wax. And so our first microscope was launched, the 

 beginning of what was known to those in the secret as the " Eoyal 

 Society." Shortly after this we got a Melicerta, and the first 

 seance with a candle and condenser in our little tent on the 

 hill-side to see Melicerta is unforgettable. The optics of this 

 extraordinary instrument would hardly pass the scrutiny of the 

 brass andglass experts, but after an aching desire for magnification 

 it was some solace to see a sizable picture. The dark-ground 

 effect was there of course, but the details reminded me of some 

 of Joblot's pictures, in which he got over these finicking minutiae 

 by drawing a man's face on the object. My glowing description 

 of the ciliary movement and the mastax, and the eagerness of such 

 a promising pupil to see them, however, did not let us rest con- 

 tent ; so after some tantalising delays I had sent out to me 

 a body and draw tube, 2/3rdand l/6thin. objectives, double nose- 

 piece and eyepiece, with a few excavated slips and cover-glasses. I 



