THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS PARTS. 
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look grossly ill-balanced, and are no less so than they 
seem. Very line work has been done with stands such 
as these, but this has been due to the skill and patience 
of the workers rather than to the inherent excellence of 
the instruments. We have heard a rumour, and we 
hail it with pleasure, that the firm of Zeiss at least 
proposes to make and supply a stand better designed 
in these respects than their present pattern. 
Even when we have a proper base and a long body, 
there is evidently at least a theoretical danger of 
tremor at the ocular end of the tube, and to meet this 
Messrs. Swift and Son made, on lines suggested by the 
writer, the instrument fig. Here it will be noticed 
that not only is the body very long and solid, but the 
ocular end is supported by a trestle, the result being 
perhaps the most steady instrument ever produced. 
Mr. C. Baker carried out for us the same principle in 
the instrument fig.$f, which is the one we use regularly 
in our own practice. In these cases it is to be observed 
that the trestle is attached to the body support of the 
tube, and the support must be fairly long if the trestle 
support is to give the full advantage. If the support of 
the tube were short, the trestle would require to be so 
far forward that it would lose most of its value as a 
“ steadier.” 
At one time the common habit was to cause the fine 
adjustment rack to act on a nose-piece fitting inside 
the optic tube, but of late years the tendency has been 
to cause this adjustment to actuate the entire tube. 
Now evidently it is a dangerous principle to place on 
