The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-01-09

j. j. Woodland of the Army Medical Museum
at Washington, the existence of these lines
admits of mathematical demonstration based
upon the known wave length of the colour seen
in these bands under certain conditions of
light, and when examined by an objective of
the microscope too low to show any of the
lines of the band. The distance between the
lines determined in this way agrees with that
at which Nobert ruled the lines, and leaves, as
DR.. Woodward thinks, emo room for the possi-
bility Of donbt of the objective reality of the
lines up to the fifteenth band" and that as a
result of similar methods of reasoning, she has
no hesitation in expressing the opinion that the
four higher bands Q6th, 18th, 18th and 19th)
have also an objective reality
As examples Of fns writing upon glass as
test objects for high power objeotfves of the
microscope two only will be mentioned: one
made by VIM. Webb of London, the other by
N. Peters of the same city. DR.. j. J. Wood
ward is the authority from whom the following
statements are derived. He says that the Army
Medical Museum received from Mr.. Webb two
samples Of his fine writing. In each the writ
ing is on the under side of thin glass cover,
ooS"AoN w III oANtAoAy SAoHo cAiuC buIco IuCucS
long by ons wide. The inscription upon both
covers is identical and is arranged as follows:
written with Diamond, by VIM. Webb.
London, England,
10 the order OF DR.. j. j. Woodward"
Then comes the Lords Prayer in full, and be.
low 1T
"For the Army Medical Museum,
Washington, ID. c."
Both the slides are labelled with the following
words, boldly written with diamond so as to
be quite legible to the naked eye.
s'Webb's Test-The Lords Prayer. 227 letters In
the l-294x144lth Of inch, or the 1-129 654th Of
an inch, which is more than Bibles, the Bible con
tanning 565, 45S letters.''
DR.. Woodward has made q Photo Micro
graph of this writing and placed it under
another of the first six bands Of Nobert's Test.
Mollers Diatoms, upwards of four hundred in
number, are apparently not at all crowded, as
seen by an inch objective, and yet are con-
tanned in asquare whose sides are exactly one
eighth of an inch long. DR.. Woodward
has carefully measured the whole of the
above inscription on Mr.. Webb's slide
and finds that itoccupies square with side
of 1-75th of an inch. The Prayer is in much
finer writing than the rest of the inscription
and after very careful measurement, Dr. W.
concludes that it corresponds very closely with
Mr.. Webb's dimensions as legibly written upon
the slide.
Mr.. N. Peters, a BANKER of London, has de-
vised machine with which he produced writ.
ing still more minute. It is constructed upon
the principle of the Pentagraph, the long arm
of the lever being connected with pencil,
while the short arm bore the diamond point
with which the fine writing was to be executed.
As result Of Mr.. Peters various impreve-
ments, Mr.. Farrants, President of the Micro
scopical Society of London gives the following
account: "The Lords Prayer has been writ.
ten and may be read in 1855, OOOth of an Eng
lish square inch. The measurements of one of
these specimens were verified by Doctor Bower
bank, distinguished scientist of London.
Some idea of ths minuteness of the characters
in these specimens may bs obtained from the
statement that the whole Bible and Testament,
in writing of the same size, may be placed TWEEN
ty-two times on the surface of square inch.
The grounds for this startling assertion are as
follows: The Bible and Testament together, 10
the English language, are said to contain $685.
4SO letters. The number of letters in the
Lords Prayer, as written, ending with the sem
tence. stDeliver Us from evip' is 223, whence as
223 -l''9s2
it appears that the Bible and Testament TO-
gether contain the same number of letters as
the Lords Prayer, written 10000 times; If then
the prayer was written 10 1-16, OOoth of an inch,
the Bible and Testament, in writing of the
same size would be contained by one square
inch; but as 1856. 900 is less than the 1-22d
part of -15,992d of an inch, it follows that the
Bible and Testament, in writing of that size,
would occupy less space, then 1-22d of square
inch in other words, the writing is so small
that in similar characters, the Bible and Testa-
ment together could be written twenty-five
times in the space of one English square inch. :"
DR.. Woodward adds that eff these state
ments of Mr.. Farrants are accurate aud 1
know, at present, Of no reason for thinking the
contrary, the writing by Mr.. Peters was sever.
al times finer than that of of Mr. Webb.
These are truly wonderful statements, but we
are compelled to admit the correctness of them
atathe same time We cannot cease to be aston
ished at the skill and ingenuity that could per-
feet an instrument capable of producing such
results.
After all it is at this point that the wonder
ceases for the proper machine being given, 1t
is easy to comprehend how Nobert may rule
his lines 1-20,O 00th of Paris line apart as
he asserts that he has In his new slide of twenty
bands, or how Webb and Peters may write in
characters so enthusiastically small. but one
can never Cease to wonder that the b and of any
man can be taught t, handle natural objects
some of them almost or quite as small as
these characters, examine, cleanse, place
and fix them upon glass with the
mathematical precision of the letters of a
printed page. Such and many other difficult
ties there were in the formation of one of Mol
ler's slides of Diatoms, and We cannot, after all
that has now been said, refrain from consider
ing it, as we have already pronounced it, fore