The Mineral argus., 1884-06-26
AN HOUR WITH A MICROSCOPE.
An Unseen World Around Us-sights a
High-power Lens viii Afford.

OnlCdSo hcAdAu.
al suppose there never was a time
when the general interest in microscopy
was so great as at present." said the
acknowledgements in the city to
the Herald reporter. at will take me six
weeks or two months to fill the orders l
have on hand, and they keep coming in.
Ihave orders from all parts of the world.
Here is a very fine instrument intended
for Japan; there is another that is 60
ing to London. / have also a number
making for residents of the city. Our
M-icroscopical Society is in quite a -four
ishing condition, having over n hun-
bred members. Quite a number belong
to the London Microscopical Society;
in fact, we have more members of that
society than any other city in the Unit
ed States. There are a few of our
number who may be called professional
m~icroscopists. We also have some very
skillful amateurs. A prominent law
yer, resident of the North Side, has sew
eraI very fine instruments, and is very
active. l made an instrument not long
since for a son of Congressman Adams,
duu ali buIOuBA bhC ClOa bACAC - Jung
people, and old people, too, who are
beginning to learn that there is an I'M
seen world around us well worth look
ing at"
"What is the cost of good instru-
ment?"
"That depends on the amount of work
put on it and the magnifying power.
They range in price from $50 to $500.
A great many persons think that they
must have the highest magnifying power
in order to have the most enjoyment.
That is a great mistake. With. a high
power lens you could not take in the
whole of a fy's eye, let alone his port
ly presence. You could not see all of
his proboscis. You could not take in
the vast dimensions of a grain of sand.
For a beginner that is of no use. He
should first see the object in its entirety
before studying it in detail. Lenses run
In magnifying power all the way from
ten diameters up to 1900 or 1000. Here
is one that magniied twenty diameters.
Now look at this object" The reporter
adjusted his eye to the instrument and
saw a c~urious looking insect, yellow1sh
in color, with two great bullying eyes
and quite a sharp p-oboscis. 1t looked
about the size of a wasp, but had SIX
remarkably long legs and no wings.
"That," said the op~tician, lis a cat flea.
You cans see the whole of it clearly, and
can study it in detail. You can see
what long legs it has. If you could
lump as high in proportion toyour body
as it can. YOU could Jump over the moon
very nearly. Now, look at it through
this seventy five power glass. You car
only see a part of it. With a still high
err power you could only see one OF the
hairs on its legs, or n of those smaller
heas that Dean Swift speaks Of
AS naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller f1eas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em
And so proceed, ad infinitum.
at show you this as an illustration o
what I mean-that a beginner does no
want high power lenses to commend
with. When it m to fine and acien
tifc study with a trained eye, then tn
high powers come in. Yes, sir, it take
a trained eve to do reliable work wit
the microscope. What a Iendall or
Pasteur sees is one thing; what som
DR.. Fiddle-dee-dee sees, or don't see l
quite another. The apparent increas
In size given to an object is spoken {
in diameters. We say an object is mag
nifed SO many ~diameters, meaning tn
iineal measure across it in any direC
ton. As you see that cat flea throug
this 75-power lens it is magnified
diameters. A cat flea you can see wit
the naked eye; it is about the same
size as the human flea. Now, 1 wi
show you something that the naked ey
never could have discovered"
The reporter looked and saw VIII
appeared to be a dozen pieces of vel
slender white cord, each probably ha
an inch long, coiled oil tied up In loo
knots.
"Those are trichin@, taken from
unfortunate lad in Michigan, who, ha
ing made his supper on raw pork, T.
denizens of the raw pork turned aroul
and made asupper on him. The me
al IS: Be sure and see that your tricl
nae is thoroughly done brown befo
you undertake to digest them. Tn
Are an insignificant sort of worm, b
can not take them on the half-she
yo@S N look at them there they seem
lenty Of room, but you see
nav ace they are in is not as lar
tS a "a Il your lead pencil. No
= sns ! uorv beautiful obiSct. That
nere of In tterfy's wing.e
= The reporter Rocked and saw 3 m
titude of beautiful httie iea'nerS' !"