Morris tribune., 1897-09-15
HOMEMADE MICROSCOPE
How TO Manufacture Magnifying Glass
For Gents. M

For Gents. MS &
TO make a microscope for a nickel
on less is a comparatively easy task
and an interesting one The first
step is to buy some little hollow
glass balls with stems to them; they
are used in the manufacture of arti-
fetal flowers. AS they are sold for
song, buy several, in order to have
a choice - one that is free from
scratches or bubbles. Make tenn
porary handle for the little globule
by cutting slit through the middle
of flat stick, about as thick as a
match and four times as broad, in
sorting the stem of the little globe
in the slit.
A candle and a cup of perfectly
clean, boiled water are next needed.
Hold the globe stem upward, about
three inches above the candle, until
it is very warm, then plunge it down
ward into the cup Of water and hold
it there for a few seconds, or until it
is filed with water. Wipethe outside
perfectly dry and hold the globe
again over the candle until the water
boils.
You must now plungeit once more
| into the cold water, when, il the
water is boiling, the little apparatus
becomes completely flledas it cools.
If any air remain in the globe, re-
peat the boiling and plunging into
water. Then at once fill up the end
with beeswax and touch with seal
ing wax, to make it water tight
The next operation is to fit a hold
er to the lens, for such it is now that
it is filed with water.
Take a round, smooth cork-one
from wide bottle. Cut off from the
best end apiece trife larger than
the diameter of the little lens. The
two fiat faces of the cork should be
quite parallel, otherwise the image
formed by the lens will beindistinct.
Next bore hole through the center
of the cork cylinder, to make it into
a tube. The best way to do this is
to commence the hole with a redhot
wire and then enlarge it with tiny
penknife.
Having made the cork cylinder
to your liking, enlarge the hole at
one end and cut a slitin the fiat por-
ton to admit the stem of the lens,
so that the surface of the globe is
almost, but not quite, level with the
other fat surface of the cork.
The lens must first be blackened
so as to destroy the ''false light, =
which would have the effect of blur
ring the image This is done by
painting the lens and its stem. with
the exception of two circles, which
must be exactly opposite each other,
with a mixture of india ink, water,
gum arabic and sugar. When dry,
insert the lens in its place and fix it
in its position by a slight touch of
gum here and there.
A neat slip of cork should be gum
med into the slit formed for the in
sertion of the stem. Now the lens
holder must be fitted with dia-
phragms. Cut from thin card
board two circles the size of the ends
of the lens holder and cut from their
centers holes about the size of pea.
Paint them black and glue them on
each end of the lens holder.
A paper tube and glass slides, for
use in examining the objects to be
magnifed, are made by twisting pa
per into tube, which is glued to
the lens holder. About an eighth of
an inch from one end of the tube
cut two Sits, exactly opposite to
each other, quarter of an inch in
length and in breadth equal to the
thickness of two of the slips of glass,
which must be of the thinnest quail
ity, a quarter Of an inch wide and
an inch and a half long.
After these labors are completed,
behold, little microscope which
magnifies objects about 25 times! To
examine fly wing, for instance
and of course only very small OBJ
jects are adapted to this microscope
put it on one of theglass slides, COW
ering it with the other, fastening
the edges all around with sealing
wax. Place the slide in the object
holder SO that the object is exactly
opposite the hole in the diaphragm
and hold the whole apparatus up to
the light, sliding the object holder
back and forth until distinct vision
is obtained. Eleanor Lexington in |