Evening star., 1935-05-19
By James Nevin Miller.
Its too bad Washington can
not be moved to Chicago, even
If only for day"

<lTT's too bad Washington can
- not be moved to Chicago, even
If only for day"
L These were the words of a
certain local science teacher to
her high school class one morning
just before the Chicago World Fair
closed its countless gates.
The pedagogue was bewailing the
fact that every resident of the Dis
trict could not be given the privilege
of seeing the 'micro-zoo," a truly
sensational show of a sort never
heard Of before, devised and staged
at the fair by the famous German
biologist, Rommert.
On a movie screen the scientist
revealed the vast universe of the in
visible, that mysterious universe that
only the microscope can unfold. The
whole show" was performed by the
inhabitants of one-tenth of tumbler-
full of water!
Rommert chose to call his perform
ance a "micro-vivarium." BY means
of it the simple, lower forms of life
become the admiration of multitudes.
ameba and similar forms was what
the Zeiss planetarium has done for
the heavens. But his micro-zoo sur
passed the planetarium, for, strictly
speaking, that was not nature her
self. The stars on the artificial vault
of a planetarium are, after all, the
projections of electric lights. But the
microscopic forms that DR.. Rommert
threw on the screen in horrifytng
dimensions, some of them larger even
than q mans head, were the originals.
There was a bewildering movement
of color, weirdly waving fllaments,
frolicsome globes that bounced into
and through each other.
MO, WASHINGTON has no micro
= ZOO. But, more important than
that, we have innumerable micro
scope magicians," who live in an in
visible world of unsurpassed beauty.
microscopic Sherlocking," with ultra
modern touches, has proved its ef-
ficiency in improving and maintain
ing the health, comfort and happiness
of the Nation, thanks to the un-
heralded efforts of local Federal SCI
entists in secluded laboratories.
Did you ever see a dust particle
dancing? That is to say, did you
ever enter a dark room and suddenly
notice one or more tiny pieces OF
dust cavorting about in the air as a
result of a ray of sunlight that has
lust entered the room from the out
side? II you haven't, then you've
missed something surprisingly spec
tacular. The same principle Is in
volved In a new microscopic system,
now being used experimentally in
Federal laboratories, that utilizes the
so-called "darkground illumination" "
The object being studied stands out
in cleaning relief against a jet black
background.
Extremely helpful is the method in
studying minute living objects like
bacteria. Such transparent things
show up especially well and indeed
appear we'll nigh phosphorescent.
There's nothing complicated at all.
The scientist simply attaches little
radget to his instrument to take the
place Of his regular illumination ap-
paratus.
In q tiny office of the Bureau Of
Fisheries in the new Commerce Build
ing Miss Louella Gable, gifted artist,
is achieving quite a bit of success with
what she calls the camera lucida''
method. This requires the use of a
novel kind of microscope lens only
recently developed, piece OF tracing
paper and drawing pencil or artists
brush.
In actual practice, Miss Gable ex-
plains, with her left hand she adjusts
her lens, then gazes into it with expert
eye at some finny subject she's been
asked to draw. Meantime her right
hand is busily sketching the fish on
the tracing paper. BY means OF the
new device artists for the first time In
history are able to trace the outlines
Of an infinitesimally small subject
viewed under the microscope in all its
true proportions. In other words, the
precise size of the object as the artist
sees 1t under the microscope is the
one he transposes in twinkling onto
the drawing paper.
Microscope magicians are tremen-
dously interested in nemas. Do you
know what these are? Well, If all the
substances of the earth and the things
that flourish on it, with the exception
of the threadlike organisms known a:
nemas, could by a stroke of magic be
made invisible, it would still be possible
to distinguish the soil-covered parts o.
the earth, the streams, lakes ano
oceans, the insects, animals, birds
fishes, plants and humans. So wide
spread and abundant are these nemas
largely parasitic or predatory, that IL
this imagined world Of transparencie'
most living things-the blanket Of sol
on mountains, hills and plains, and TIT
great bodies of water-would be indi'
Gated by clouds of these living thread
which vary in length from small
fraction of an inch to several feet, ant
in diameter from that of the finest o
hairs to the thickness of a lead pencil
"A FANCIFUL picture, all this, hu
"A strictly true, Federal microscope
sleuths point out. Their research ma!
taught them that nemas are OF untolt
economic importance to agriculture
and to medicine.