Relative Merits of the English and German Objectives.

As to the relative merits of German-made objectives, no superiority can be claimed for them over those made by English opticians.

The Continental form of the ¹⁄₁₂-inch oil-immersion objective, shown in [Fig. 118], on the scale of 6 to 1, consists of four systems of lenses, namely, the front, a deep hemispherical crown lens of high refractive index; the second front of the system, an achromatic lens of such a form that it gathers the light from the hemispherical front; the middle lens, a single meniscus; and the back an achromatised lens, the second front of the back being connected in such a way as to compensate for the spherical and chromatic aberrations of the front lens.

The first homogeneous immersion objective which came under my observation was manufactured in the well-known Jena workshop of Carl Zeiss, December, 1877. This had a very considerable increase of numerical aperture, upwards of 50 per cent.; a clear gain, as an oil angle of even 110° proved to be of greater value than an angle of 180° in air, while the resolving power of the objective was increased in like proportion. There does not at present appear to be a bar to the construction of objectives of yet higher power, with increase of aperture. The available course open in this direction is the further discovery of another vitreous material and a suitable immersion fluid with an index of 1·8 or 1·9, and glass with a corresponding index, so as to ensure homogeneity of the combination. Zeiss asserts that in the more difficult departments of microscopical research the apochromatic lenses will supplant the older objectives, yet there are many problems in microscopy awaiting solution which do not demand the highest attainable degree of perfection in the objective, and in the majority of cases the older achromatic objective is all that is needful, provided it is good of its kind. The achromatic objectives and eye-pieces of the older type have still an advantage, as, owing to their simpler construction, really good lenses of the class required can be purchased at considerably lower prices than the objectives of the new series. These, from being more complicated in construction, involve a greater amount of skilled manual labour.

Fig. 118.—The Continental ¹⁄₁₂-in. Oil-immersion Combination (enlarged diagram).

The German glasses of to-day afford satisfactory evidence both of skill and workmanship displayed in their production. Their cost is greater, then, for the reason given, as will be seen on reference to Continental catalogues. The dry series of objectives cost somewhat less, a ½-inch (numerical aperture 0·30) can be had for £1 10s., and a ¹⁄₆-inch (numerical aperture 0·65) for £2. On the other hand, the apochromatic series rapidly increase in price as the numerical aperture approaches the limit of numerical aperture 0·40. The best of Zeiss’s series are the 12 mm. (½-inch) and the 3 mm. (¹⁄₈-inch), numerical aperture 1·4, both of which possess the optical capacity assigned to them. These objectives are undoubtedly the finest to be met with in the workshop of any optician. Achromatic objectives of Continental manufacture have been as much improved as those of English make by the introduction of the newer varieties of glass, as already explained, while a new nomenclature has sprung up in consequence. We now have semi-apochromatic and parachromatic. The German opticians have followed Zeiss’s lead, since almost the same series of objectives are given in the catalogues of Leitz, Reichert, and Seibert, while the quality of both dry and immersion objectives is found to be much the same. The low price of Reichert’s immersion objectives should be noted, as their performance is quite perfect. A ¹⁄₁₂-inch (numerical aperture 1·30) of Leitz’s, with which I have worked at bacteria, has given me much satisfaction; supplied by Watson and Baker at £5. A ¹⁄₁₂-inch dry objective by the same maker (numerical aperture 0·87) costs £3, and a water immersion ¹⁄₁₂-inch (numerical aperture 1·10) £3 5s. Leitz reminds me that it requires a good lens of from six to seven hundred magnifying power for the examination of bacteria. For this reason he has constructed a new form of lens, a ¹⁄₁₀-inch oil-immersion of 2·5 mm. focus, for the purpose of adding to the resources of bacteriology. This lens necessarily has a lower magnification than his former ¹⁄₁₂-inch oil-lens, but as it is less costly to manufacture it is sold at a smaller price. The before-mentioned ¹⁄₁₂-inch, with a No. 3 compensating eye-piece, gives a magnification of over seven hundred or eight hundred diameters. To secure the best results in using the higher powers of Leitz’s, from No. 5 upwards, a cover-glass of 0·17 mm. in thickness should be used, and care taken to make the length of the draw-tube equal to 170 mm. This length of tube should be adhered to in the use of this optician’s oil-immersion lenses. If the microscope be provided with a nose-piece, the draw-tube should be drawn out to 160 mm.; in its absence it should be set at 170 mm., a deviation of 10 mm. or more from the correct tube-length deteriorates from the value of Leitz’s oil-immersion objectives as of other opticians. It is suggested that the German apochromatic combination of three cemented lenses is that adopted by Steinheil long before, in the construction of his well-known hand-magnifier (see page 77, [Fig. 51]). Zeiss’s 3 mm. objective has a triple front, balanced by two triple backs—in all nine lenses—a somewhat amplified diagram of which is represented in [Fig. 118]. The formula for this combination was furnished by Tolles, of Boston, America, and it at once secured increase of aperture (the value of this optician’s many contributions to microscopy has since his death been generally acknowledged). The metrical equivalent focus assigned by Zeiss to his series of dry achromatic objectives is given in somewhat ambiguous terms, which tend to confuse rather than classify them; for instance, two lenses of the same aperture—24 mm. and 16 mm.—corresponding to the English 1-inch and ²⁄₃-inch, each have assigned to them an aperture of 0·30; a 12 mm. and 8 mm., corresponding to the English ½-inch and ¹⁄₃-inch, have an aperture of 0·65; while a 6 mm. = ¼-inch, and a 4 mm. = ¼-inch and ¹⁄₆-inch, have each an aperture of 0·95.

Nachet exhibited at the Antwerp Exhibition a fine ¹⁄₁₀-inch oil-immersion, which was highly praised by the jurors.

It is necessary, to make the fact perfectly clear, that dry and immersion lenses having the same angular aperture have also a similar defining power. The pencil of rays, however, differs in intensity and density as the rays emerging from the cover-glass of the object into air are very considerably deflected, and the cone suffers a corresponding loss of brightness. On this important point, then, I believe it will prove of value to interpolate a clear and full exposition of the change brought about by the cover-glass.

It is not difficult, then, to perceive the importance of Amici’s discovery as to the value of a drop of water inserted between the object and the objective, and it now seems somewhat surprising it should have been so long neglected by opticians, since it is at once seen to diminish the reflection which takes place in the incidence of oblique light. The film of water not only gives increased aperture, but also greater cleanness and sharpness to the image. The film, then, as already shown, collects the straying away of peripheral rays of light, and sends them on to the eye-piece, and greatly assists in rendering the image more perfect, and materially aids in the removal of residuary secondary aberrations; while with air, or dry objectives, a certain amount of aberration takes place, sufficient to affect the pencils on their passage from the radiant to the medium of the front lens, adding a considerable ratio to the total spherical aberration with the objective, which, in the case of wide angles, increases disproportionately from the axis outwards. This can only be corrected by a rough method of balancing; that is, by introducing an excess of opposite aberration in the posterior lens. An uncorrected residuum, rapidly increasing with larger apertures, is then left, and this appears in the image amplified by the total power of the objective, so that with a non-homogeneous medium there is a maximum angular aperture which cannot be surpassed without undergoing a perceptible loss of definition, provided working distance is required. If we abolish the anterior aberration for all colours, by an immersion fluid which is equal to cover-glass in refractive and dispersive power, the difficulty is at once overcome. If, for instance, we have an objective of 140° in glass (= 1·25 N.A.) and water as the immersion fluid, the aberration in front would affect a pencil of 140°. Substituting a homogeneous medium, the same pencil, contracted to the equivalent angle in that medium of 112°, will be admitted to the front lens without any aberration, and may be made to emerge from the curved surface also without any disturbing aberration, but contracted to an angle varying from 70° to 90°. The first considerable spherical aberration of the pencil then occurs at the anterior surface of the second lens, where the maximum obliquity of the rays is already considerably diminished.

Fig. 119.

Fig. 119a.

[Figs. 119] and 119a will doubtless make this clearer. If the objective of 140° works with water ([Fig. 119]), there would be a cone of rays extending up to 70° on both sides of the axis, and this large cone would be submitted to spherical aberration at the front surface a. But with homogeneous immersion [Fig. 119]a) the whole cone of 112° is admitted to the front lens without any aberration, there being no refraction at the plane surface; and as the spherical surface of the front lens is without notable spherical aberration, the incident pencil is brought from the focus F to the conjugate focus F′, and contracted to an angle of divergence of 70°-90° without having undergone any spherical aberration at all.

The problem of correcting a very wide-angled objective has thus been reduced by the homogeneous oil-immersion system, both in theory and practice.[23]