Fig. 164.—Triple Nose-pieces.
That the finder has been of use may be surmised from the number invented and figured in the “Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society.” By far the most useful form is that of graduating the plates of the mechanical stage, dividing a certain portion into 100 parts. Powell and Lealand have adopted this system in their No. 1 stands, while Baker and Watson have added a graduated scale on silver to 1⁄100th mm. as a finder, and also a stage micrometer in 1⁄10th and 1⁄100th of a millimetre, together with a Maltwood finder for lodging the position of any desired portion of a specimen under examination.
The Maltwood finder ([Fig. 165]) can be used with any microscope, and without a mechanical stage. This useful finder continues to occupy a permanent place among the accessories of the microscope. It consists of a glass slide, 3 × 1¼ inches, on which is photographed a scale occupying a square inch; this is divided by horizontal and vertical lines into 2,500 squares, each of which contains two numbers marking its “latitude,” or place in the vertical series, and its “longitude,” or place in the horizontal series. The scale is in each instance an exact distance from the bottom and left-hand end of the glass slide; and the slide, when in use, should rest upon the ledge of the stage of the microscope, and be made to abut against a stop, a simple pin, about an inch and a half from the centre of the stage.
Fig. 165.—Maltwood’s Finder.
Dr. Pantacsek’s finder appears to have some advantage over Maltwood’s, but it cannot be used with the same facility, and therefore will not displace an old favourite. The Amyot finder I have long had in use; it is efficient and inexpensive—can indeed, if misplaced or lost, be replaced by the aid of the square and compasses.
Fig. 166.—Amyot’s Object Finder.
The Okeden finder consists of two graduated scales, one vertical, attached to the fixed stage-plate, the other horizontal, attached to an arm carried by the intermediate plate; the first of these scales enables the worker to “set” the vertically-sliding plate to any determinate position in relation to the fixed plate, while the second gives the power of setting the horizontally-sliding plate by that of the intermediate.
Micrometers.—It is of the utmost importance to have a means of measuring with accuracy the objects, or part of objects, under observation. The most efficient piece of apparatus for the purpose is the micrometer eye-piece, the earlier form of which, Jackson’s, has been described under the heading Eye-pieces (p. 144). In the case of micrometers, as in that of most other accessories, every optician has his own adaptation and method of employing the same.