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New! *From:* "nghy"nghy@email.msn.com

Hello Tony,

Thanks for the reply to my email. Frankly, your members have far more experience to share with me than I can offer them.

About 15 years ago when my children were about 6-7 years old, I decided to purchase for fun and education, a telescope and microscope that were quality scientific instruments, not toys. The telescope we settled on was a Celestron C8 which was commercially available and offered the hobbyist a serious new instrument at an affordable price. The market for hobbyist microscopes did not parallel the market for hobbyist telescopes. At the time microscope manufacturers offered hobbyists relatively little performance at quite substantial prices. The rest of the market consisted of industrial and academic grade instruments at impractical prices.

The desire to own a microscope was fulfilled when I took advantage of the wonderful second hand market for older quality instruments retired from industry and actively traded by hobbyists. I started off with a badly abused grey body of a Bausch and Lomb DynaZoom for $25 and a mismatched group of modern eyepieces and used objectives from other manufacturers. They were not suited to each other. Slowly, I began to collect the means to restore the microscope to near its original performance. I found the manual that provided information about the various optional attachments, compatibilities and operating instructions. I dismantled the scope for cleaning and lubrication. Eventually, I located the needed compensating eyepieces, a set of apochromat objectives, a replacement for the top lens in the Abbe condenser, a cardioid dark field condenser, the necessary light source filters, a phase contrast set and other optional attachments.

The instrument has been a joy for me and my children. We have gone "wild game hunting" at the local pond, learned why we have to brush our teeth and wash our hands; and advanced to science fair level projects. It has become a tool to be relied upon to obtain direct answers to questions commonly debated. When my youngest son became interested in photography he used the microscope to analyze the types of film and the resolution of his camera lenses drawing his own conclusions and speaking knowledgeably to others on the subject. Soon after my first microscope purchase, I obtained a Bausch and Lomb stereo microscope for dissections and we began to observe the three dimensional details of engravings, crystals, coins and stamps. The DynaZoom series following the grey bodied models introduced the flat field objectives and had black bodies.

My latest project is to provide a B&L black flat field DynaZoom in pristine condition for my youngest son who will be applying to medical school soon. The B&L DynaZoom must have been a very popular industrial microscope in its day, judging by the large numbers of them found at the swap shows, available at microscope service shops and on internet auction sites in our area. I'm sure many more are still in service. This model is a solid quality instrument made to high standards by B&L when that company was still a major supplier of instruments that it designed and manufactured in its own factories. A most interesting feature of this microscope was the 1X-2X parfocal zoom built into the main optical path. The zoom feature offered a way to utilize the full resolution offered by high N.A. objectives without having to change from the 10X eyepieces to other higher powered eyepieces. Even without the Zoom feature, this scope became one of the most imitated designs of its day and to the present. Practically all of the major manufacturers marketed microscopes with similar appearance, layout and features.

Best regards,

Aaron Messing

Aaron - this is interesting stuff. It's so nice to hear how a parent has successfully interested his children in the natural world. I'm not familiar with the B&L DynaZoom and I'm going to gently twist your arm for some more details and especially pictures of what sounds like an intriguing instrument. How about it?

New! From: Chuck Huck - huck_enterprises@hotmail.com

Tony----I am in the process of joining the OMC--sending a check in tomorrow's mail. Peter was kind enough to send me a sample of the Bulletin, which I found fascinating indeed. I'm looking forward to being a member, commencing January 2001. I find the club very interesting and look forward to receiving the publications. I live 35 miles west of Chicago and certainly wish we had microscopical groups in this country. I am retired but may at some time in the future contribute something to your bulletins/journals.

Anyway,

best regards,

Charles Huck

Welcome to the Quekett! Glad you found the bulletin interesting, and I hope you will find the Web pages equally so! I get the impression that you are a professional, even if retired (?). What was/is your branch of expertise or interest, and how about an article for the Web pages? Yes, America is a big country and I suppose you can hardly operate like the Netherlands Microscopical group whose members travel from all over the country to attend their meetings! There is an active NY Microscopical Society - I correspond regularly with Jean Portell thereof, whose great interest is water bears (tardigrades), but I guess Chicago is a long way from NY. I hope that the Internet will prove a great way for people like yourself to keep in touch with others of similar interests. I see there's a 'State Microscopical Society of Illinois' - would that be anywhere near you?

From: Bill Murray - petrabill@sympatico.ca

Hello

My name is Bill Murray. I was trying to find some information about the microscope I use at work. It is a Vickers 55 by Cooke. I was unable to come up with much of anything while piddling around on the web. I am a research technician at Timminco Metals. We produce magnesium, strontium and calcium metals and a bunch of extrusion and casting alloys. I use the microscope for metallographic analysis of samples we produce. It is a very good 'scope although it is badly in need of service and I am without a manual. Any information you might have access to would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you Bill Murray

I've an idea that several of our members use Vickers stands, but I'm not sure of the type number. Again I'm hopeful that someone will read this and be able to help Bill.

New! From: Gary Shigenaka - shig@nwrain.com

Dear Tony,

I'm a marine biologist in Seattle with a keen interest in (some would say obsession with) field microscopes. Having just acquired a scarce Nikon Model HP, I'm wondering if you or any of your colleagues are aware of a source for parts or accessories for this fine little scope, anywhere on the planet?

Thanks very much!

Gary Shigenaka

Someone you should get in contact with is Mike Dingley of the Australian Natural History Museum. He's just been to stay with me and is particularly interested in portables and field instruments. He had a delightful little Tiyoda - no bigger than a couple of cigarette packs, but still taking standard objectives. I said if he left it around my place he might not find it again... dingley@pnc.com.au

New! From "John Gregory" - cruz.j@btinternet.com

Dear Tony,

My friend and I were having a conversation about flying ants while driving to work, as you do. I remembered the time when I used to live in Malaysia, and how many different kinds of ant could be found there, including many different kinds of red ant. My friend then reminded me that we used to see a small species of red ant in this country. I suddenly thought that I haven't seen any of those little creatures for a very long time. Being a microscopist and frequently grubbing about in all kinds of locations, one would think that if these ants were common I would at least see some. My question to you and others who may read this letter is am I unique in this experience. It would be a shame if the species has disapeared.

Regards, John.

Hmm... I've just had a word with an entomologist who specialises in ants, and he tells me that he hasn't noticed any change in this ant's population, but now you mention it I haven't seen any either.

New! From: John C Kaplan - jck@juno.com

Hi,

I'm new to microscopes and am considering what seems to be a reasonably good instrument. I notice that at higher powers (400x and 1000x), I can see details of my eyes reflected in it. I see my eyelashes and hard to describe shapes which I assume to be the surface irregularities of my eyeballs and possibly floaters inside. Moving my head toward or away from the instrument alters the clarity of these shadowy images. Is this normal for microscopes?

Thanks, John

I have noticed this effect in the past, but mercifully none of my current instruments show this effect. Have any other readers comments to make?

From Dave Walker

Hello Tony

Just a note to say I enjoy the regular updates to the Quekett site, in particular the splendid meeting reports you provide us and the members' biographies. Thanks for all the hard work behind the scenes on the QMC web site.

By the way, thanks also for linking to my homepage on the links page. My account with Demon has proved too expensive to continue, hence this Demon home page suite has closed. All material has been incorporated into the Microscopy UK site so the 'Dave Walker' link can be removed now when convenient.

Hope you're getting a better summer in the home counties than Huddersfield folk. Can't complain I suppose when I gather the Greek's are experiencing unhealthy temps in the forties centigrade!

with regards

Dave

Thanks for the compliments Dave, it's always nice to know that one's hard work is appreciated. I hope you'll contribute some more to the Club pages. Your Q logo icon was popular.

From Nadine Harley

Dear Tony,

The Sunraysia Institute of TAFE has been contracted by the Office of
Post-Compulsory Education, Training and Employment to produce AAA722- Plant
Identification, which is part of the Diploma in Natural Resource
Management, in an online format.

We are endevouring to make the course as interesting and interactive as
possible so that the students will retain interest in the subject matter.
To do this, we would like to include various images which are relevant to
the area of study. We have found that your site
(http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/quekett/we_saw.htm) is a quality site
which has high quality images. We would also like to request permission to
use the image squirt.jpg from your site, to be downloaded onto ours so that
the students may benefit. You will be fully acknowledged for your
contribution.

The final product will be Crown Copyright, with the course being available
to students across Australia through TAFE Virtual Campus.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at nharley@sunitafe.edu.au if you have
any further questions. If you have all the details you require and
permission is granted, it would be greatly appreciated if you would return
this email stating that this is the case for our records.

Look forward to hearing from you,
Regards

Nadine Harley
Administrative Assistant
Online Development Project
Sunraysia Institute of TAFE
Phone: (03) 5022 3754

Of course I am only too happy for any of my pictures to appear in an educational project. This sounds like the Australian equivalent of our Open University, so as an OU graduate I am particularly pleased to support this.

From Mike Dingley in Australia (michaeld@austmus.gov.au)

I am planning a trip to the UK and Holland in September/October this year. I have checked out the Quekett's Programme for 2000 and guess what?....... I miss out on the September gossip meeting as I can't leave Australia until the 19th September which is the same day as the gossip meeting on Freshwater Microscopy. I shall have to try and extend my trip until October 17th so that I can attend the gossip on marine microscopy. I want to attend as many microscopy meetings as I can as well as many Clubs and Societies whilst I am in the country. I would also like to meet with other members who have interests in Desmids and Portable microscopes and hope that if this letter is put on the web that I will get some microscopists to send me an email. Keep up the good work.

Regards
Mike Dingley.

It's incredible how often things don't work out! I've missed three meetings this year due to clashes with other events. Mike also has some interesting books to sell. Check out Mike's web site

From: "Russell Schreiber" <clscoop@earthlink.net>

I have read about field microscopes and am interested in finding an older McArthur field microscope. Is there a used microscope dealer in the UK or other resource you know of where one might buy such a microscope.
Also, have any of you had any experience w/the "Lensman" or the Swift field
microscope?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Russell

The Swift inverted microscopes that I have seen have impressed me as a solidly built practical microscope. I am less enthusiastic about the Lensman, but it is cheaper, and to some degree you get what you pay for. Check out our links in 'Resources' recommended suppliers.

*From:* Joseph Passero <jp@spacelab.net>
*To:* tonysd@cix.compulink.co.uk

Dear Sir,

I would like to ask if you know which of your member are interested in Leitz microscope
(Labolux, Ortholux and Orthoplan)? If you would please send me there email address? And or
send them my email or address?

I ask as these are the microscope I am interested in, I have one of each.

And I am always looking for other people who may have Leitz items for sale or trade.

I am in the USA, near New York City , New York.

Thank You

Best Regards

Joseph Passero
121-66 Street
West New York, New Jersey 07093 USA

I would think you would get some response to this.

From (Dr) Hugh Mitchell-Tapping, in Florida (hmt@peganet.com)

I have just recently found your website and have applied for membership. As you were asking for readership images, I am attaching a few interesting plankton samples that were taken recently in a trawl in Estero Bay here in southwestern Florida by students from a local college.
If you are interested, I also have some very nice thin-section micrographs that I have made from igneous rock samples that I have collected around the world during my professional career.

Welcome! Particularly since you have now contributed such an interesting article on the Hosston Formation - the story of a river. See the Front Page. And I'm certainly looking forward to your pictures of dolphin tooth sections, and the associated story - I've never even heard of such a thing before!

From:Brian Singleton (Brian_Singleton@compuserve.com)

Dear Tony,
Just a short note of appreciation for the latest electronic issue on the
Quekett website. It is all so good, both the new and the eminently
browse-worthy archive material, and I am grateful that you have made it
possible for me to keep in touch with the Quekett this way. As a fairly new
member the biographical notes feature you have initiated is a particularly
useful and welcome addition.

I'm spending the summer in deepest France at a little place Madame S. and I
bought (then barely habitable) nearly 19 years ago. As well as my notebook
computer I've got my dinky little Nikon Model H field microscope with me
and am enjoying microscopy with a local accent. Funny thing, I can't find
any French microscopy websites, apart from a few sales agencies. Does
anyone out there know if there is a "French Quekett"?

Your note on the QuikQuek development was most interesting. I've brought
the CD-ROMS to France with me but would love to have them on my hard disk -
I'll make room somehow! Looking forward to hearing more.

Thanks again Tony,

Brian Singleton

Deepest France sounds an interesting area. I don't know of any French websites, although there are some very active Dutch and German amateur microscopists with sits - we have links from this site. I am hopeful that Carel Sartory will be contributing a review of the excellent QuikQuek suite of programs to run the CDROM shortly.

From: TJAUNGST@aol.com
To:tonysd@cix.compulink.co.uk

Hello again, Tony.

Would you permit me to address an open letter to the Q M C?
If acceptable, here it is:

For nearly fifty years I have spent a great many hours hunched over
microscopes, both at home and in any biology class rooms I could talk my way
into. There is no complaint in the above statement for I have loved every
second of that time.
I have memories and sights that I will cherish as long as I live.
Have any of you watched a ballet of Euglenas?
Have any of you ever watched Amoeba Protius wind its way among weed stems
unencumbered by the confines of a slide and cover slips?
Have any of you spent years looking for a particular species of Protozoa or
Desmid or Diatom to finally know the wonderment of finding it?
Have any of you spent uncountable hours trying to identify a species that you
only saw the one time and you still have not found an identification for it?
I have ladies and gentlemen and if you have spent any amount of time pursuing
this hobby I know that you have too.
There in lies a commitment which each of us, today, must accept.
Are we being careful to record everything that we see under our microscopes;
making drawings or photos of the subjects; noting where we collected the
specimens and under what conditions, (time of day, water temperature, time of
year, the date)?
Do we check to determine what kind of runoff the environment is subject to?
Do we record what the area around the environment is like?
Is it pasture land, crop land?
Is it alongside of A dirt road, gravel road, asphalt or concrete roadway?
Did we collect in the country, edge of the city or deep inside of the city?
Even if you consider the university laboratories and those other professional
workers in the field of biology, the amateur microscopist is in the unique
position of recording, for posterity, many species that are becoming extinct
or changing in appearance do to natural conditions or to man made pollution.
There are, also those species that have not yet been counted and identified;
some have gone and we never knew of them.
Yes, we are amateurs. The bulk of us are not endowed with fortunes. We get
along with what ever equipment we can scare up or make up out of odds and
ends, bits and pieces.
Yet we do look and we do see the wonders that God has wrought.
We must not let this vast store of knowledge disappear.
What we see under our microscopes must be recorded and preserved.
I know that there are things that I have seen in the past that I may not ever
see again; my own children and grandchildren will never see accept in a book,
if then.
That's the rub. No one will see these things in the future if they are never
recorded.
If you have drawings or photos or descriptions use your clubs to record this
priceless information.
Make sure that your club supports the collecting and recording of all such
material.
I had almost forty years of such diaries; thousands of illustrations, and
several hundred pages of text. All neatly kept in the boxes with my lab
equipment when we moved to our present location. All of that was lost when
thieves broke in and stole all the boxes in the garage marked LAB EQUIPMENT.
They hoped for a quick buck at a pawn shop; they did not know what they had
in reality.
I had hoped to compile it all into a book in my old age.
That is why I am now publishing what little remains in Micscape.
What it all comes down to is that the work is its own reward.

Thank you for your time,

Thomas (When I look I wonder)

Thomas - desperately sorry to hear about the loss of all your notes and drawings. Equipment can always be replaced, but that sort of thing is irreplaceable. Many thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I hope you'll contribute to our Web pages as well as Micscape!

From: "John Kings" <kings@ccrtc.com>
To: <tonysd@cix.co.uk>
Subject: led lamp

To whom it may concern:

I must use the somewhat stylized address as I have no idea of the name of the person who will read this. Please forgive.

I recently raised contact with the QUEKETT web site and was quite interested in the report on using high intensity LED's for microscopic substage illumination. However the particular lamp was not identified and I have so far been unable to find such a unit here in the states. I live in a rather remote area and must search for technical material mostly by mail or 'phone.

Perhaps by e-mail you could help me by numerical and manufacturer identification.

My e-mail address is: kings@ccrtc.com and my server tells me that no more is needed from the UK. (We will see!)

I enjoyed your entire website presentation very much--all color illustrations came through with good color and definition.

W. J. Kings
RR 5, Box 288
Spencer, IN 47460
U. S. A.

Well, John, in the informal manner that's normally adopted on the WWW I'm Tony (SD) and I'm the Quekett Webmaster. I hope you got my email about the LEDs. Thank you for your kind comments on the site. Both Maplins and Farnell have Web sites that are worth a look if you're an experimenter with an interest in electronics. www.maplins.co.uk and www.farnell.com respectively. For UK residents Farnell will send you two very large catalogues free if you email them from their web site - full of useful information.

From: Casey Burns <cburns@kendaco.telebyte.com>
Reply-To: cburns@kendaco.telebyte.com
Organization: Casey Burns, Wind Instrument Maker

I want to thank the people who responded to my inquiry considering the
design of the modern Camera Lucida attachment. I actually found a number
of makers (Olympus, etc) still making these. Some of the basic
principles (beam splitting prism) are used extensively in modern
trinocular microscopes.

Also invaluable was the wonderful book on the Camera Lucida by Hammond
and Austin!

I am now setting out to make my own, monocular Camera Lucida microscope
using off the shelf optics, and parts from my Meiji binocular scope (I
have a number of spare objectives and eyepieces). The optical train will
be quite simple - between the microscope objective and the eyepiece,
there will also be a simple beam splitter - for now, I am using a cover
glass mounted at 45 degrees. Then there is another objective in the
drawing tube. On mine, both objectives will be 1X (eyepiece is only 15X
- this is a fairly low power system). Then there will be a double
concave "reducing" lens of fairly high concavity to reduce the secondary
image. Finally the 45 degree mirror, pointing downward. There may be
some distortion in the secondary image, and the fact that some of my
lenses are surplus, not to mention the cover glass beam splitter - but
this is a fairly low power system - so I should be able to live with
these defects.

In my primary career, I turn wooden flutes out of Grenadilla - so I am
well equipped with lathes and a mill. I plan to make a pretty scope out
of this black wood, with chased silver mountings, and a spot of
artificial ivory here or there. Making this should be fun! Using it will
be more fun - as I have 2 new species of echinoids, a couple of new
species of gastropods, and a number of other fossils to draw!

Best Regards,
Casey Burns

Sounds an interesting design, Casey.

From: Clive Faulks <CFaulks@compuserve.com>
Subject: Henry Crouch microscope
Sender: Clive Faulks <CFaulks@compuserve.com>

Hi,
I have somehow accumulated various microscopes over the years( two made by
Beck, four boxed childrens instruments and one by Henry Crouch) and since I
am about to take an unexpected semi- retirement I thought I would pay them
some attention. Its not just microscopes by the way I have spent the last
30 years working in one area of science or another and one tends to
naturally accumulate equipment which would otherwise be scrapped.

The nicest microscope I have is a stereo one made by Henry Crouch, stands
about 151/2" high and is made of laquered brass, it has the number 1940 on
it and I am unsure whether this is the date of manufacture or not(it looks
much older). It also has one of the three objectives missing. Do you know
where I might purchase one, I would really appreciate any leads.

Second question, how can I join your club?

Appreciate your advice.

Regards Clive Faulks.

The second question is easy, Clive - email me your snailmail address and I'll send you the appropriate forms! The first one - I'm sure Crouch was a Victorian manufacturer, and the number is certainly not the date. Crouch objectives are rather harder to source. Did Henry Crouch actually sign his objectives? I'm sure they were what we'd call OEM these days.

From Brian Singleton:

Dear Mr Saunders-Davies,

I have just joined the Quekett and saw your lucid article on personal
computing matters in the Journal. There is so much rubbish and hype
published about computing and the Internet today that it was good to read
your sane and gentle approach to the initiation of technophobes.

The Quekett website was one of the first microscopy sites visited when I
started to develop an interest in the subject. That and
Microscopy-UK,/Micscape have been of great value in stirring my growing
interest. In fact it is a rather revived interest - I used a "student's"
microscope about 50 years ago and have long had the urge to rediscover the
magic of the hidden world. Now retired, I have taken the first steps by
joining the Quekett and buying a second-hand microscope. The Quekett web
site provides the inspiration. Thank you for that.

Brian

Quite a lot of hard work goes into these pages, so it is very nice to find appreciative readers - thank you Brian!

From Brock Nelson:

Would anyone out there have a triocular head for a Swift series SRL they'd be
willing to sell to a Yank?

I'm fond of my old 'scope but would like to start making some photographs.

Many thanks!

Brock

D. Brock Nelson
5300 Via Andalusia
Yorba Linda, Calif. 92886-5005
714-693-1893
NelsonNemo@aol.com

This could be quite difficult to source, Brock. Have you tried our recommended supplier Tony Lindsey?

From Gary Baird

So happy to find your web site! I have been an amateur microscopist for
nearly 40 years, and a professional for the past 17. I am new to this
Internet thing and am delighted to find others with vocations and
avocations similar to mine!
Would love to contribute to your publication, if that is OK.
My income comes from analyzing materials for asbestos content,
microscopically, of course. Over the past 10 years I have increasingly
subcontracted work from other laboratories, analyzing by microscopy their
more perplexing samples. I did not really think that I could actually get
PAID for playing with my microscopes!
Keep up the good work. You have a new, regular reader.

Gary Baird, Baird Scientific, Carthage Missouri USA
bairdsci@ipa.net

Delighted to hear from you, Gary. Yes, please - any contribution would be very welcome. The 'Church of Microscopy' is a broad one, and articles on a wide variety of subjects are very acceptable

From John Garrett:

Really pleased to find the Quekett pages today. Not really done any
microscopy since the days when I used to break into the biology lab
at school at weekends and take photos using the projection
microscope. I inherited a Watson "Praxis" a few years ago. Cost a bit
over £10 when new in about 1905. The lenses have suffered from being kept
in a damp place and both objectives have suffered some impact damage.

Hoping to have a stereo microscope soon and also really hoping to
have a course on specimen mounting with Eric Marson, who is only a
few miles away - what an amazingly experienced fellow he is! That might
tempt me to look for another compound microscope.

I live on a small farm with two ponds so there's plenty of things to look
at. My aim would be to hook the microscope and camera up to the PC, so as
to be able to see big images on a decent monitor and to avoid the cost of
developing and printing (and batteries!!).

One step at a time, maybe!

Cheers and thanks for the Quekett pages.

John

John tells me he has a helicopter pilots licence - what a wonderful way to spot some interesting ponds!

From the Newsletter Editor of the New York Microscopical Society

Dear Tony,

The tardigrade/rotifer "thread" we are spinning online is producing exciting news. May I have your permission to quote from your posts to me in ournewsletter, NYMS NEWS? (Should you wish to quote from mine, go ahead!)

It's disappointing to know too late about the Rotifer Symposium in Minnesota. But if you give me a contact name and address for one of its organizers, I can still pass the information along usefully to fellow members of NYMS.

You asked for information about our group. The New York Microscopical Society was founded in 1877. We are about 300 members, though many are more loyal than active. (Some live far from New York City.) NYMS holds lecture meetings about 8 times a year, a winter holiday party, and a spring banquet (with speaker). Our newsletter, NYMS NEWS, is timed to announce our meetings.

Among our most popular offerings are the workshops: a single day or a series of days spent teaching some aspect of light microscopy, with each student working at a microscope. Our next workshop is on polarized light microscopy and will be held on four Saturdays, April 18 to May 9, 1998.

  Many of the lecture meetings take place at the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City. For the present, the workshops are held in West Paterson, New Jersey.   On May 10, 1997, NYMS sponsored its first "Water Bear Hunt." This event was geared towards children but also open to adults. We stocked in some tardigrade tuns from a biological supply company, and set up a video camera on a microscope so everyone could watch a creature revive. And of course we hunted for them in the wild (that is - in puddles and mosses out back of the West Paterson building). It was a great success and we expect this to become an annual event. I was surfing the Internet looking for relevant information when I found the Quekett Club's delightful tardigrade-enhanced Web site.

Regards

Jean Portel

From Ian Portman:

(His email : smig@bio.warwick.ac.uk)

Hi,

I'm working at the University of Warwick, I was trying - unsuccessfully to find somewhere that supplies polaroid filter at a reasonable price when I came across a reference to the Quekett web page.

Apparently you may have some stocks of polaroid, is this true? if so could you sell me some by post - I need to get some polarised images of my virus crystals and the going rate for a polariser for the olympus we use is a few hundred pounds, a lot of money for a handfull of photos.

If you don't have any, have you got any ideas as to where I might find some,

Thanks

Ian Portman
Dept. Biological Sciences
University of Warwick
Gibbet Hill
Coventry

I've sent Ian some polaroid material I bought many years ago, when Proops was in Tottenham Court Road (anyone remember those days!?). But it's not of any great quality so Ian might be pleased to hear of better material.

Any one like to offer advice to this reader?

I am a 15 year old high school student from Brazil. I love microbiology, and i want to buy a microscope. My parents are travelling in Norway and Finland, and i believe this is a great chance for me to get cheaper and better microscopes than in Brazil. Could you please give me some advice on how to buy microscopes?

Thanks,

Andre Moraes Nicola (joaoraf@rudah.com.br)

From Mike Dingley in Australia (who contributed the piece on Pediastrum):

Tony,

Many thanks for your replies. I have checked out your favourite microscope in the Quekett and it looks really nice. I have never seen one of these before. Ishall add the info to my Portable file system. I can see that you really like it and would not part with it. I am always adding information to my portable filing system so yes I am researching them at the moment, in fact all the time. I am, giving a slide/talk presentation to the Microscopical Society of Australia at Macquarie University on May 7th. The talk will be illustrated with 60 transparencies. It is sort of a historical look.

I hope your camera lives up to expectations and I would like to see some results as I am interested in buyinmg one later on.

Regards

Mike

HI TONY, I have a cts microscope, which is the large trinocular
instrument they seem to be a rare instrument, I am new to the internet
and would like to send a picture of it to the web site I haven't learnt
to do this yet. Also I would like to mention that I would like to start a
small group for meetings at my house on one Sunday a month, (Central
Camden Town) as many members find the Tuesday evenings awkward,
especially during the winter nights, and car parking a problem. I can
provide for say abour fifteen or so members, with room for about 1O
microscopes if members bring their own ilumination. I would provide
light refreshments. I have some time ago mentioned this to the Quekett
but did not get much encouragement. Perhaps if you mentioned this on the
web site it might produce some enthusiasm. I have had microscopes since
I was 14 many moons ago and I find cilliate movement fascinating and
have made quite a few videos of this under high power phase - perhaps
their are other microscopists interested in cilliate movement who might
be biochemists, and would have more knowledge of the biochemical
construction of cilliates.I could also let members who do not have this
equipment bring their own specimens to video. Excuse rather long
letter, Edward Cowen Email shiva.l@virgin. net

Hi Edward!

Nice to hear from you.

If your picture is a 'digital' one - either Windows Bit Map (.bmp) or .jpg or .gif you should be able to send it as an 'attachment' to a mail message. Or you could send me a photo or two, and an article or couple of paragraphs and we'd publish that as well.

I'm all for local meets - and the Quekett is too! After all we have many such in Dorset, Cornwall, the Midlands and so on, so why not Camden? I'll publish your letter on the Web page and it may encourage others to get in touch with you.

Best wishes with the meet - do let us know how you get on.

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