THE PURBECK SOUTHERN COMBINED AUTUMN MEETING OF THE QMC AND PMS
By Brian Darnton.


This year the combined PMS and QMC exhibition was organised by Derek Stevens. As is common in the Autumn meetings there were fewer tourists and casual visitors but much more enjoyment of each others work and discussion . There were two visitors who brought in old instruments with the intention of asking for advice on how to repair and use them as well as people who brought in objects for identification.

Dick Speight: set up an impressive demonstration for the evaluation of van Leeuwenhoek`s method. He used a commercial model of the famous hand held microscope which actually used a bead, formed on the end of a short solid glass rod, secured against a small hole in a metal plate. The results from this instrument were quite surprising and impressed all that were able to examine it.


Above and left are pictures of the meeting kindly provided by Brian Darnton

The supporting literature by Ford in the form of 5 books was available for consultation. Christine Brodie the well-known biological artist graced us with a little exhibition of her latest creations. There were examples of the scraper-board portraits of Diatoms and Foraminifera but also the latest stunning work on canvass using acrylic paints on black backgrounds. These really are superb enhancements to our microscopic world. Sam Christoffi. Brought along his huge Zeiss universal stand to display his work Peter Weedon.: Who recently joined us, allowed visitors to enjoy his dippings from local fresh water. He also carried a very useful tool kit that became more than a little useful during the course of the day. Fred Loxton and Charlotte had recently bought a set of Mopa lenses for phase contrast and spent much of day trying out the various settings and their effects. Kit Brownlee: Used a small Russian microscope to display various beautiful spicules including those of Ephydatia.
Arsene Schussler: A guest from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg wore the laurus nobilus crown for having travelled the greatest distance to the meeting. He inspired visitors with rather spectacular material from his large collection. and strongly advocated the examination of sand and its many constituents as a worthwhile Microscopical activity. Joan Bingley used both low power and a medium power microscope to demonstrate the constituents of a pad of felt. She also provided information on the production and uses of the well known product much used by microscopists to protect their furniture from old instrument and slide boxes. Graham Griffin used a Vickers inverted microscope to demonstrate a home made form of dark field illumination. Per Borgesson: After a recent expedition to the rather difficult collecting grounds of the Avon gorge, showed us the results of his dippings. Brian Darnton: Used a map of the North Atlantic drift currents from the Challenger Society to demonstrate the changes in the Foraminifera fauna from the Caribbean coasts to the north European coast and Iceland. We were also honoured by visits from Robert Chegwin, William Vatcher. Mike Woof Alan Hepworth. And Dr Bingley.

Many thanks to Brian Darnton for the report and pictures - Ed.