Science Gifts Unwrapped: the Microscope

Here's a nice daydream for you. You've been given a microscope for the holidays, for your birthday, for St Swithin's Day... whatever the occasion, you've got a terrific gift on your hands. So now what do you do?

Science writer Natalie Angier put her view on the matter in this way in her excellent book, The Canon:

"Another fail-safe way to change the way you see the world is to invest in a microscope. Not one of those toy microscopes sold in most Science 'n' Discovery chain stores, which, as Tom Eisner, a professor of chemical engineering at Cornell, has observed, are unwrapped on Christmas morning and in the closet before Boxing Day... it wasn't until my daughter received a dissecting microscope as a gift, and we began using it to examine the decidus of everyday life, that I began yodelling my hallelujahs. A feather from a blue jay, a fiddlehead fern, a scraping from a branch that turned out to be the tightly honeycombed housing for a stinkbug's eggs. How much heft and depth, shadow and thistle, leap out at you when the small is given scope to strut..."

-- page 24

Almost any microscope will open up a world of wonder and amazement for you, if you give it a chance. Life on earth, after all, began with the very, very small. Much of what goes on in the world around us, and indeed passes unnoticed, is a result of processes taking place at the level so minute that human eyes require mechanical aid to see it. What is the largest and most successful class of living organism on the planet? If you said bacteria, then you're exactly right.

There are a few simple things to remember, before you even get started:

1. The microscope is only as good as its parts. By this, I mean that if you buy the inexpensive microscope with plastic optics and expect to be able to see wonderful things through it, you're probably in for a disappointment. It's not a universal law, as there are some good inexpensive 'scopes out there, but basically, you do get what you pay for. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.


2. Bells and whistles are good. You will find that the more flexibility that your microscope offers you, the more possible uses you will likely find for it. Interchangeable eyepieces and objectives, binocular / dissecting versus traditional design, multiple light sources with a rheostat, adjustable stages, compatibility with digital camera add-ons - these are just some of the things to consider. You'll want to get the most out of your microscope, so why not make it as flexible as possible?


3. Consider what you don't know. Then get a book. Two books, even. Books will give you some great ideas for basic sorts of experiments, and serve as a guide to the basic equipment that you'll need to go with your microscope.
   
   
   Here are some possible books to consider, from the shelves at the Beagle...
   
   

   
   
   • Star Levine's The Ultimate Guide to Your Microscope - colourful and well-illustrated, with lots of discussion of technique and the fundamentals of microscopy. Indispensible, especially for younger readers.
   
   
   • Richard Headstrom's Adventures with a Microscope - I'm a huge fan of Dover Books, and this is a wonderful reprint. Don't let the fact that it's almost 70 years old fool you - this is a great book, filled with lots of practical exercises and possessed of a quirky, idiosyncratic style. Headstrom also wrote Adventures with a Hand Lens, which I heartily recommend.
   
   
   • Georg Stehli's The Microscope and How to Use It - another Dover book; the discussion of microscope technology will interest anyone who likes to know about the history of science, but it is somewhat dated now. The rest of the book, however, is again full of practical, sensible suggestions for projects and explorations with a microscope.
   
   

   
   
   
   


4. Attend a class. Even audit a local university-level biology class, or look for a workshop (we've got one in the planning stages at the Beagle, watch this space for details). If you studied biology at university, or way back in high school, you'll want a refresher course.


5. Slides: making your own, buying prepared. Personally, I think it's good to do both. You can get a basic slide preparation kit from us, or put together your own, suited to your own interests and requirements.

It's your microscope: do what you want to do. The possibilities of the micro world open up just as readily as do those of the macro world with a pair of binoculars or a telescope: don't miss your chance to see all things miniature.