A RETROSPECT*
Yesterday while the wind was screaming by my window and driving against i t great sheets of rain I took a sudden fancy t o explore the garret of my home. I n a closed but dusty closet I found some of the things most dear tomyself. Possibly they may appear trivial to those who have merely to wish for an article in order to get it, but nevertheless they are infinitely important to me. For the things I handled with a feeling akin t o reverence were those t h a t had guided me into the realms of chemistry. A miscellany of glass; a variety of sizes, curiously twisted and contorted, lay before me.
A graduate, broken-based but serene in the knowledge of duty rightly done, a dessicator still valiantly defending several crucibles, my precious chemical scale so endeared to me; all these things and many more I brought to light. As I slowly handled my treasures an infinite number of pleasant memories ran swiftly through my mind. I recalled with considerable pleasure the first order I sent to a chemical firm. With what breathless expectancy I waited for the package! And when i t finally arrived how resplendent the cellar looked, how the walls gleamed and shone with highly polished glassware. Their newness had scarcely worn off when a wandering mouse, with an impudent twist of his tail and a shrill squeak, serenely pushed them clear of the shelf. I also recall with considerable clarity the morning I went t o do some work and found my soap-box shelves leaning outward from the wall a t a *Winner of five-dollar award in student contest closing January 15, 1929.
truly dreadful angle. A litter of broken glass and a pool of liquid on the floor made me a pessimist for the rest of the day. Misfortune never daunts youth; youth that is so secure in the belief that the future will be the summation of all ardent desire. With hardearned pennies I continued t o stock my laboratory, as I fondly called it, with the hope ever before me that some day I might have a place more worthy of the name. Before I became aware of the subtle transformation taking place in me I had become a connoisseur of bottles. My stock became truly varied and extensive. Seeing my determined onslaught on all available space and fearing perhaps that I would soon be in full and in-
alienable control of the cellar, my grandparents readily acquiesced t o my proposal t o remove t o the third floor. I took complete control of a small room and a hallway and after arranging shelves I had a laboratory truly worthy of the name. By a fortunate turn of circumstance I was able t o procure a chemical balance and from that time onward I made considerable progress in mastering some of the intricacies of Quantitative Analysis. Upon my aunt presenting me with a microscope my attention was drawn t o other fields closely allied t o chemistry. Soon I was taking microphotographs of the wonders opened t o me. I used a home-made apparatus which for inexpensiveness and the ready facility with which it can be constructed I don't believe can be bettered. Simple Microphotographic Apparatus T o construct the apparatus first procure a round, cardboard box (I used an oatmeal box), and cut a hole in one end just large enough t o fit snugly
-
over the eyepiece of your microscope. Cut a long,'uarrow slit in the side of the box so that a ring-stand ring can be inserted. Next mount a frosted light bulb in a small wooden box that has a two-inch hole in one side. The latter opening is to direct all the light on the mirror of your instrument. Arrange the apparatus as in the diagram and darken the room. By placing a ground glass on the ring of the ring-stand one can focus the microsco~e until the image is clear and distinct. Raising the ring with the ground glass will have the effect of increasing the diameter of the image andlowering it will have the opposite effect. To take a photograph have the image focused on the ground glass, turn off the microscope lamp, and insert a photographic plate i q place of the ground glass. By switching on the light for a time the plate will be exposed and will then be ready for development. If the image on the bound glass appears very dark a longer exposure must be made than is necessarv when the A . imaee is light and clear. A ARRANGEMENTOP APPARATUS *OR TAKINGlittle practice will soon give MICROPHOTOGRAPHS one an idea as to hbw long to The microscope shown in the photograph on page 374 expose the plate. ' is the one I employed in taking microphotographs. At present I am unable to do much active experimenting hut my introduction to science has been complete and the wish to continue in it is now inherent within me. Nor am I content merely to trifle with the subject. For chemistry has suddenly come to mean a great deal to me, so much, in fact, that I hope to devote all my energies to exploring some portion of its realm and, incidentally, having a great deal of fun in doing it.
-
There is quite as much education and true learning it, the analysis of an ear of corn as in the analysis of a complex sentence; ability to analyze clover and alfalfa roots savors of quite as much culture as does the study of the Latinand Greek roots.-A. II. Benson
