Letter from Dad to his Family

Dear Family:

I'm in an exceptionally good mood, so if you want anything, this is the time to ask. Below are two photos that I took with my Kodak digital camera. And here is why I am so pleased. I took them with my new microscope which I got on Friday. It is a standard compound microscope, not digital, no electronics. But do you remember our old enlarger. When I got rid of it at the time we moved, I thought the stand looked so useful for something that I couldn't part with it. I saved it and today it was really useful. I mounted my Kodak DC4800 on it and brought it close to the eyepiece. It behaved just like my eye. There were enough degrees of freedom that I could align their optical axes, and I could fine-focus it on the camera display, using my microscope focus knob. This first effort looks pretty encouraging. One is at 100X and the other is part of it at 400X. I also have a 1000X oil immersion lens. By the way, the microscope is binocular, so I can see the field with the camera in place. It also has a mechanical stage.

The microscope is made in China and is a superb instrument in all ways. It only cost $750 with shipping. I had the thrill of seeing chromosomes lined up in telephase and anaphase, and various types of leucocytes, as well as platelets and red cells in a blood smear. Everything was unbelievably distinct. The scope has an Abbe substage condenser with an iris diaphragm, and a built in halogen light source with a rheostat. It all makes me very happy since I have been wanting this for so many years.

Love, Dad etc