Some Points in Using the Microscope:

1. Never play with the microscope.

2. Never remove any part of the microscope.
3. Do not incline the microscope when using a wet mount.
4. Always keep the microscope dry. Wipe any liquid on the
stage and on the objectives, using soft, absorbent
materials.
5. Keep the lenses of the eyepiece and objectives clean.
 Some Points in Using the Microscope:
6. Return the microscope to its case after every use. Observe the
following rules:
a. All parts should be cleaned.
b. The low power objective should be about 1 cm above the
stage.
c. The spring clip or stage clip should be turned away from the
stage.
d. The mirror should be in vertical position to avoid accumulation
of dust.
e. The whole microscope should be vertical and the inclination
joint in position.
f. The horseshoe base should be pushed well into the horseshoe
fitting.
7. Report at once any defect you have noticed in your microscope
before during, and after use.
OBSERVING A SPECIMEN
UNDER A MICROSCOPE
1. Always carry and transport the microscope in an upright
position by using both hands. One hand holds the microscope
by its arm and the other supports the microscope at the base.

2. Always set the microscope away from the edge of the working
table. It should be positioned at a point where all members
using the instrument can look through the eyepiece in a very
comfortable position. Keep the microscope in place.

3. Align and set properly the eyepiece, the objective and the
mirror of the microscope. Set the desired objective in place
and look through the eyepiece.
 If the mirror of the microscope is properly lighted, you will
see a white field of view. Proper lighting is achieved by moving
and letting it face the source of light . For artificial light, use the
concave mirror. To get the brightest focus on a specimen, control
the entrance of light through the iris diaphragm.

4. Set the prepared slide on the stage. See to it that the part
where you find the specimen is directly above the hole in the
stage. Secure the slide in place using the metal stage clips.

In any microscopic observation of a specimen, the low-

power objective (LPO) is used first to obtain a general view of the
object in focus. Using the coarse adjustment knob, raise the
body tube about 2 centimetres (above) the prepared slide, thus
elevating the low-power objective.
5. Lower the body tube with the aid of the coarse adjustment knob.
Do this carefully, seeing to it that low-power objective does not
touch the prepared slide.

6. Look through the eyepiece. Slowly raise the body tube using
the coarse adjustment knob until a clear image of the specimen
appears in the field of view. Observe the specimen carefully by
moving the slide slowly. Do this until you have seen and observed
the whole specimen.

7. You can also increase the magnification of the objective. With

the low power objective still aligned to about 2 cm from the
prepared slide and with the specimen still in focus, shift carefully
from the low-power objective to the high power objective.
 For parfocal microscopes, like the most of the microscopes
used in school laboratories, you do not have to raise the body
tube . Simply rotate the revolving to shift from low power objective
to high power objective. This is possible because the focal point in
both objectives of the microscope is the same.

Sometime, though, some microscope require a little raising

of the body tube before you can shift to the high-power objective.
This is done to prevent breaking the slides and damaging the
objectives.

Once the high-power objective is already in use, adjust the

body tube with the fine adjustment knob to make the image of the
specimen clearer. It will also be necessary to adjust the
diaphragm, the condenser and the mirror.