_Its Illumination._--Good daylight is the best for general work. The microscope should be placed near a window with a northern aspect. Direct sunlight should never be utilised; the best light is that reflected from a white cloud. A good paraffin lamp is the most serviceable artificial source of light, and it is quite under control. As an illuminant more often brought into requisition in the smoky atmosphere of towns, the paraffin lamp is on the whole the handiest and the most useful. If gas-light can be brought into use as suggested for micro-photography, with the incandescent mantle, it will be found to be the purest and best form of artificial illumination for the microscope. Among paraffin lamps those constructed by Baker and Swift are all that can be desired.[28] [Illustration: Sectional view of the Optical Arrangement of the Aplanatic Bull’s-eye Lens, fitted in gymbal on the front of the lamp.] [Illustration: Fig. 148.--Baker’s Microscope Lamp.] As the chimneys of these lamps are made of metal, and blackened, no reflected light disturbs the eye. Care must be taken to have the wick evenly trimmed; the metal chimney has a glazed front, giving exit to the rays of light, the flat of the flame being used with low powers, and the image of the flame being reflected by a plane mirror to give equal illumination of the whole field. In working with high powers, the lamp is turned with the flame edge-wise, and at the same time the mirror must be dispensed with. By working, as it is termed, directly on the edge of the flame, the illumination is greatly increased, and a band of light can be concentrated on any part of the preparation it is desired to make a careful study of.