The world
was my laboratory and within it lay many mysteries to be solved
and the dreams of exploring these new frontiers burned in a young
boys mind. I wonder today what ever happened to those dreams.
Maybe a return to the basics would be in order.
Before I had
a microscope, a small hand lens brought the world ever closer
to me and there was so much I wanted to learn and too see. I would
examine each and every living and non-living thing that came across
my path with that hand lens. On shelves made of cinder blocks
and a couple of old boards, out behind the house that I lived
in, I placed jars of hapless squirming and crawling creatures
on them for scientific study. I would go on weekends to the library
and bring home books that allowed me to identify those creatures
and with that hand lens, I would examine each and every part of
them. Unfortunately very few ever survived my inquiring mind and
they were all tossed over the fence in the backyard to become
food for what ever came along.
I kept a notebook
however, of all my findings, and I had drawings of those things
that I had discovered. My hand lens was the most valued thing,
outside of a pocket knife, that I owned. As the years went by
my interests were becoming more focused and intense towards an
even smaller world that I had been reading and studying about
in school and in the library. I wanted a microscope.
I began looking
for an instrument that I thought would be powerful enough to show
me the world that I was so intent on seeing. The science books
and magazines that I read only intensified the task that was set
before me but for a young boy in the early 1960's growing up in
the hills of East Tennessee, money was in short supply and I had
to rely on that hand lens as my sole instrument of scientific
research.
Finally one
day, in a magazine, I came across a microscope advertised for
only one dollar. A dollar, back then, was a lot of money and it
could almost by a tank of gas for my grandfathers car. However,
this could have been the finest microscope on the market today
as far as I was concerned and I was anxious to acquire this marvelous
instrument. So, I worked and saved and finally acquired the money
for the purchase and ordered this instrument. Each day seemed
like an eternity as I waited for it to arrive in the mail. After
two long weeks this microscope finally arrived. Made of black
plastic with a small mirror and glass lenses, it towered a full
six inches in height and boasted a powerful fixed magnification
of 80X.
With this
powerful scientific instrument I examined every piece of tissue
that I could pry off a frog, every bit of blood that I could squeeze
out of a living thing went on to one of the slides, which came
with it, for examination. Notes and drawings piled up along with
dried out specimens of all sorts. My whole world revolved around
this tiny instrument and the whole world, when I think back about
it, was in danger of my scrutiny.
As time passed
that microscope began to wear out. The focusing knobs fell off
and the mirror finally followed suit but my hand lens never left
my side. Not being discouraged and somewhat older now, I was able
to finally convince my grandparents to purchase me a new one for
Christmas and they did. It was much larger and more powerful and
much better constructed, it boasted magnifications from 100X to
300X with a revolving set of objectives and a large two sided
mirror. Many science projects were completed and awards were won
with the addition of this new instrument to my life and I have
fond memories of it all.
Many years
have passed since then and as I look back, the worries of growing
up and being socially accepted among my peers began to dominate
my time back then and of course there was the military and Viet
Nam. However, my love of microscopy never faded away. Now I have
the privilege of owning a very fine research instrument that,
back then, would have had to have been mortgaged. Much older and
much wiser, I would like to think, I reflect back on those times
spent out behind the house in the summer or alone in my room on
a winters day, reading, studying, and of course observing all
those marvelous things that I had been reading so much about.
The quest for knowledge is unending and technology today enables
us to go much farther in that quest than ever before and now I
sit here alone in my own home, in my room once more, looking out
the window and I cannot help but wonder, what happened to all
that enthusiasm that I once had as a boy, that passion for the
knowledge of a world that no one seemed to care about but me.
Perhaps that
passion is still there, I would like to think so. Maybe the world
of nature is better off and a much safer place now that I have
come to a point of frustration but I have always been advised
that when you come to a point such as this, it is good to get
back to the basics.
A
Personal Note from the Author
I have always
had a deep fondness for the study of the natural sciences and
an even deeper one for the microscopic world. Perhaps you, the
reader of this article, feel the same way and in looking back
on life maybe you too can relate to some of this. I hope that
you have enjoyed this article and that in someway it will remind
you that when you get the feeling that you too are at a loss for
that special subject of study or that passion you once had, maybe
you too should get back to the basics of it all.
About
the Author
Ken Ramos
is a retired U.S. Navy, Petty Officer. He now calls Western North
Carolina home, the city of Rutherfordton, after 21 yrs. of naval
service. Although his new home has not a "flight deck"
or aircraft landing overhead while he is trying to sleep, he is
coping fine. His interests lie in the study of Nature and Microorganisms,
chiefly Protozoa and as an amateur, is currently researching infectious
diseases associated with Protozoa. Leisure activities include
fly tying and fly fishing for trout in the mountain streams of
Western North Carolina and wilderness hiking.
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