Before working with a microscope it is good to

have a thorough understanding of all the parts of

a microscope and their functions. We will begin
at the base and work our way up:
The base stabilizes the apparatus.
When a microscope is being carried, one hand
should be under the base and one gripping the
arm.
The light to illuminate the specimen
comes from the light source. In many
microscopes, this is a small bulb, but the ultimate
light source may be from a lamp or even a
candle - redirected by a mounted mirror. The
microscope in our illustration gives the viewer a
choice of either a mirror or a bulb.
The stage is a kind of plate upon which
a slide with a specimen can be mounted. Most
microscopes will have two clips to hold the slide
in place. There will be a hole in the middle of the
stage to allow light from the source to strike the
specimen.
An arm connects the base with the
upper apparatus of the microscope. It keeps the
base separate from the viewing portion of the
microscope, allowing it to be adjusted, even as
the stage remains stable.
There are usually three or four objective
lenses attached to the revolving nosepiece.
This combination allows the magnification level
to be changed, by a simple process of turning
the nosepiece which changes lenses. The
objective lenses will vary in magnification level
from possibly 4 times to 100 times. (The image
will later be magnified again by the ocular lens in
the eyepiece.)
The tube connected with the arm adjusts
up and down using the focus. This moves the
lenses closer to or farther from the specimen. On
some microscopes there is both a coarse and a
fine adjustment.
The eyepiece contains the ocular lens,
which gives the image an additional
magnification, usually ten times. It is through this
lens that the viewer sees the image of the
specimen.