Spock's Sister Sees

Spiders in microscopes (and telescopes)

A very nice man called David contacted me after I posted about the spider’s web on my 45X objective. He directed me to a fascinating article about how spiders silk came to be used to make the crosshairs in gun sights, microscope and telescope reticles.

I knew that very fine wires were used in many of these devices but I didn’t know about the spider silk. The article starts by describing the observations of a very clever chap called Gascoigne who found a spider’s web in his telescope in the 17th Century.

The link at the top of the page will take you to the first part of the story, there’s a second part to the article which can be found at http://www.amerisurv.com/PDF/TheAmericanSurveyor_BediniAlongCameASpiderPart2_May2005.pdf

Read it, especially if you’re a fan of Cooke Troughton and Simms or Vickers. It made my day, I hope it will please you too.