An H-shaped moat forms two counting areas, or plateaus. A “V” slash at the loading side of each plateau facilitates charging and reduces the possibility of overflow into the moat. Each plateau features enhanced Neubauer rulings. The ruled surface is 0.1 mm below the cover glass, limiting the volume of blood or fluid over a square mm at 0.1 mm3 and over each of 400 squares (within the central square mm) to 0.00025 mm3. Contact of the flat, polished cover glass surfaces with cover glass supports produces an exact volume of fluid over the counting area. The difference in surface tension characteristics between the metallic surface on the chamber and the polished cover glass ensures smooth capillary loading and even cell distribution. These single piece hemacytometers are suitable for Phase Contrast as well as Brightfield microscopes.