84 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSir. 



known, but it has been dated back to the ancient 

 times when it was sacred to Eriga, the Saxon god- 

 dess of love. At one time a youth could claim a kiss 

 for each berry he plucked from the bush under which 

 he stood with a maiden. Nares says that the maid 

 who was not kissed under the mistletoe at Christ- 

 mas, would not be married that year. Mistletoe 

 was used in medicine for apoplexy, palsy, and other 

 diseases ; and that which grew on the oak was sup- 

 posed to possess the greatest medicinal virtues, 

 though Culpeper, a quaint old herbalist, says he 

 knows not why, " unless because it is rarest and 

 hardest to come by," — an all-sufficient reason, to 

 Culpeper, to account for the celebrity attained by 

 many remedies. The bark is 'astringent, but is not 

 now used in medicine. Birdlime is made from the 

 viscid pulp of the fruit. R. M. 



THE MICROSCOPE AND MICROSCOPIC 



WORK. 



No. IV.— By E. Kitton. 



TTAVING glanced at the work done by one of 

 ■*-■*• the .[best observers of his time, we now 

 proceed to describe some of the instruments that 

 were from time to time invented to enable the 

 inquirer into nature's secrets to pry still further 

 into her modus operandi ; but, although enabled by 

 their aid to discover minute forms of life, they 

 could not detect how life originated. 



the body was 7 inches in length and 3 inches in 

 diameter, and could be inclined at any angle by 

 means of a ball-and-socket joint. The field-glass 



Fig. 42. Hooke's Microscope, with Lamp and Condenser 

 (1664). 



A contemporary of Leeuwenhoek's, and perhaps 

 his equal in microscopic studies, was our country- 

 man Robert Hooke, E.R.S. The instrument used 

 by him was a compound one ; and, as will be seen 

 from the following drawing, could only be used for 

 opaque objects. This microscope had three glasses, 

 two composing the ocular, the third being the 

 object-glass. These glasses were fitted to a com- 

 pound body, consisting of four "draws," which 

 could be pulled out like a telescope; when closed, 



Fig. 43. Grindelius's Microscope (1702). 



Hooke occasionally removed, as he thought he 

 obtained more light and better definition (I have 

 found it sometimes of advantage to remove the 



Fig. 44. Culpepre's Microscope (1750). 



field lens in the modern ocular). Eor the better 

 illumination of the object he contrived a lamp, 

 somewhat similar to those at present in use. The 

 rays from this were received by a globe of glass 



