The Dawn of Microscopical Discovery. By C. Singer 331 



" With this Microscope also, Francesco Stelluti, the companion 

 of the Lynx, has marvellously set forth for us the external anatomy 

 of the bee. And he has lately caused to be engraved on copper 

 the eyes, tongue, antenna?, head, legs, digits, and other parts of 

 this little animal. All this, however, I had rather that you should 

 see with your own eyes than learn from my poor pen."* 



Of this work of the " Lincei " on bees we have a better record, 

 since the drawings themselves have happily come down to us. 

 They are of special interest as the first published figures for which 

 the compound Microscope was used (fig. 44). " Signor the Prince 

 Cesi," writes Stelluti in 1630, " has discoursed of these animals 

 [bees] with the greatest erudition, ingenuity and originality, 

 condensing volumes into a single page. On that account I also 

 have used the Microscope to examine bees and all their parts, 

 whose form, since they are worthy of the attention of all, I have 

 here rendered. I have also figured separately all those members 

 discovered by me with the aid of the Microscope, to my no less joy 

 than marvel, since they are unknown to Aristotle and to every 

 other philosopher and naturalist. For greater clearness, moreover, 

 I enumerate, part by part, each of the members as verified by our 

 Signor Fabio Colonna, a companion of the Lynx, who on my 

 suggestion made the same investigation on this wonderful little 

 animal with all skill and diligence. That which Signor Fabio 

 examined and interpreted was then drawn by Signor Francesco 

 Fontana. And then I on my part caused to be engraved here in 

 Rome, in compliment to our noble lord Pope Urban VIII, three 

 large bees, drawn in such detailed form as was revealed by the 

 glasses of that Microscope. And I had them figured from three 

 aspects, front, back, and side, as may be seen in the adjoining 

 page." f We reproduce to their original scale these most beautiful 

 insect drawings, which stand unrivalled in accuracy of detail 

 for a couple of generations until the appearance of the work of 

 Leeuwenhoeck and Swammerdam (fig. 44). 



Urban VIII was a member of the family of Barberini, whose 

 crest was a group of bees. The enthusiasm professed here, as in 

 most of the publications of the Lincei, for this pontiff, the con- 

 demner of Galileo, was prompted, we may suspect, rather from 

 the head than from the heart. 



Federigo Cesi and his associates thus completed, before his 

 early death in 1630, at least two important and accurate pieces of 

 microscopic research. If, therefore, any one man can be regarded 



* Joannes Faber of Bamberg, " Animalia Mexicana Descriptionibus scholusque 

 exposita," Rome, 1628, p. 757. The work was issued separately as part of a much 

 larger work, with which it was duly incorporated in subsequent issues dated 1649 

 and 1651. The passage quoted proves that the drawings of the bee, which were 

 not published till 1630, had been completed by 1628. 



t Stelluti, " Persio tradotto," Rome, 1630, p. 47, 



