REVIEWS. 29 



cognizant ; the jurist has invoked its aid to solve mysteries which other- 

 wise would baffle his utmost skill ; and in the manufacturer's laboratory its 

 sway has been scarcely less potent. 



Since the commencement of the present century its value has been, 

 however, more distinctly recognised ; and, in consequence, the improve- 

 ments which have taken place in it have been more numerous. Tho 

 withering ban of the immortal Linueus, and its failure to realize the 

 visionary dreams of its early votaries, long obscured its claims to the affec- 

 tions of the naturalist. These malign influences were slowly but steadily 

 removed, and it was, at length, after many a severe struggle, elevated from 

 the chilling atmosphere of the toy-shop to be the handmaid of science. 

 Its history, which is curious, has been ably wrought out through som 

 nineteen centuries by Mr. Quekett. We do not mean to say, that the 

 ancient Romans, though highly intellectual, had, among their artificers, any 

 " Microscope-maker by appointment to the Emperor," nor any patron of 

 science with similar tastes to the late Mr. Goring, Mr. Solly, or others we 

 could name ; but^ Mr. Quekett rightly conceives that the history of ita 

 development its germ, if we may so speak should be traced from the 

 period when its scientific principles were first recognised ; the earliest 

 trace of it which now, perhaps, can be found occurs in the writings of 

 Seneca, who was born during the first year of the Christian era, and died 

 A.D. 65. He writes " that small and indistinct objects become larger and 

 more indistinct in form when seen through a globe of glass filled with 

 water."* From this period until the close of the sixteenth century, the 

 notices of the optical principles upon which the microscope is based are 

 few and scanty. At that period, however, at Middleburgh, in Holland, 

 lived two spectacle-makers, father and son, named Jansen, or Zansz, who 

 appear, among a host of rivals, to have made the first microscopes, and rude, 

 unwieldy instruments they were ; a copper, gilt tube, about six feet in 

 length, and supported on brass pillars on an ebony base; at least such was 

 the appearance of one presented, in 1617, to King James the First, by 

 Cornelius Drebbel, who pirated the invention of the ingenious Hollander. 



We regret that our space is not sufficiently ample to trace even the more 

 marked epochs of its chequered history. We must turn to the wants of 

 the working naturalist, and refer those who feel an interest in the cu- 

 riosities of science to the pages of Mr. Quekett, where they will find ample 

 opportunity of gratifying their tastes. 



In making the following general observations, we wish to be understood 



* " Literse quamvis minntae et obseurse, per vitream pilaui aqua plenam raajores clari- 

 oresque cernunter." Nat. Qncest., lib. /., cap. 7. 



