CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



APPLICATION OF THE MICROSCOPE TO THE SCIENCES, WITH 

 AN ACCOUNT OF ITS RECENT IMPROVEMENTS. 



" THERE IS PROBABLY NO BRANCH OF PRACTICAL SCIENCE WHICH HAS 

 UNDERGONE SUCH ESSENTIAL AND RAPID IMPROVEMENTS AS THAT WHICH 

 RELATES TO THE MICROSCOPE. IT HAS BECOME QUITE A NEW INSTRUMENT 

 IN MODERN TIMES, AND IT PROMISES TO BE THE MEANS OF DISCLOSING 

 THE STRUCTURE AND LAWS OF MATTER, AND OF MAKING AS IMPORTANT 

 DISCOVERIES IN THE INFINITELY MINUTE WORLD, AS THE TELESCOPE HAS 



done in that which is infinitely distant." — Sir David Brewster*. 



Whtlst the mind dwells with the highest admiration on 

 the rapid advances which are daily and hourly being 1 

 made in the pursuits of science, we are recalled almost 

 naturally to what is perhaps one of the most important 

 considerations connected with this deeply interesting 

 subject, — namely, how it is that we are thus enabled to 

 make discovery after discovery into the inexhaustible 

 treasures of Nature, and by the help of what machinery 

 it is that we are making this astonishing progress. To 

 investigate the genius and faculties of the human mind, 

 the primum mobile in devising all that is great and all 



* Encyclopaedia Britannica, 7th edit. art. Microscope. 

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