OBSERVATIONS ON DISSECTING, ET( . 215 



small, may enable us to form some idea of this great 

 labourer in the field of science. 



His chief art seems to have been in constructing very 

 -fine scissars, and giving them an extreme sharpness ; 

 these he made use of to cut very minute objects, because 

 they dissected them equally ; whereas knives and lancets, 

 let them be ever so fine and sharp, are apt to disorder 

 delicate substances, as in going through them they gene- 

 rally draw after and displace some of the filaments. His 

 knives, lancets, and styles, were so very fine that he 

 could not see to sharpen them without the assistance of 

 a magnifying glass ; but with them he could dissect the 

 intestines of bees with the same accuracy and distinctness 

 that the most celebrated anatomist does those of large 

 animals. He was particularly dexterous in the manage- 

 ment of small glass tubes, which were no thicker than a 

 bristle, and drawn to a very fine point at one end, but 

 thicker at the other. These he made use of to show and 

 blow up the smallest vessels discoverable by the micro- 

 scope — to trace, distinguish, and separate their courses 

 and communications, or to inject them with very subtile 

 liquors. 



He used to suffocate the insects in spirits of wine, in 

 water, or spirit of turpentine, and likewise preserved 

 them some time in these liquids; by which means he 

 kept the parts from decomposition, and consequently 

 eollapsing and mixing together ; and added to them such 

 strength and firmness as rendered the dissections more 

 easy and agreeable. When he had divided transversely 



