ADDRESS TO THE BATH MICRO. SOC. 63 



' But there is no record of any definite step having been taken 

 in the direction of making microscopes until the year 1618, when 

 Cornelius Drebbel, of Alkmaar, in Holland, is said to have 

 invented the microscope. '■'' 



But the instrument as described in the works of that and suc- 

 ceeding times was cumbrous, ill provided with illumination, 

 difficult of manipulation, and with mechanism so coarse and so 

 imperfect, and the methods of examination so few and ill-arranged, 

 that very little progress could be made until the beginning of this 

 century. However, within the last fifty years, the mechanism of 

 the microscope has been gradually improved in every direction : 

 in the penetrating power of the lenses ; in the employment of 

 special glass, with high refracting index ; in the consequent increase 

 of the visual angle ; in the mechanism of the tube ; in sub-stage 

 illumination ; in stage motion ; and in many other particulars. 

 The instrument in our hands to-day is very different from what it 

 was fifty years ago, and if our ancestors in microscopical investi- 

 gation did good work then, how much more easy must it not be 

 for us to work now, who have the way made so smooth and easy 

 before us ! 



And although I am well aware that progress in microscopical 

 knowledge depends much more upon the o[)erator than upon his 

 instrument, still we must recognise the fact that the present 

 improvements in our microscopes are a very great help to the 

 faithful and zealous worker. 



But, no matter of what sort or excellence may be the instru- 

 ment a man has, it will be of no avail — nothing will avail— if he 

 has not hsid practice and facility iji mafiipulation. Whatever may 

 be the instrument a man has, he ought to know it thoroughly and 

 to be able to use its powers to the utmost. 



A friend, an old General Officer, himself an ardent microsco- 

 pist, told me the following story : — A lady he knew had attained 

 to great eminence in Natural History and especially in microsco- 

 pic research. Her work was particularly in Marine Natural 

 History. She had permission to put several letters after her name, 

 as Fellow, or Associate, or Corresponding Member, or Honorary 



* Is not Mr, Stubbs in error here ? We believe that Drebbel only copied 

 and sold Janssen's instruments. See Brewster, Quekett, etc. — {Ed.'\ 



