Tue Microscope. 141 
vessels of small animals, must be judged of accordingly. 
Suppose, for instance, a horse and a mouse move their limbs 
exactly at the same moment of time: if the horse runs a mile 
while the mouse runs fifty yards (tho’ the number of steps are 
in both the same) we shall readily, I believe, allow the horse’s 
motion to be the swiftest. The motion of a mite viewed 
through a microscope, or seen by the naked eye, is, perhaps, 
not much less different. 
Some people have made false pretences and ridiculous 
boasts, of seeing, by their glasses, the atoms of Epicurus, the 
subtile matter of Des Cartes, the effluvia of bodies, the 
emanations from the stars, and other such like impossibilities : 
but let no ingenious and honest observer give credit to these 
romantic stories, or misspend his time, and bewilder his brains, 
in following such idle imaginations, when there lies before him 
an infinity of real objects, that may be examined with ease, 
profit, and delight—From Henry Baker, written in 1748. 
OF EELS IN PASTE. 
Whoever is desirous to be furnished with minute eels 
always ready for the microscope, needs only boil together a 
little flour and water, and make such paste thereof as book- 
binders commonly use; or it may be bought of them. It 
should neither be very stiff, nor very watery, but of a moderate 
consistence. Expose it to the air in an open vessel, and 
prevent its hardening or becoming mouldy on the surface, by 
beating it well together when you find any tendency that way ; 
for if it grows hard or mouldy, your expectation will be disap- 
pointed. After some days it will turn sour, and then if 
examined attentively, you’ll discern multitudes of exceedingly 
small, long, slender, wriggling animalcules, which grow larger 
daily, till you’ll be able to see them with the naked eye. 
To promote their coming forward, pour every now and 
then a drop of vinegar on your paste: and after they are once 
produced you may keep them all the year, by putting to them 
sometimes a little vinegar or water, if the paste becomes too 
dry, and sometime a little supply of other sour paste; taking 
care continually to preserve the surface in a right condition, 
