THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



Vol. IX. DECEMBER, 1888. No. 12. 



All comrniinicatio7is for this Jotirnal, whether relating to business or to editorialinatters , 

 and all books, pampJilets, exchanges, etc., should be addressed to American Monthly 

 Microscopical Journal, Box 6jo, Washingt07i, D. C. 



European subscriptions niay be sent directly to the above address accompanied by 

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Microscopical Work for Amateurs.* 



By ALFRED C. STOKES, 



TRENTON, N. J. 



The work of a man who lived nearly 300 years ago has suggested some 

 things that can be done to-day with far greater ease, but -with much profit. 

 It is said that ' A good workman can do good woi^k with poor tools,' but not 

 many workers in science, art, or any handicraft like to use such tools. Still, 

 it is the patient care and perseverance that yield beautiful results. Do not 

 those who are forced to use imperfect implements deserve more credit than 

 those who show fine work with fine tools .^ In the Dutch city of Delft a 

 workman in science was born in 1633. It is supposed that he had not many 

 school advantages ; and if this is true, what he did, notwithstanding his limited 

 education, demands still greater praise than the good work he accomplished 

 with poor tools. But very little is known about him until he began to make 

 discoveries with his microscope. 



His name was Autoon van Leeuwenhoek (pronounced Liih-wen-hook) , a 

 name that every modern microscopist knows and remembers. He was chiefly 

 a microscopist, and he is worthy of remembrance, not exclusively by reason 

 of his original microscopical discoveries, but because he made his own micro- 

 scopes. Every instrument that he used he made with his own hands. Before 

 he could begin the work he wished to do, he was compelled to make the tools 

 with which to work. When they are compared with the splendid instruments 

 of the present day, they have no value except as curiosities ; but two centuries 

 ago they were better than the best used by other investigators. What modern 

 microscopist would be willing, or what one would be able, to grind and polish 

 a little globule of glass, and to mount it in brass-woi'k of his own manufacture, 

 simply to gratify his wish to know some of nature's secrets.? But this old 

 Dutch microscopist did that, and he did it well ; for, miserable as his micro- 

 scopes were, with them he saw more and better than could any of his fellow 

 microscopists. 



As Leeuwenhoek labored and studied by methods of his own in that Dutch 

 city of Delft, his published articles were exciting the scientific world, and 



* For the use of the illustrations to this article we are indebted to the Science Publishing Company, which has 

 kindly loaned them for the purpose. 



Copyright 1888, by C. W. Smiley. 



