220 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[December, 



setting scientific men by the ears ; but he would never tell how he made his 

 microscopes. To all inquiries he said only that he made them, refusing to 



-Front. 



Leeuwenhoek's Mickoscope.- 



' Fig. 2. — Back. 

 -Natural Size. 



go into particulars. He was cautious, too, about showing them, evidently 

 fearing that they might be copied and, perhaps, surpassed. He willmgly 

 showed them only to such prominent personages as Peter the Great, who 

 visited him in 1698, and to Queen Mary, who also went to see him. Leeu- 

 wenhoek's cautiousness, however, made other scientific men angrv, and they 

 accused him of caring more for praise than for the truth of his discoveries. 



It was only after his death, in 1723, that the secret of his microscopes was 

 learned. He bequeathed to the Ro^'al Society of London 26 of his instru- 

 ments, which were examined and described ; but the descriptions are almost 

 as poor as we now consider the microscopes to have been, giving erroneous 

 ideas about them, and some incorrect pictures. Curiously enough, all of 

 these 26 microscopes mysteriously disappeared from England. A few are 

 still to be found in Germany, and one of these was not long ago exhibited as 

 a scientific relic before the Royal Microscopical Society of London. 



In an unusual burst of confidence Leeuwenhoek once said : — '• Indeed, I 

 have hundreds and hundreds of microscopes ;' but exactly what he meant 

 was not understood until he was dead. Then it was learned that he had 

 been in the habit of making a microscope for every object he preserved. At 

 the present day a microscopist considers himself fortunate if he owns one 

 good instrument, but Leeuwenhoek had as manv as he had mounted objects. 

 The specimen to be examined was fastened behind the lens, and when once 

 prepared to his satisfaction was not disturbed, but was always ready for in- 

 stant use. Judging from his discoveries, it would seem that the Dutch in- 

 vestigator must have labored dav and night to have done so much, yet he 

 lived to a good old age. His success goes to prove the truth of the saying 

 about the good workman with poor tools, for his discoveries have stood the 

 tests of time and of our modern instruments. 



In figs. I and 2 are shown, natural size, the front and back of one of 

 Leeuwenhoek's microscopes. Each of his microscopes was formed of two 



