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firmity of a deficient sight, and therefore give no further 

 information) in the lately invented microscopes, which ex 

 hibit the latent and invisible minutiae of substances, and 

 their hidden formation and motion, by wonderfully in 

 creasing their apparent magnitude. By their assistance we 

 behold with astonishment the accurate form and outline 

 of a flea, moss, and animalcule, as well as their previously 

 invisible color and motion. It is said, also, that an ap 

 parently straight line, drawn with a pen or pencil, is dis 

 covered by such a microscope to be very uneven and curved, 

 because neither the motion of the hand, when assisted by 

 a ruler, nor the impression of ink or color, are really regu 

 lar, although the irregularities are so minute as not to be 

 perceptible without the assistance of the microscope. Men 

 have (as is usual in new and wonderful discoveries) added 

 a superstitious remark, that the microscope sheds a lustre 

 on the works of nature, and dishonor on those of art, which 

 only means that the tissue of nature is much more delicate 

 than that of art. For the microscope is only of use for 

 minute objects, and Democritus, perhaps, if he had seen 

 it, would have exulted in the thought of a means being 

 discovered for seeing his atom, which he affirmed to be 

 entirely invisible. But the inadequacy of these micro 

 scopes, for the observation of any but the most minute 

 bodies, and even of those if parts of a larger body, destroys 

 their utility; for if the invention could be extended to 

 greater bodies, or the minute parts of greater bodies, so 

 that a piece of cloth would appear like a net, and the 

 latent minutiae and irregularities of gems, liquids, urine, 

 blood, wounds, and many other things could be rendered 

 visible, the greatest advantage would, without doubt, be 

 derived. 



