68 LIVING CREATURES. 



called simply Anthony. The education of Anthony 

 was very imperfect. He never graduated from college, 

 but he seems to have made the most of his limited 

 opportunities. 



Only a few years before the Mayflower landed its 

 shivering passengers on Plymouth Rock, and the Half 

 Moon anchored at the mouth of the Hudson, the tel- 

 escope and the microscope were invented. The prin- 

 cipal part of both these instruments is the glass lens. 

 To prepare lenses, and get their shape exactly right, 

 was at that time a great labor. The lenses must be 

 slowly ground and polished. This art was sometimes 

 learned by bright boys, of whom Anthony was one. 

 And he became a lens-grinder. 



Those who use the microscope at the present day, 

 find in it a most delightful and fascinating employ- 

 ment. With it they examine things other people have 

 seen and told about, and find, in going over these dis- 

 coveries, great arnusement. How much more enjoy- 

 ment, then, must those have had who, with the mi- 

 croscope, for the first time, discovered these things. 



The opening of the great world of little things 

 created great excitement. Everybody who could buy 

 one, purchased a microscope. The grinding of lenses 

 was a lively business. To this work Anthony devoted 

 both his energies and his wits. Soon he found out 

 how to make much better lenses than any other could 

 construct, insomuch that he was regarded as one of 

 the inventors of the microscope. 



Anthony did more than work at his lenses. He 

 himself used the improved lens, in searching out the 

 new and wonderful things in nature. And what did 



