PREFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION. 



HE Author of this Publication entered upon 

 his task with some hesitation and diffidence ; 

 but the reasons which influenced him to 

 undertake it may be briefly told, and they 

 at once explain his motives, and plead his 

 justification, for the work which he now 

 ventures to submit to the indulgent con- 

 sideration of his readers. 



It had been to him for some time a sub- 

 ject of regret, that one of the most useful 

 and fascinating studies — that which belongs to the do- 

 main of microscopic observation — should be, if not wholly 

 neglected, at best but coldly and indifferently appreciated 

 by the great mass of the general public ; and he formed 

 a strong opinion, that this apathy and inattention were 

 mainly altributable to the want of some concise, yet suffi- 

 ciently comprehensive, popular account of the Microscope, 

 both as regards the management and manij)ulation of the 

 instrument, and the varied wonders and hidden realms of 

 beauty that are disclosed and developed by its aid. He 

 saw around him valuable, erudite, and splendid volumes ; 

 wdiich, however, being chiefly designed for circulation 

 amongst a special class of readers, were necessarily pub- 



