THE MAGNIFYING POWER OP THE EYE. 597 



been known to the maker of the eye ; for upon its basis is 

 that instrument far more perfect than the achromatic 

 glass of Dolland framed." 



Well may we inquire with the immortal Newton : " Was 

 the eye contrived without skill in optics ]" or with the 

 divine Psalmist : " He that formed the eye, shall He not 

 see?" 



By vision, aided by knowledge, we pierce into the 

 heavens and the interior of bodies, examine the minutest 

 fragments of matter, and the universe of stars; by our 

 motion on the surface of the globe, and by its motion, we 

 measure space, and are at once convinced that the infinitely 

 small, and the infinitely great, of which we get an idea by 

 vision, have for us no bounds nothing that we can reach 

 and measure. Infinity is everywhere around us, and the 

 evidences of this revealed by the microscope carry with 

 them convictions that are not to be surpassed for their 

 solemnity and grandeur. 



The restless curiosity of the human intellect led to the 

 invention of the telescope, by which man daringly pierced 

 the mysterious and illimitable space above us ; revealing 

 to his understanding a great and wonderful series of worlds 

 lost to his unaided powers of vision; while by the micro- 

 scope, he has discovered an animal, vegetable, and mineral 

 kingdom, of which he was previously ignorant, on account 

 of its minuteness placing it beyond the keenest observation 

 of the naked eye. In this last-named, new, and amazing 

 world there is displayed a beauty, a perfection, adaptation, 

 and reproduction, surprisingly surpassing those objects 

 with which we are familiar in every-day life. With the 

 microscope we search into the mysteries of creation, and 

 detect many of the secret workings of nature. We see the 

 utility of a busy, multitudinous, invisible world of animal 

 life, to the health, comfort, and preservation of human- 

 kind; and the unbounded love of God in the admirable 

 secret provisions for the unceasing changes in the form of 

 matter. The more powerful the instrument, the more 

 astounding its revelations; until we marvel in what sized 

 atom organic matter ceases ; and our facts become stranger 

 than fiction, and far beyond the imaginings of the most 

 poetic brain. 



