THE MICROSCOPE. 



CHAPTER I. 



ON MICROSCOPES IN GENERAL. 



MICROSCOPE a complete and beautiful 

 instrument by Ross stands on my table. 

 I have had it so long that it feels almost 

 like a thing indispensable. Yet I recall the time 

 when its purchase was decided on by a kind parent 

 as a desirable help to the researches in which I 

 delighted, and which I had already pursued with a 

 good deal of diligence, aided only by a common 

 magnifying-glass. A costly instrument was ob- 

 tained, worthy too of its high price, from the excel- 

 lence of its glasses, the extreme finish of all its parts, 

 and the multitude of appliance's which accompanied it. 

 It arrived one day from London; its mahogany box 

 was carefully lifted from the packing-case, and tho 

 doors were opened. And then I remember feeling 

 somewhat disheartened ; firstly by a difficulty in 

 finding the uses of all the bright apparatus which 

 met my eye ; and next by the want of suitable ob- 

 jects to examine. From various sources information 



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