104 The Microscope. 



1862. One of these was a piece of writing, con- 

 taining four thousand one hundred and thirty- seven 

 letters in the one thousand and fifty-fourth of an inch. 

 The letters were filled with black-lead of extreme 

 fineness. I was shown this specimen when at the 

 Exhibition; the writing was a clear text hand, and 

 quite legible through a high magnifying power. It 

 was executed by Mr. W. Webb. The instrument 

 used was also exhibited, and may be described as 

 a long rod or lever, carrying at its lower end a 

 pencil, which is traced over the original writing 

 that is to be reproduced in miniature. The short 

 arm of this lever is concealed in a box above, and 

 acts upon a second lever, the arrangement being 

 repeated until the motion which originates with the 

 hand below is reproduced in the required degree of 

 minuteness. The extremity of the lever moving 

 through this small space carries a diamond point, 

 which is pressed against a plate of glass, producing 

 by its action a piece of microscopic writing, corres- 

 ponding with the full-sized design over which the 

 long arm of the lever is traced below. This sort 

 of instrument is called a pantograph, or pentagraph. 

 Still more wonderful were the specimens produced 

 by Mr. Peters's pantograph, and exhibited by the 

 Microscopic Society. 



I am informed that M. Froment, of Paris, pro- 

 duced specimens of this kind of writing so long ago 

 as 1851, and that some executed by him exhibit 

 all the symmetry of copper-plate engraving. 



