INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 31 



The valetudinarian dare not seek his pastime from the 

 employment of the telescope ; were he to do so, his 

 career would soon be stopped, inasmuch as his remain- 

 ing out exposed to a few cold, damp nights, would at 

 once prove fatal to him. And even those who are in the 

 full enjoyment of health may suffer very materially by 

 prolonging their observations with a view of attaining to 

 some proficiency in astronomical pursuits ; to say 

 nothing of the inconvenience it occasions by breaking in 

 upon that regularity which is so essential to the comfort 

 and happiness of life. To the professed astronomer these 

 remarks are not of course addressed ; with him such dif- 

 ficulties as these do not, and ought not, to have any 

 weight. My object was to institute something like a 

 comparison between the telescope and the microscope 

 as to their capability of affording rational amusement to 

 the generality of mankind, when it is desirable to be- 

 guile a vacant hour, and where our whole time is not at 

 our own disposal. In making out my case in favour of 

 the microscope in this respect, I may be allowed to refer 

 the reader to such proof as is afforded by the subjects 

 treated of in the first three chapters of this work. 



" These," says Dr. Goring, when speaking of livingobjects 

 viewed under the microscope, " experience has shewn to 

 excite the strongest emotions of pleasure and satisfaction 

 in the great mass of observers of all ranks, whom I 

 have always found to be most delighted by comparatively 

 large living objects, seen with medium powers. In fact, 

 they seem to afford the same sort of gratification with a 



