EXORDIUM. 239 



I would ask whether, in the hands of men like Bauer, 

 they are not applied to the development of the most 

 curious, important, and interesting details of anatomy 

 and physiology, which, without their assistance, could 

 never have been known ? and whether the finest and 

 most delicate parts of the structure of animals, in their 

 extreme penetralia, are not rendered equally intelligible 

 with the coarsest and most evident parts of their fabric, 

 by means of these instruments ? 



None are apt to treat microscopists with more contempt 

 than some astronomers, and even mere star-gazers. 



I shall always possess the most profound veneration 

 for astronomy, as the most sublime of all the sciences ; 

 but star-gazing is a distinct department, though fre- 

 quently confounded with it ; and is, in my opinion, little 

 better than downright microsophizing. To the telescope 

 certainly belongs the inspection of the great and sublime 

 works of the creation ; to the microscope belongs the 

 petites and beautiful ones : if the former shews us the 

 world above, the latter exhibits the world beneath us. 



I must here positively chant the vast superiority of a 

 microscope, as a hobby-horse, over a telescope, at least 

 when the latter is used merely as a star-gazing instru* 

 ment. Let us suppose you have, at a great expense, 

 procured a very fine telescope. How many hours in 

 the year will you be able to use it ? Not above one 

 hundred, says Sir W. Herschel, even if you lose not 

 one in other avocations. How many colds and quinzies 

 are you to get by exposure to the night air, when you 



