PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



HE author of the present publication entered upon his 

 task with some hesitation and diffidence ; but the reasons 

 which influenced him to undertake it may be briefly told ; 

 and they at once explain his motives, and plead his justifi- 

 cation, for the work which he now ventures to submit to 

 the indulgent consideration of his readers. 



It had been to him for some time a subject of regret, 

 that one of the most useful and fascinating of studies the 

 study that belongs to the domain of microscopic observation should 

 be, if not wholly neglected, at best but coldly and indifferently ap- 

 preciated, by the great mass of the general public ; and he formed a 

 strong opinion, that this apathy and inattention were mainly attri- 

 butable to the want of some concise, yet sufficiently comprehensive, 

 popular account of the Microscope, both as regards the management 

 and manipulation of the instrument, and the varied wonders and 

 hidden realms of beauty that are disclosed and developed by its aid. 

 He saw around him valuable, erudite, and splendid volumes ;. which, 

 however, being chiefly destined for circulation amongst a special class 

 of readers, were necessarily, from the nature of their contents and th e 

 style of their production, published at a price that renders them 

 practically unattainable by the great bulk of the public. They 



