72 SIGHT* 



hearted auxiliary. There remains only one sense 

 to be noticed, and that is the sense of sight a 

 sense, the organs of which in their structure more 

 resemble contrivances that we can make, than 

 those of any of the other senses. On that account 

 we can assist and improve our eyes more by arti- 

 ficial helps, than we can any of our other sensal 

 organs. If the sight is too short, we can 

 lengthen it by spectacles hollow in the middle ; 

 and if it be too long, we can shorten it by specta- 

 cles of the opposite form ; so also we can make 

 distant objects appear near with the telescope, and 

 small ones appear large with the microscope. 

 These are very useful contrivances ; but the use of 

 them is limited to a small number of people, and 

 not a great number of occasions. When we go 

 out to recruit ourselves by the popular observa- 

 tion of nature, we are not to carry spectacles, 

 telescopes, and microscopes with us, but to use 

 our own eyes ; and to nine hundred and ninety- 

 nine out of every thousand of us, well-educated 

 eyes, used to good purpose, are superior to all the 

 philosophical instruments in the world. Those 

 instruments are valuable to such as require them, 

 just as the tools of every trade are useful to those 

 who follow that trade ; and improving the tool is 

 the best and most certain way of improving the 

 trade itself; but the eye is a tool in every trade, 

 a universal tool ; and therefore every body should 

 be diligent in its improvement. 



The eye can work to a greater distance than any 

 other organ, and it works much faster. When 

 you come over the last height, and look down 

 upon a fine city, with its domes, and spires, and 

 pinnacles, and surrounding villas, and gardens, 



