LITTLE witch, and the Bible says, " Thou shalt not suffer a 

 JOURNEYS witch to live," although it does not say anything about 

 wizards. QBut please note this: the wizard who had 

 that magic box and flea, had really the first microscope. 

 Q About the year 1607, Galileo bought a pair of "magic 

 glasses," or spectacles; and his action, in so doing, 

 was freely criticized. 



On a visit to Venice, where glass had been manufac- 

 tured since long before the Flood, Galileo was looking 

 through one of the glass factories, just as visitors do 

 now, and one of the workmen showed him a peculiar 

 piece of glass which magnified the hairs on the back 

 of his hand many times. 



In a very few days after this, Galileo heard that a 

 Dutch spectacle-maker had placed certain queer shaped 

 pieces of glass in a tube, and offered to sell this tube 

 to the Government, so by its use, soldiers could per- 

 ceive the movements of an enemy many miles away. 

 QThat night Galileo did not close his eyes in sleep. 

 He thought out a plan by which he could place pieces 

 of glass in a tube, and bring the stars close to earth. 

 Q By daylight the whole plan was clear in his mind, 

 and he hastened to the shop of the glass-makers. Two 

 lenses were made, one plano-convex, and the other 

 plano-concave, and these were placed in a tube made 

 of sheet copper. It was tested on distant objects; and 

 behold! they were magnified by three. Would this 

 tube show the stars magnified ? Galileo knew of no rea- 

 son why it should not, but he paced his room in hot 

 impatience, waiting for the night to come with its twink- 

 48 



