EARLY DAYS OF THE MICROSCOPE 



He published a book in 1610 in which he wrote : 

 *' About ten months ago a rumour reached me of 

 an ocular instrument made by a certain Dutchman, 

 by means of which an object could be made to 

 appear distinct and near to an eye that looked 

 through it, although it was really far away. And 

 so I considered the desirability of investigating the 

 method, and reflected on the means by which I 

 might come to the invention of a similar instrument. 

 I first prepared a leather tube at the ends of which 

 one placed two lenses each of them fiat on one side, 

 and as to the other side I fashioned one concave 

 and the other convex. Then holding the eye to 

 the concave one, I saw the objects fairly large and 

 nearer, for they appeared three times nearer and 

 nine times larger than when they were observed 

 by the naked eye. Soon after I made another more 

 exactly, representing objects more than sixty times 

 larger. At length, sparing no labour and no ex- 

 pense, I got to the point that I could construct an 

 excellent instrument so that things seen through 

 it appeared a thousand times greater and more than 

 thirty-fold nearer than if observed by the naked 

 eye." Galileo had his enemies, who accused him 

 of having picked Zacharias's brains; he admitted 

 that he had taken his idea from the Dutchman's 

 invention, but further than that he would not go; 

 in fact, he replied that the invention of Zacharias 

 was a mere accident but that his own instrument 

 was discovered by a process of reasoning. 



It would serve no good purpose to tell the story 



9'^ 



