ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 597 



e richerche di Antonio Favaro.' Veuezia, 1881, 8vo. In this pamphlet is at p. 82 

 a letter of Lodovico delle Colombe, written to Galileo on the 24th June, 1619, which 

 begins thus : — 



" It is true that, during the first days after the publication of Mauri's invective 

 against me, I suspected on account of certain rumours and conjectures, which 

 I found afterwards to l)e groundless, tliat j'ou had taken part in it with him : but 

 the excellent Sig. Giov. Battista Amadori assured me from your lordship's own 

 words that such was in nowise the case." 



(35) " Vedi F. Giordano predica del di 23 di Febbraio, 1305." (This note is by 

 Mauri himself.) 



(36) ' Discorso di Lodovico delle Colombo,' in which he shows that the new star 

 which appeared in October 1601 in Sagittarius is not a comet, nor a star newly 

 generated or created, but one of those which were in the heavens from the beginning, 

 and that this is conformable to true philosophy, theology, and astronomical demon- 

 strations. In Florence, in the printing oflfice de' Giunti, 1606, 4to. Ibid., pp. 18, 

 87, and 48. 



(37) ' Annales de Chimie et de Physique,' 5™^ serie, t. xv. (1878^, pp. 563-73 ; 

 " De la Mesure du Grossissement dans les Instruments d'Optique, par M. G. Govi." 



(38) Torricelli was the first to give an unhoped-for perfection to the simple 

 Microscope, by suggesting the substitution of little globes or, as he called them, little 

 pearls of glass, fused by the enamelling lamp into the very small lenticular glasses, 

 which at that time no one had yet begun to work with emery in iron or bronze 

 moulds. 



He sent the news to F. Bonaventura Cavalieri, who, on the 15th of March, 1644, 

 speaking of the telescope lenses perfected by Torricelli and of these " little pearla " 

 of his, wrote him thus : — 



" I hear by your letter of the marvellous operation of your glasses, and rejoice 

 much with you. I see that you wish to leave to none any cause of glury in this most 

 noble instrument, for with the vigour of your genius you have reached the minimum 

 and maximum, quod sic, as philosophers say, and you have shown yourself great no 

 less in the small than in the large parts of such instruments, for 1 no less admire these 

 little glass globes, which I understand you have discovered, than this new invention 

 which I hear you have just made." 



After this letter, Torricelli sent some of his perline to Cavali>'ri, who thanked him 

 in a letter of the 5th of April, 1644, showing himself highly satisfied with them. 



See 'Lezioui Accademiche di Evangelista Torricelli.' Florence, 1715, 1 vol. 8vo. 

 In the preface written by Tomaso Bonaventuri, pp. xvii. and xviii. 



Father Athanasius Kirch er has preserved tlie record of this invention of Torri- 

 celli, relating in division ii., paragraph v., cap. viii. of the second part of book x. 

 of his work, ' Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae,' published whilst Torricelli was still alive 

 (KomaB, 1646, 2 vols. 4to. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 835), that ihese perline fixed at the 

 extremity of a small tube were not more than 25 or 3 mm. in diameter, and 

 added : " Huiusmodi tubulos Serenissimus Joannes Curolus Cardinalis Medicis * non 

 ita pridem pro singulari suo erga hujusmodi studia affectu, mihi dono dedit ; veraque 

 isto experimento comperi, quae sapientlsslmus princeps de ijs subinde narrabat." 



(39) ' Fasti Consolari dell' Accademia Fiorentina, di Salvino Salvini, Console 

 della medesima, Kettore generale dello Studio di Firenze. AH' Altezza Reale del 

 Serenissimo Giov. Gastone, Gran Principe di Toscana.' Florence, 1717, 1 vol. 4to. 



Ibid., pp. 397-432. " Eacconto istorico della vita del Slg. Galileo Galilei, nobil 

 Fiorentiiio ecc. scritto da Vincenzio Viviani al Serenissimo Principe Leopoldo di 

 Toscana, il di 29 Aprlle, 1654." 



(40) 'Inedita Galila^iana. Framraenti tratti dalla Blblioteca Nazlonale di 

 Firenze pubblicati ed illustrati dal Prof. Antonio Favaro.' Venezia, 1880, 4to, 

 pp. 35-43. Extracts from vol. xxi. delle Memorie dell' Istituto Veneto. 



I quote this publication of the Chiarissimo Prof. Favaro rather than Viviani's 

 former ones, or Nelli's, Venturi's, Alberi's, or any others, because in this is niore 

 completely and correctly reproduced the text of the inscription engraved by Viviani 

 on the Cartelloni of his house. 



(41) ' De vero Telescopii Inventore, cum brevi omnium conspiciliorum historia. 

 Ubi de eorum confectione, ac usu sen de eifectibus agitur novaque qusedam circa ea 

 proponuntur. Accessit etiam centuria observationum microscopicarum. Authore 



* Giancarlo de' Medici, son of Cosimo II., born in 1611, made Cardinal in 1644, 

 died on the 23rd January, 1663. 



1889. * 2 T 



