298 Microscopic Writing, Engraving, and Printing. 



MICROSCOPIC WHITING, ENGRAVING AND 

 PRINTING. 



In our September number (page 143), we gave au account of 

 Mr. Webb's ingenious instrument for microscopic writing. The 

 principle as then explained appears to be substantially the same 

 as that of Mr. Peters' s Microscopic Pentagraph; and the results 

 obtained by it are equally worthy of remark. At the date of our 

 last notice Mr. Webb only exhibited specimens of minute 

 writing on glass, but he has recently introduced a very elegant 

 novelty in the shape of microscopic engraving and printing 

 from copper-plates. In this manner he has produced highly- 

 finished copies of the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, .God 

 Save the Queen, Rule Britannia, and sixteen lines of verse on 

 the International Exhibition. Many visitors have engraved 

 their own address cards, by writing their names with a pencil 

 on paper, and leaving the instrument to diminish and transmit 

 the motion to the diamond point by which the letters were 

 inscribed on a small copper plate. 



To print from these delicate plates requires peculiar care 

 and skill, but all the difficulties have been ably surmounted by 

 Mr. Fautley, who has been working in conjunction with 

 Mr. Webb, and the microscopic engraving, although scarcely 

 visible to the naked eye, as a faint stain upon the paper, 

 comes out with beautiful distinctness and regularity when 

 placed on the stage of the microscope, and viewed with an inch 

 or two-thirds object-glass. If the famous wizard Merlin 

 should return to earth, and desire to print his magic book, 

 Mr. Webb and his colleague would be able to reproduce the 

 pages with ' ' ample marge ;" 



"And every marge enclosing in the midst 

 A square of text that looks a little blot ; 

 The text no larger than the limbs of fleas." 



They could indeed supply a diminished copy, as our readers 

 will see when they receive the specimen we have had engraved 

 for their delectation,* and in which the letters are consider- 

 ably less than the size indicated by the poet's zoological com- 

 parison. That this is no exaggeration they may learn by mi- 

 crometrical measurement, which Mr. Webb assures us will show 

 that some of the letters only measure the half-millionth of an 

 inch ! 



Mr. Webb has shown us some blocks of glass nearly inch 

 cubes, on which he had engraved microscopically, and from 



* A beautiful specimen of the engraving will be forwarded to readers who will 

 Bend a directed envelope enclosing two postage stamps to Messrs. Groombridge 

 and Sons, 5, Paternoster Row. 



