546 Beviews. [July, 



quis. He was a contemporary writer, a brother inventor, but his 

 writings lack the obscurity and the bombast of those of the Marquis, 

 and it cannot be denied that Hooke was the greater philosopher, and 

 the greater mechanical genius of the two. 



We cannot regard the Marquis of Worcester as " one of the most 

 extraordinary mechanical geniuses of the 17th or any preceding cen- 

 tury," as possessing " a mighty intellect," or the other exalted mental 

 attributes with which Mr. Dircks endows him. How has the world 

 profited by his labours, what benefits has it reaped from the 50,000Z. 

 which he declared he spent " in trying experiments and conclusions of 

 art ? " He was a schemer rather than an experimental philosopher. 

 To take the subjects mentioned in the ' Century,' how many are utterly 

 unworthy the attention of a great intellect, how many are perfectly 

 useless ! Moreover, they are, for the most part, not original inventions ; 

 we have previous mention of almost everything to which he alludes, 

 and we can at most call them improvements upon, or modifications of, 

 older inventions. The Marquis was not an original thinker, he worked 

 up old ideas : had he written of the importance of his inventions with 

 less bombast, we might have given him credit for knowing more than 

 we can now do ; as it is, we can but think that he often exaggerates, 

 and strives to mystify and excite the wonderment of the world, rather 

 than to describe inventions of utility to his fellow-men. 



THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF THE ACHROMATIC 

 MICROSCOPE. 



The title of this work * introduces it to the reader as an advertise- 

 ment of Messrs. Smith and Beck's Microscopes, and there is no 

 attempt whatever on the part of the author, a gentleman of consider- 

 able merit as a microscopist, to disguise the fact that it is an adver- 

 tisement. If this had been all we have to say either for or against the 

 book, it would have been left unsaid, for we have no wish to give 

 undue prominence to the instruments, excellent though they be, of 

 any particular manufacturer, to the detriment of any other, and whilst 

 we are quite willing to accord due praise to Messrs. Smith and Beck 

 for their efforts to improve the microscope, we cannot forget that Mr. 

 Ross, Messrs. Powell and Lealand, Mr. Cooke, Mr. Pillischer, Messrs. 

 Crouch, Mr. Collins, Mr. Ladd, and many others known to fame, are 

 all making laudable exertions to improve and popularize the beautiful 

 instrument, and all with marked success. But whilst we mention that 

 Mr. Beck's book is published to advertise his instruments, and to 

 explain their use and mechanism to those who may not be fully 

 initiated in their employment, we have to deal with it also as a legiti- 

 mate treatise on the microscope, for it is a work that will be found 

 useful not only to those who possess an instrument made by the 

 author's firm, but to every microscopist. It describes concisely, and, 



* ' A Treatise on the Construction, Proper Use, and Capabilities of Smith, 

 Beck, and Beck's Achromatic Microscopes,' By Richard Beck. Van Voorst, 1865. 



