Difcoveries made by the Microfcope. 3 o f 
exceffive Greatnefs or exceffive Littlenefs, of 
Things, are to us all Perplexity and Confu- 
lion. 
“ Let a Man try to conceive the differ- 
ent Bulk of an Animal which is twenty, 
“ from another which is an hundred Times 
“ lefs than a Mite; or to compare, in his 
“ Thoughts, the Length of a thoufand Dia- 
ie meters of the Earth with that of a million, 
i( an he will quickly find that he has no 
“ different Meafures in his Mind adjlifted 
“ to fuch extraordinary Degrees of Grandeur 
“ or Minutenefs. The Underftanding, in- 
deed, opens an infinite Space on every Side 
“ of us •> but the Imagination, after a few 
“ faint ‘Efforts, is immediately at a Stand, 
“ and finds itfelf fwallowed up in the Im- 
“ menftty of the Void that furrounds it* 
“ Our Reafon can purfue a Particle of Mat- 
“ ter thro’ an infinite Variety of 'Divifioris, 
“ but the Fancy foon lofes Sight of it, and 
<e feels in itfelf a Kind of Chaim, that wants 
“ to be filled with Matter of a more fenfib'le 
“ Bulk. We can neither widen nor con- 
“ tradl the Faculty to the Dimenfions of 
“ either Extreme. The Object is too big 
<e for our Capacity, when we would com- 
“ prebend the Circumference of a Worlds 
' te and dwindles to Nothing when we en» 
_ O 
“ deavour after the Idea of an Atom 
I* > f J. .. : 
•* Spectator, Numb. 420. 
X 2 The 
