Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.Adams, George
Science
Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.
Adams, George
Insects -- Early works to 1800; Microscopy -- Early works to 1800
An account of Eustachio Divinis’s microscope was read at the Royal
Society, in 1668.[12] It consisted of an object lens, a middle glass,
and two eye glasses, which were plano convex lenses, and were placed so
that they touched each other in the center of their convex surfaces; by
which means the glass takes in more of an object, the field is larger,
the extremities of it less curved, and the magnifying power greater. The
tube, in which the glasses were inclosed, was as large as a man’s leg,
and the eye glasses as broad as the palm of the hand. It had four
several lengths; when shut up, it was sixteen inches long, and magnified
the diameter of an object forty-one times; at the second length, ninety
times; at the third length, one hundred and eleven times; at the fourth
length, one hundred and forty-three times. It does not appear that E.
Divinis varied the object lenses.
[12] Philos. Trans. No. 42.
Philip Bonnani published an account of his two microscopes in 1698;[13]
both were compound; the first was similar to that which Mr. Martin
published as new, in his Micrographia Nova,[14] in 1742. His second was
like the former, composed of three glasses, one for the eye, a middle
glass, and an object lens; they were mounted in a cylindrical tube,
which was placed in an horizontal position; behind the stage was a small
tube, with a convex lens at each end; beyond this was a lamp; the whole
capable of various adjustments, and regulated by a pinion and rack; the
small tube was used to condense the light on the object, and spread it
uniformly over it according to its nature, and the magnifying power that
was used.
[13] Bonnani Observationes circa Viventia.
[14] Micrographia Nova, by B. Martin, 4to.
If the reader attentively consider the construction of the foregoing
microscopes, and compare them with more modern ones, he will be led to
think with me, that the compound microscope has received very little
improvement since the time of Bonnani. Taken separately, the foregoing
constructions are equal to some of the most famed modern microscopes. If
their advantages be combined, they are far superior to that of M.
Dellebarre, notwithstanding the pompous eulogium affixed thereto by
Mess. De L’Academie Royale des Sciences.[15]
[15] Memoires sur les Differences de la Construction et des Effets du
Microscope, de M. L. F. Dellebarre, 1777.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account