A _simple microscope_, mounted, is preferable to a single lens, being usually composed of two or more lenses separated by a small distance on a common axis; the increase of the size of an object being the angle it subtends to the eye of the observer, or the angle formed by the combination drawn from the axis of vision to the extremity of the object, as in Fig. 47. The lines drawn from the eye to a and r form an angle, which, when the distance is small, is nearly twice as large as the angle from the eye to o w, formed by lines drawn at twice the distance. This is called the angle of vision, or the visual angle. Now, the utility of a convex lens interposed between a near object and the eye consists in its reducing the divergence of the rays forming the several pencils issuing from it, so that they enter the eye in a state of moderate divergence, as if they were issuing from an object beyond the near point of distinct vision, and a well-defined image is thereby formed upon the retina. In the next Fig. (48), a double-convex lens illustrates the action of the _simple microscope_, the small arrow being the object brought under view, and the large arrow the magnified image. The rays having first passed through the lens are bent into nearly parallel lines, or pencils diverging from some point within the limits of distinct vision. Thus altered, the eye receives rays precisely as if they had emanated directly from a larger arrow placed about ten inches away from it. The difference between the real and the imaginary object represents the magnifying power of the lens. The object in this case is magnified nearly in the proportion the focal distance of the lens bears to the distance of the object when viewed by the unassisted eye; and this is due to the object being more distinctly viewed so much nearer to the eye than it otherwise could be without the lens.[18] [Illustration: Fig. 48.--Virtual Image formed by Convex Lens.] It should be remembered that the shorter the focus and the nearer the eye the magnifying lens is placed the smaller will be the diameter of the sphere of which it forms a part, and unless its aperture be proportionally reduced, the distinctness of the image will be destroyed by the spherical and chromatic aberrations of its high curvature. Nevertheless, it was by the use of lenses so constructed that the older microscopists--of whom Leeuwenhoek was the more eminent--were enabled to do so much excellent work. The various kinds of simple pocket lenses for the most part consist of a double-convex, or a plano-convex, or a combination of both, varying in focal length from a quarter of an inch to two inches. Sometimes they are set in pairs with a hole, a small diaphragm, cut in the piece of horn placed between them. These are extremely useful for carrying in the waistcoat pocket; to the anatomist and field botanist for examining various objects and preparations. [Illustration: Fig. 49.--Wollaston’s Doublet.]