HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF MICROSCOPY.
THE term microscopy, meaning the use of the microscope, is also applied to the knowledge obtained by this instrument, and in this sense is commensurate with a knowledge of the minute structure of the universe, so far as it may come under human observation. Physics and astronomy treat of the general arrangement and motions. of masses of matter, chemistry investigates their constitution, and microscopy determines their minute structure. The science of histology, so important to anatomy and physiology, is wholly the product of microscopy, while this latter subject lends its aid to almost every other branch of natural science.
To the student of physical phenomena this subject unfolds an amazing variety developed from most simple beginnings, while to the Christian philosopher it gives the clearest evidence of that Creative Power and Wisdom before whom great and small are terms without meaning.
In the arts, as well as in scientific investigations, the microscope is used for the examination and preparation of delicate work. The jeweller, the engraver, and the miner find a simple microscope almost essential to their employments. This application of the magnifying power of lenses was known to the ancients, as is shown by the glass lens