LEUWENHOECK’S MICROSCOPES.
Leuwenhoeck, the father of microscopical discovery, communicated to the Royal Society, in 1673, a description of the structure of a bee and a louse, seen by aid of his improved microscopes; and from this period until his decease in 1723, he regularly transmitted to the society his microscopical observations and discoveries, so that 375 of his papers and letters are preserved in the society’s archives, extending over fifty years. He further bequeathed to the Royal Society a cabinet of twenty-six microscopes, which he had ground himself and set in silver, mostly extracted by him from minerals; these microscopes were exhibited to Peter the Great when he was at Delft in 1698. In acknowledging the bequest, the council of the Royal Society, in 1724, presented Leuwenhoeck’s daughter with a handsome silver bowl, bearing the arms of the society.—Weld’s History of the Royal Society, vol. i.