I.—Can the microscope be brought to perfection?
SPIRIT.—Yes.
I.—Am I destined to accomplish this great task?
SPIRIT.—You are.
I.—I wish to know how to proceed to attain this end. For the love which you bear to science, help me!
SPIRIT.—A diamond of one hundred and forty carats, submitted to electro-magnetic currents for a long period, will experience a rearrangement of its atoms inter se, and from that stone you will form the universal lens.
I.—Will great discoveries result from the use of such a lens?
SPIRIT.—So great, that all that has gone before is as nothing.
I.—But the refractive power of the diamond is so immense, that the image will be formed within the lens. How is that difficulty to be surmounted?
SPIRIT.—Pierce the lens through its axis, and the difficulty is obviated. The image will be formed in the pierced space, which will itself serve as a tube to look through. Now I am called. Good night!