M ICROSCOPE , the name of an instrument for enabling the eye to see distinctly objects which are placed at a very short distance from it, or to see magnified images of small objects, and therefore to see smaller objects than would otherwise be visible. The name is derived from the two Greek words, expressing this property, MIKROS, small , and SKOPEO, to see . So little is known of the early history of the microscope, and so certain is it that the magnifying power of lenses must have been discove