The Author will conclude these prefatory observations with a few words in explanation of his arrangements, by way of dealing with the instrument and development of his subject. He has sought, in the volume that he now lays before the public, to point out and elucidate at once in a practical manner and in a popular style, the vast fund of utility and amusement which the Microscope affords, and has endeavoured to touch upon most of the interesting subjects for microscopic observation as fully as the restrictions of a limited space, and the nature of the succinct summary, would permit. To have dwelt upon each in complete detail would have necessitated the issue of many expensive volumes--and this would have entirely frustrated the aim which the writer had in view; he has, therefore, contented himself with the humble, but, he trusts, not useless, task of setting up a finger-post, so to say, to direct the inquirer into the wider road. In the section of the work devoted to the minuter portion of creation, he has ventured to dwell somewhat longer, in the belief that that department is more especially the province of the microscopist. He has arranged his topics under special headings, and in separate chapters, for the sake of perspicuity and precision; and has brought the ever-welcome aid of illustration to convey his explanatory remarks more vividly to the minds of his readers.
Finally, it is the Author’s hope that, by the instrumentality of this volume, he may possibly assist in bringing the Microscope, and its valuable and delightful studies, before the general public in a more familiar, compendious, and economical form than he found it at the period of its publication, so that, in these days of a diffused taste for reading and the spread of cheap publications, he may thus supply further exercise for the intellectual faculties; contribute to the additional amusement and instruction of the family circle, and aid the student of nature in investigating the wonderful and exquisite works of the Almighty. If it shall be the good fortune for this work, which is now confided with great diffidence to the consideration of the public, to succeed, in however slight a degree, in furthering this design, the Author will feel fully repaid for the amount of time and labour expended.