outwards. As to the little patch of bark which was found upon a small portion of the specimen, it may be presumed

that at that point there had occurred a cohesion between the liber and alburnum, which the force of the fibres descending from the buds was not sufficient to overcome, and that, in consequence, such portion of the bark became incased.

Whatever opinion may be entertained of the foregoing explanation, it, I think, at least seems impossible to reconcile the structure of this specimen with the theory that bark produces bark, and wood wood; while, at the same time, it is entirely conformable to the opinion, that wood and bark are both the result of the development of the numerous systems of vegetation, of which every plant consists.

The accompanying wood-cut represents the specimen, much diminished, and may serve to convey a more exact idea of the subject to which the foregoing remarks apply.

ON THE FIRST INVENTION OF TELESCOPES, &c.

HA

By Dr. G. MOLL, of Utrecht.

(Concluded from page 332.)

AVING heard what was adduced on the side of Lippershey, we must now turn to the witnesses of Zacharias Tausz, or Taussen.

The first of these is the ambassador, Boreel himself, a man alike respectable for his rank, character, and abilities. He says, that in 1591, the year in which he (Boreel) was born, a spectacle-maker lived near his father's house at Middelburg; that this man's name was Hans, his wife's Maria, and that, besides two daughters, he had a son called Zacharias; that Boreel knew this Zacharias intimately, they having been playmates. This Hans, i. e. John, with his son Zacharias, as Boreel often heard, invented the first microscope, which was presented to Prince Maurice, and they obtained some reward. A similar microscope was afterwards offered by them to the Archduke Albert of Austria. When Boreel was ambassador in England in 1619, he saw that identical microscope there, in the possession of Cornelius Drebbel, of Alkmar, a man of much knowledge, and mathematician to King James, the Archduke having presented the microscope to Drebbel. This microscope of Zacharias was not, continues Boreel, as they are shown at present, with a short tube; but it was about eighteen inches long, and two inches in diameter, with a tube of gilt copper, resting on two sculptured dolphins; under it was a disc of ebony, on which the objects to be examined were placed But long after, in 1610, by dint of research, they (i. e. Hans and Zacharias) invented in Middelburg the long sidereal telescopes, with which we gaze at the moon, the planets, stars, and heavenly bodies, of which a specimen was given to Prince Maurice, who kept it secret, judging it useful in expeditions. However, as this admirable invention was rumoured about, and as curious men were talking about it in Holland and

* A stage.

elsewhere, a stranger came from Holland to Middelburg to inquire into this matter, and, asking for a spectacle-maker, he was shown by mistake into the shop of John Laprey. He spoke with him about the secret of the telescope. Laprey, being an ingenious man and a close observer, heard attentively what the stranger said, and thus, with laudable industry and care, became the second inventor of the long telescope, which he made to the satisfaction of the stranger. Therefore Laprey, who by his ingenuity discovered a thing which was not shown to him, deserves to be ranked as second inventor. He first sold telescopes, and made them generally known. Afterwards, Adrian Metius, Professor of Francker, and, later, Cornelius Drebbel, came to Middelburg in 1620, and bought each a telescope, not from Laprey, but from Zacharias Tausz.

From this evidence we may infer, that Hans, or John, and his son Zacharias, were actually the inventors of a compound microscope for opaque objects: the elegant ornaments of this instrument, and the general description which Boreel gives of it, make it probable that both Hans and Zacharias were men of ability. But with microscopes we have at present nothing to do. The point at issue is, whether either Hans or Zacharias, or any body else, actually made telescopes before the 2d of October, 1608; and since Boreel indicates 1610 as the epoch of the invention of Hans and Zacharias, the claim of Lippershey to priority remains unshaken, even by the evidence of Boreel.

The following witness is John, the son of Zacharias, and consequently grandson of this Hans, of whom Boreel has spoken. He says, in 1655, that he then was fifty-two years old; thus, at the period when Lippershey sent in his petition, i. e. in 1608, he was only five years old. He does not mention his grandfather, but says, that his father, Zacharias, was the first inventor of the telescopes; and that this happened, as he had often heard, in this town, in 1590; but the longest telescope made at that time did not exceed in length fifteen or sixteen inches. He affirms, that two such telescopes were then offered, one to Prince Maurice, the other to the Archduke Albert; and that telescopes of such length were in use till 1618. At that time, he, John, and his father, Zacharias, invented the construction and fabric of the longer telescopes, which are still

now used at night to look at the moon and stars.

He further

says that, in 1620, a man of the name of Metius came to Middelburg, and procured such a telescope, the construction of which he afterwards tried to imitate; and he adds, that Drebbel did the same.

John

This witness, fixing the epoch of the invention at 1590, speaks only from hearsay. Besides, he is in contradiction with Boreel, who states that the invention of the telescope by Hans and Zacharias was in 1610, at which time Boreel was nineteen, and this John Zacharias only seven years of age. says nothing of the microscope, which Boreel actually saw and described. It is certainly possible that one of the Metii, perhaps the Professor, came to Middelburg in 1620, and bought a telescope. But this does not decide the question of priority, as we know, from incontrovertible authority, that Jacob Metius was in possession of the invention in 1608. What happened in 1620, when so many splendid discoveries were made by means of the telescope, is not of the least consequence, as far as concerns the first invention of the instrument.

There still remains another witness, whose evidence is very immaterial and of little importance. It is a woman called Sarah Goedard; she is a sister of Zacharias Jansz: she merely says, that it is forty-two or forty-four years ago since her brother invented the long telescopes in Middelburg. She often saw her brother at work making telescopes; but she cannot speak positively as to time.

This woman's evidence, who brings the invention to 1611 or 1613, cannot be of the slightest use in settling the question between Zacharias and Lippershey.

It was then the soldier of Sedan, who first brought the instrument to France; but his endeavours met with no great success in that country. It is most astonishing to find the French philosopher Peirese doubting the truth of the invention of telescopes as late as 1622, and ascribing it to Drebbel, a person wholly unconnected with it. In a letter to William Camden, he says, 'I should like to know what is true about the inventions of Cornelius Drubelsius Alkmariensis, who, as is said, has invented in your parts a globe representing ebb and flood, a covered boat going between two waters, and long MAY, 1831.

VOL. I.

2 K

spy-glasses (lunettes), with which a writing may be read at the distance of a league, which we do not easily believe here *.'

And in another place + he says, 'We are told marvellous things here about the inventions of Cornelius Drubelsius Alk→ mariensis, who is in the service of the King of Great Britain, and who lives in a house near London; amongst others, a covered boat, which goes between two waters; a glass globe, which he makes to represent the tides, by a perpetual motion; regulated like the natural tide of the sea, and of a spy-glass, which makes one read a writing at more than a league (or a mile) distance. I beg you to write me a word about the truth of each of these inventions. We have here those small glasses (lunettes), by which insects and mites appear as large as flies, which is certainly admirable; but I should like to know what is true respecting these other inventions.'

It would appear that the invention was attributed by some persons to the soldier of Sedan, whose name appears to have been Crepit. He left, as we have seen, the Low Countries in December, 1608, and in May following, 1609, we find a Frenchman in Milan making telescopes. Sirturus § gives us the following account of this transaction :—

• A Frenchman hurried to Milan in May, 1609, who offered a telescope to the Count de Fuentes. He called himself a partner of the Dutch inventor. The Count gave the instrument to a silversmith, to have it included in a silver tube; it fell into the hands of Sirturus, who handled and examined it, and made a similar one (if his assertion is to be believed); but perceiving that much depended on the glass, he went to Venice to get some at the workmen.'

Simon Marius, who disputed the discovery of the satellites of Jupiter with Galileo, speaks of another Dutch telescope, which came into foreign parts at a very early stage of the inven tion. He says that, in 1608, at the autumnal Franckfort mass or fair (usually held in September), a certain General Fuchs de Bimbach, an amateur of mathematics, heard from a Dutch

Gul. Camdenii et ill. viror. ad Camden. Epistol. London, 1691. p. 333. + Page 387.

Borel de verotelescopii inventore, p. 19.

Sirturus de telescopio. Edit. Franckf. 1618. 4to. minori, p. 25.