From the link within that page :

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Edit: __ See also :

https://golubcollection.berkeley.edu/19th/47/GouldBook.html

Edit: __ There is a copy of the eighth edition of that book available on  ‘Google Books’

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 16/12/2021 17:49:20

Fantastic historical item of national importance and interest — my only hope it that it was sold to someone in the UK — really should have been purchased for the nation ! The provenance is also amazing.

John

For those curious about anatomy and evolution visit the Hunterian Museum (John Hunter collection) at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. It's currently closed for rebuilding works until 2023 but used to be free access to the public on 1 or 2 days of the week. Collections of human and nonhuman specimens – cool things like wax injected lung vessels with the tissue dissolved, specimens of animal gestation through the stages, scarab beetles – all sorts of things. It’s one modest room but crammed with specimens on display. I took one of my daughters there a couple of times. The receptionist was cheerful enough to give us some paper and pencils so we could sit and sketch a specimen or two.

pgk

The earliest microscopes, as used by Hooke and others, towards the late 1600s, were made in the way Bob describes, except that instead of a blob of glass, the scientists used a spherical diamond. This had the advantage of a higher 'refractive index' – it bent the light more effectively – so you got more magnification than with glass.

Quite how they managed to grind their diamonds into spheres was not explained … They can't have melted them into blobs.

Cheers, Tim