In recommending the employment of Diamond and other gems in the
construction of Microscopes, Sir David Brewster has been met with
the objection that they are too expensive for such a purpose; and,
says Sir David, “they certainly are for instruments intended merely
to instruct and amuse. But if we desire to make great discoveries,
to unfold secrets yet hid in the cells of plants and animals, we
must not grudge even a diamond to reveal them. If Mr. Cooper and Sir
James South have given a couple of thousand pounds a piece for a
refracting telescope, in order to study what have been miscalled ‘dots’
and ‘lumps’ of light on the sky; and if Lord Rosse has expended far
greater sums on a reflecting telescope for analysing what has been
called ‘sparks of mud and vapour’ encumbering the azure purity of the
heavens,--why should not other philosophers open their purse, if they
have one, and other noblemen sacrifice some of their household jewels,
to resolve the microscopic structures of our own real world, and
disclose secrets which the Almighty must have intended that we should
know?”--_Proceedings of the British Association_, 1857.