By Marian Fournier. 267 pp. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. $47.50. ISBN 0-8018-5138-6.
Today, one rarely thinks of the microscope as an important instrumentof high technology. Yet, even in this age of computed tomographicscans and gene sequences, the humble microscope is arguablythe medical device used most often. Soon after its inventionin the early 1600s, the microscope was used to produce an amazingarray of images and evidence, heralding a series of scientificbreakthroughs easily the equal of any the world has seen sincethen. In this slim, readable book, Fournier describes well thefirst century of the new device and conveys the excitement ashumankind glimpsed for the first . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Previous
