Micrographia nova: sive nova & curiosa variorum minutorum corporum singularis cujusdam & noviter

Always may we rejoice in his aid and his perpetual kindness, from which all things we pray to be liberated by the Lord.

As a test of my new invention, I placed the very subtle texture of fine Belgian silk under the microscope. It appeared like a lattice fashioned from thicker iron wires (see Fig. I, Obs. I). Through the square spaces, no one—regarding the enlargement—could have passed a hand through without obstruction.

To demonstrate this enlargement of the subject rightly and arithmetically, see Fig. I, Obs. I, and specifically the square portion of fine Belgian silk according to the true and natural proportion at letter A. Opposite it, at letter B, is another square, four inches long and just as wide, appearing thus by the magnifying power of the microscope. You will see the square particle of this Belgian silk according to nature representing at least one part. However, according to the enlargement and increase in a straight line by means of the microscope, it represents 100. If, therefore, I compare the single part with the 100 parts and multiply them, this square according to the area—