Note 4 — Front matter

In Dr. Brewster’s treatise on new Philosophical instruments, Book 5, chap. 2, Page 403—Account of a new compound Microscope for objects of Natural History—is the following passage: “We cannot therefore expect any essential improvement in the single microscope, unless from the discovery of some transparent substance, which like the diamond combines a high refractive with a low dispersive power.” From which it seems certain that the Doctor never contemplated the possibility of working upon the substance of the diamond, though he must have been aware of its valuable properties.