WEVM Supplement II: Wonders of the Microscope titles, 19^th century

The “wonders of the microscope” enjoyed a long term of popularity. The phrases “microscopic wonders” and (especially) “wonders of the microscope” became popular in (extant) English-language texts around 1810, then remained relatively steady until about 1885, with a secondary drop-off at around 1910. The phrases “marvels of the microscope” or “revelations of the microscope” began showing up at around 1845, peaked from 1860-1880, and then (especially “marvels”) dropped off sharply. This statement reflects the trends in printed sources in English as shown by the Google ngram viewer; the limitations of the Google Books corpus should be taken into account. The popularity of such language in tracts, broadsides, and other popular ephemera suggests that the ngram algorithm undercounts published instances of these phrases, but the overall trend should still be roughly reliable. The popularity of “revelations” may have been amplified over those decades by Carpenter’s The Microscope and its Revelations. Or perhaps social debates over natural theology may have energized and then depleted language with a clear link to religious belief, such as “revelations” and possibly “marvels”; while “wonders” remained a generic term available to all and thus enjoyed a longer tenure. These terms were also common in general natural history texts or texts about telescopes (the microscope’s companion technology). For comparison, the phrase “wonders of the telescope” has a shorter tenure, rising sharply in 1830, peaking around 1845, then dropping off sharply around 1855. The general phrase “wonders of” retains its popularity more or less throughout the century. There appear to be about ten times as many titles expressing wonder in microscopy as in telescopy, perhaps due to the curious appearance and movements of the “animalcules” populating the microscopic world.

Wonders of the microscope

 [Joyce, Jeremiah]. The Wonders of the Microscope; or, and Explanation of the Wisdom of the Creator in Objects Comparatively Minute, Adapted to the Understanding of Young Persons. Illustrated with Five Large Copper Plates. London: [Tabart], 1806. Joyce also published The Wonders of the Telescope (1805).

Joyce, Jeremiah. Dialogues on the Microscope: Intended for the Instruction and Entertainment of Young Persons, Desirous of Investigating the Wonders of the Minuter Parts of Creation: Containing an Account of the Principles of Vision; and of the Construction and Management of the Most Improved and Generally Useful Microscopes; With Their Application to the Discoveries Made By Them in the Different Kingdoms of the Natural World. London: J. Johnson and Company, 1812.

The Wonders of the Microscope, or, an Explanation of the Wisdom of the Creator in Objects Comparatively Minute: Adapted to the Understanding of Young Persons. London: Printed (by assignment) for William Darton, 1823.

Hutton, W. Wonders of Nature and Art, Containing an Account of the Most Remarkable and Curious Animals, and Mineral and Vegetable Productions in the World; Also, the Manufactures, Buildings, and Wonderful Inventions of Man. Compiled From Works of Established Celebrity. London; Glasgow: A. K. Newman; Simpkin and Marshall; T. Tegg; Edwards and Knibbs; Griffin and Co., 1823.

Spooner, William. “Spooner’s Transformations, No. 2: The Microscope. Displaying to the Horror Stricken Old Woman the Wonderful Inhabitants of a Drop of Water.” Lithograph, watercolor. London, 1830.

“Wonders of the Microscope.” Chambers’s Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Tracts. Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1847. Reissued in 1866 as The Microscope and its Wonders. Different from Microscope and its Marvels, below.

“Microscopic Wonders.” Scientific American 2.45 (1847): 360.

Leneau, E. The Microscope and Its Wonders: Embracing Many Recent Discoveries Not to be Found in Any Other Work. How to Make a Microscope, on the Most Economical Principle, At a Trifling Expense, and for General Use. How, When, and Where to Procure, Propagate, and Preserve Animal-Cules and Microscopic Objects. With Remarks on the Circulation of Blood in Animals. London: Printed for the booksellers, 1850.

11 April 1855: “Scientific Conversazione at the Apothecaries’ Hall.” Illustrated London News (28 Apr 1855): 405-406. “One of the largest assemblages which has ever taken place, of men devoted to the cultivation of science.” “The wonders of the microscope formed the subject of the evening’s entertainment” (405).

Cassell’s educator for the young: consisting of familiar lessons in astronomy, chemistry, electricity, the wonders revealed by the microscope, botany, natural history, geography, arithmetic, languages (English and French), physiology and health, chronology, common things, explanation of technical terms, and miscellanies. Illustrated with several hundred engravings and diagrams. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. “The Wonders of Creation. — Lesson the Fifth. The Microscope.” The Child’s Educator 5 ([1855]): 221-23.

Gilman, B F. Drops of Water; or, Pencillings By the Sea Shore, Showing the Mysteries of the Invisible World, and the Goodness of God, as Seen in the Wonders of Creation, By the Aid of the Compound Microscope. Boston: Cong[regational] Sab[bath] School and Publishing Society, 1856.

Ward, the Hon. Mrs. [Mary]. A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope: A Book for Young Students. London: Groombridge and Sons, 1858.

Olley, William Henry. The Wonders of the Microscope, Photographically Revealed By Olley’s Patent Micro-Photographic Reflecting Process. London: London: W. Kent and Co., 1861.

Curiosities and wonders of nature, science and art: or, The intellectual observer; a review of natural history, microscopic research, and recreative science (1864): 488.

Chase, O. N. Wonders of the Microscope. A Pocket Museum, or the Book of Nature. [Boston]: [publisher not identified], 1867.

Houghton, W[illiam]. The Microscope, and Some of the Wonders it Reveals. London, Paris, and NY: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, [c. 1872?].

“Wonders of the Microscope.” College Courant [Yale] 10, no. 3 (1872): 29.

“Wonders of the Microscope.” Journal of the Franklin Institute: Devoted to Science & the Mechanic Arts 70, no. 5 (1875): 354.

Herrick, Sophie Bledsoe. The Wonders of Plant Life Under the Microscope. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1883.

Fitzgerald, William G. “Some Wonders of the Microscope.” Strand Magazine: An illustrated monthly 12 (1896): 210-16.

Poulson, Edward. The Wonders of the Microscope and Design in Creation, With Remarks Upon Disease Spread By Flies, and Some Useful Information to Beginners and Students Upon Magnifying Powers and Work Done With the Microscope, Etc. London: Houlston & Sons, 1896.

Wonders of the Microscope. It is Shown That Millions of Little Animals May Live in a Drop of Water. London and Madras: The Christian Literature Society for India, 1899.

Reveals/revelations (some overlap with above):

Mantell, Gideon. The Invisible World Revealed by the Microscope. London: John Murray, 1846.

46. T. F. “The microscope and its revelations.” The Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review 46.1 (Oct 1847), 29-60.

Carpenter, William B. The Microscope: And Its Revelations. London: John Churchill, 1856. Also 1857 (2d edn), 1862 (3d edn), 1868 (4^th edn), 1875 (5^th edn), 1881 (6^th edn, London), 1883 (6^th edn, Philadelphia), 1891 (7^th edn), and 1901 (8^th edn). H. J. Slack assisted with the 5th edition; Carpenter prepared the 6^th edition himself. The Rev. W. H. Dallinger assisted with the 7^th and 8^th editions after Carpenter died in 1885.

“The microscope and its revelations,” Eclectic Magazine, 1857, 40, 289-304.

Ferguson, John. The Microscope, Its Revelations and Application in Science and Art. Edinburgh: Thomas Constable, 1858.

J.P.P[hilips]. “The Microscope and Its Revelations, a Lecture Delivered at the Milford Mechanic’s Institute, 1856, and Before the Members of the Literary and Scientific Institution at Haverfordwest, 1857.” Solva, Wales: John Williams), 1859.

Olley, William Henry. The Wonders of the Microscope, Photographically Revealed By Olley’s Patent Micro-Photographic Reflecting Process. London: W. Kent and Co., 1861.

Houghton, W[illiam]. The Microscope, and Some of the Wonders it Reveals. London, Paris, and NY: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1872.

Ward, John J. Minute Marvels of Nature: Being Some Revelations of the Microscope Exhibited by Photo-Micrographs Taken By the Author John J. Ward. London: Isbister and Co., 1903.

Marvels/marvelous (some overlap with above):

Catlow, Agnes. Drops of Water: Their Marvelous and Beautiful Inhabitants Displayed by the Microscope. London: Reeve and Benham, 1851.

“The Microscope and its Marvels,” Chambers’s Papers for the People 6.41 (1850), 1-32.

Bickerstaffe, Mona B. Down Among the Water Weeds; or, Marvels of Pond Life. Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter & Co., 1867.

Slack, Henry James. The Marvels of Pond Life; or, a Year’s Microscopic Recreations Among the Polyps, Infusoria, Rotifers, Water-Bears, and Polyzoa. 2d ed., London: Groombridge and Sons, 1871.

Ward, John J. Minute Marvels of Nature: Being Some Revelations of the Microscope / Exhibited by Photo-Micrographs Taken By the Author John J. Ward. London: Isbister and Co., 1903.