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Some wisdom from a 1742 microscope expert.

gene_stl

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Viewing microscopical images and Optical illusions
Nearly 280 years ago in 1742 Henry Baker FRS, a speech therapist for the deaf and dumb, wrote what is believed to be the first microscope manual – The MICROSCOPE Made Eafy. In Chapter XV, on pages 62-3, entitled Cautions in viewing Objects, he warns us, thus:


Baker-insert.jpg


The optics of lenses still had over one hundred years of development work until you could reliably believe what you saw through a microscope (when Ernst Abbe and Carl Zeiss "perfected" the microscope in the late nineteenth century. Prior to that people bought microscopes based on how well they liked the image. Abbe quantified everything. There were some others too.)

There are several analogies made between optical imaging and auditory "imaging". They generally do not stand up to comparison imo. But the above advice about believing your visual sense does seem to fit and I thought about audio as soon as heard it. (From the imaging expert, materials scientist and image analyst, Professor Dr. John C Russ who opened his courses with it. I had the privilege of attending two of them.)
 
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