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Episode One: The Microscope and the Fairy
Episode Notes
Hello everyone, and welcome to Beyond the Scope, a podcast dedicated to the cultural history of microscopes. My name is Laura Burgess and this is the first episode in a series exploring the many facets of microscope history. Each episode will explore a different theme, ranging from women in science, to scientific discoveries and the individuals responsible for them. I will begin this episode with a brief overview for anyone not familiar with the early history of microscopes.
The origins of the microscope have been thoroughly debated by academics, with many differing arguments for who invented the microscope. The most popular theory, however, is that Dutch father and son, Hans and Zacharias Janssen invented the first compound microscope in 1590. Although Zacharias was not born until 1580, making him only 10 years old at the time of the instruments invention, so historians believe his father had a greater involvement. However, Zacharias would go on to work as a spectacle maker like his father later in life.
Portrait of Hans and Zacharias Janssen. Source: Timetoast
By the 18th century, there were two main styles of microscope: compound microscope referred to an instrument with two or more lenses, whereas a simple microscope referred to an instrument with only one lens. While the instrument is widely considered to have existed since the late 16th century, the term “microscope” wasn’t coined until 1624. It was first referenced in letter written by a member of the first Accademia Dei Lincei, an Italian science academy. Galileo Galilei, a pioneer of astronomy, was a member of the academy and some consider him to be the first scientist to use a microscope.
Portrait of Galileo Galilei. Source: Historyonthenet
Although synonymous with scientific discovery today, the microscope was considered a novelty for much of its early years. One of its first uses for scientific research resulted in the publication entitled, Micrographia. Written by British natural philosopher Robert Hooke in 1665, the book contained the first reference to the term “cell” in connection with organic material. Hooke observed various objects, and insects under his compound microscope, and created large, and detailed reproductions of what he saw. This was the first important work on microscopy, and started a chain of events that would see the microscope develop into what we recognize today.
Portrait of Robert Hooke. Source: BBC
Front page Micrographia (1665). Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch scientist, was inspired by Hooke’s book. He worked on the design of the microscope and created his own simple microscope. Although using only one lens, the microscope offered a more detailed image of his observations in comparison to Hooke’s coarse compound microscope. He also developed new ways of grinding lenses in order to achieve new level of magnification, further advancing the power of the microscope. Hooke’s and Leuweenhoek’s discoveries of another world within our own opened up the imagination of many, and underlined a new method for philosophers to observe the natural world. However, Hooke soon moved on to other scientific endeavors, and Leeuwenhoek died in 1723. This resulted in a century-long lapse in the development of microscopes, as academics looked to the stars for new discoveries.
Portrait of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek using simple microscope. Source: Vox
Replica Leeuwenhoek simple microscope. Source: Quekett Microscopical Club
So I hope that overview was helpful. So today, our main topic is The Microscope and The Fairy. Victorian literature has been widely studied, with many of the most famous writers publishing during the nineteenth century. Novels by Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy are examples of how Victorian literature reflected the vast changes Britain was experiencing with the onset of the nineteenth century. So let’s explore how the microscope influenced the Victorian fairy tale in literature.
The Industrial Revolution had began in the late 18th century, as the expansion of railways, urbanization of cities, and the creation of new markets changed the social, and economic face of Britain. Prior to industrialization, Britain’s main market was agriculture, and most of the working population worked on farm land. As urbanization brought new markets, and machinery that could now do the work of 10 men in half the time, many families flocked to the expanding cities for job opportunities. Britain also saw advancements in scientific study, as new discoveries took place due to new technology being available. The microscope also experienced a rebirth during this period, as scientists started to look back into the microscopic world for answers.
This rebirth, was mirrored by the rise of popularity in fairy tale literature during Victorian period. Microscopic observations, and the illustrations that came with them displayed new unusual beasts that the naked eye couldn’t see. The fairytale realm soon found itself intertwined with the microscopic world, as many contemporary writers utilized fairy tale language as a means of describing this new, unknown world. Dr. Victoria Tedeschi, a Literary Studies Professor at the University of Melbourne and Deakin University in Australia, explored how Hans Christian Andersen’s popularity with the Victorian reader reflected society's growing anxiety of environmental concerns in the midst of urbanization.
Photograph of Hans Christian Andersen. Source: Wikipedia
Hans Christian Andersen was a famous Danish writer, and poet, who produced more than 3381 fairy tale works in his career. These works are still recognizable today, with Disney reworking many of his tales into iconic movies, such as The Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Frozen, and the Princess and the Pea, to just name a few. Many of Andersen’s tales had darker endings than the disney adaptations. In the Victorian period, Fairy tales functioned as lessons in morality for children, highlighting the need to face adversity, and act virtuously in order be functioning members of society. This genre also appealed to more mature audiences, and Anderson experienced success in Britain from the 1830s.
Illustration from The Drop of Water. Source: HCA Gilead
Andersen’s tales such as The Fir Tree (1844), The Daisy (1838), and The Flax (1849) featured plants abused by human characters, while selflessly acting to secure happiness for them in spite of their treatment. Tedeschi argued that this reflected the contemporary relationship between nature and mankind — nature providing for society while society compromised nature’s well being for urbanization and modernity. A clear example of the microscopic world’s influence can be seen in Andersen’s, The Drop of Water, published in 1848. In the story, a sorcerer called Creep-and-Crawl examined a sample of ditch water using a microscopic lens. In his observations, he noted that organisms “hopped and jumped about, pulled on one another and pecked one another.” His colleague goes on to compare the organisms violent, unruly behavior with that of urban populations. Andersen used the microscopic world as a mirror to the urbanized cities, just as the microscopic creatures could make people sick, the urban cities were making nature ill. Andersen and his contemporaries used the emerging illustrations of the microscopic world as a method of inspiring, and simultaneously validating their interpretations of society.
"Monster Soup" illustration (1828) Source: The British Library.
A famous Victorian illustration known as, The Monster Soup was published in 1828, and portrayed a sample of water from the Thames being examined by a horrified woman. Holding a magnifying glass to the water, horrific and strange creatures were shown to lurk within. As populations increased in urban cities, public services could not meet the needs of the crowded city. Sewage systems were inept at dealing with waste, and it flowed into the streets and water. This fear of hidden creatures intensified further when London experienced the Cholera Outbreak of 1854. The outbreak was soon identified by John Snow, a British physician, to be a result of a contaminated water pump in Broad Street. The pandemic highlighted how microorganisms posed a real physical threat to the community, as many suffered and died due to the disease. For many, the microscopic world held dangers to society; emphasized by fairytales; however, not every author utilized microscopic images in the same way.
Popular science grew during this period, especially as a method of conveying new scientific discoveries to the public. Scientific studies were now being published in English rather than Latin, and the Victorian period saw a gradual increase in the literacy of the nation. The expansion of scientific societies fought to bring to the public’s knowledge the developments, and importance of science as an academic pursuit. Women claimed the opportunity to publish scientific debates in one of the only forms available to them: children’s literature. Unsurprisingly, science, and academia were not a welcome environment for women during the nineteenth century. Women were not considered built to participate in the sciences. They were blocked from joining academic societies, and studying at many universities. During this time, some universities were established to cater purely to educating women; however, they were not considered equal to male only universities. Pursuits, such as botany were acceptable for women; however, many men also believed that this would encourage immorality in women due to the sexual nature of plants structures. In spite of adversity, women still participated in academia.
Women took up the moniker of educator, and a great example of this was Arabella Buckley. Buckley was born in Brighton, England in 1840. Born to an wealthy family, Buckley experienced a good education due to her social standing, and had many family connections within the academic community. She worked as an Assistant to Charles Lyell, a prominent Scottish Geologist, until his death in 1875. She was also known to prominent academic figures, such as Charles Darwin, who wrote to offer his condolences for the death of her boss. Buckley utilized a maternal tone in her books, writing as a mother teaching her own children. This allowed Buckley to successfully publish, as even though she was writing about scientific topics, she was still participating in the feminine role of mother, and educator. One of her books, Through Magic Glasses and Other Lectures, published in 1890 outlined many of the established rules of sciences in basic terms, and outlined methods on how to use a microscope in order to study the natural world. The title itself references microscopes and telescopes, and the magical power they offer an individual. Buckley adopted fairytale language in order to describe the microscopic, natural world.
Buckley’s contemporaries published titles such as Fairy Frisket: or, Peeps at Insect Life (1874) and, Fairy Know-a-bit; or a Nutshell of Knowledge (1866.) These books offered methods for parents and teachers to educate children. Science educators such as Buckley and Edgeworth used the image of the fairy as a vehicle to encourage children to look closer into the natural world, and facilitate wonder at what they found there.
Thank you for listening to this episode. Episode notes are available on the website, with images of books, people, and illustrations referenced in today’s episode. You will also find references used for this episode if you feel inspired to engage in your own study of the microscopic world.
Main Sources:
Forsberg, Laura. “Nature's Invisibilia: The Victorian Microscope and the Miniature Fairy.” Victorian Studies 57, No. 4 (Summer 2015): 638-666.
Tedeschi, Victoria. “How 19th century fairy tales expressed anxieties about ecological devastation” The Conversation (March 23, 2017) https://theconversation.com/how-19th-century-fairy-tales-expressed-anxieties-about-ecological-devastation-73137
Book cover of Arabella Buckley's Through Magic Glasses (1890) Source: Project Gutenberg.
Book cover of Arabella Buckley's Through Magic Glasses (1890) Source: Project Gutenberg.