Catherine Wilson, in Journal of the History of Ideas (Jan.-Mar. 1988), Temple Univ., Philadel-phia, Pa. 19122.
In 1691, English physicist Robert Hooke wrote that few scientists were using microscopes in their research. Hooke complained that his colleagues thought nothing more could be discovered with the microscope. Only ama- teurs were using the instrument, Hooke claimed, and then merely "for Diversion and Pastime."
Wilson, a philosopher at the University of Oregon, notes that many...