Simple magnifying glasses were used from at least the 13th century. The real history of the microscope (an optical magnification system consisting of lenses contained in a tube) began around 1600, at roughly the same time as that of the telescope (cf. Optics). The first accounts came from the Netherlands. Microscopes were soon also being built and used in England, Italy, and France. The best-known microscopists of the 17th century were the Dutchmen Antony van Leeuwenhoe…