Before Dealing with the development of the microscope during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, some mention should be made of the idea that the origin of the microscope is lost in antiquity. Although this idea has been put forward by several writers, it is not borne out by evidence. Admittedly the Ancients made use of burning glasses but they certainly had no idea of the physics of the lens, attributing the phenomenon to a property of the glass itself rather than to the curvature of its surfaces.