On the date of September 23, 1624, Galileo sent one of his microscopes to his friend Federico Cesi in Rome. The Pisan scientist was then residing at Bellosguardo, near Florence. In the accompanying letter, in addition to some useful technical notes, he observed, "I have contemplated a great many animals with infinite admiration; among them, the flea is most horrible, the mosquito and the moth are beautiful; ... ".
This microphotograph, taken with Galilean microscope no. 3429 at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence, shows, in fact, a fragment of a moth's head. |
