ABSTRACT
A few years after George Adams became one of the official suppliers to the Office of Ordnance, the American War of Independence came to an end. One result was an immediate reduction in Ordnance spending. Perhaps it was this reduction in military spending that turned Adams's thoughts to a different line of business: writing and selling textbooks on scientific subjects. While he was engaged on revising his Essays on the Electricity for the second and third editions, Adams was also compiling a major work on microscopy. The title eventually adopted was Essays on the Microscope, the plural form presumably being chosen because of the multiplicity of objects (and types of instruments) described, though the text was not divided into separate essays. Essays on the Microscope was dedicated (by permission) to the king; moreover, the dedication implies that the king had personally encouraged Adams to undertake the task of writing works on mathematical and philosophical instruments.
