In the context of the excerpt, "treatise" refers to a formal and systematic written account or discussion of a subject, particularly in an academic or scientific context. Therefore, the best option that captures this meaning is:
C. a written account
From a very early period in my life all my interest had been toward microscopic investigations. When I was just ten years old, a distant cousin, hoping to astonish my inexperience, constructed a simple microscope for me by drilling a small hole in a disk of copper, in which a drop of pure water was sustained. This apparatus, magnifying some fifty diameters, showed only indistinct forms, but was still sufficiently wonderful to work up my imagination.
Seeing me so interested in this instrument, my cousin explained all that he knew about the principles of the microscope, told me a few of the wonders discovered through its use, and ended by promising to send me a properly made one upon his return to the city. I counted the days, the hours, the minutes between that promise and his departure.
Meantime, I was not idle. Every substance that bore the remotest resemblance to a lens I eagerly seized. All panes of glass were ruthlessly destroyed in the hope of obtaining lenses of marvelous power. I even went so far as to steal the glasses from my Aunt Agatha's spectacles, with the idea of grinding them into lenses of wondrous magnifying properties—in this attempt it is unnecessary to say that I totally failed.
At last the microscope came. A better apparatus could not have been selected. Accompanying it was a small treatise on the microscope—its history, uses, and discoveries. Suddenly, the dull veil of ordinary existence that hung across the world seemed to roll away, and to lay bare a land of enchantments. I was in daily communication with living wonders such as I had never imagined. Where others saw only a drop of rain slowly rolling down the window-glass, I saw a universe of beings. In common mildew, I saw enchanted gardens, filled with the densest foliage, while from the fantastic boughs of these microscopic forests hung strange fruits glittering with green and silver and gold.
It was no scientific thirst at this time that filled my mind. It was the pure enjoyment of a poet to whom a world of wonders has been disclosed.
15
Read the sentences from the passage.
At last the microscope came. A better apparatus could not have been selected. Accompanying it was a small treatise on the microscope—its history, uses, and discoveries.
What is the meaning of treatise as used in the excerpt?
A.
a story
B.
a written opinion
C.
a written account
D.
a book
1 answer