BINOCLE

, or Binocular Telescope, is one by which an object is viewed with both eyes at the same time. It consists of two tubes, each furnished with glasses of the same power, by which means it has been said to shew objects larger and more clearly than a mo- nocular or single telescope; though this is probably only an illusion, occasioned by the stronger impression which two equal images, alike illuminated, make upon the eyes; and they have been found more embarrassing than useful in practice. This telescope has been chiefly treated of by the fathers Reita and Cherubin of Orleans.—There are also microscopes of the same kind, though but little used; being subject to the same inconveniences as the telescopes.