Project Gutenberg 2015-10-28 Public domain in the USA. 142 O'Brien, Fitz James 1828 1862 O'Brien, Fitzjames O'Brien, Michael Fitz James O'Brien, Fitz-James The Diamond Lens Produced from Weird Tales April 1929 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Diamond Lens" by Fitz James O'Brien is a short story written during the mid-19th century, specifically in the 1850s, that falls under the genre of weird fiction blended with science fiction elements. The narrative explores the obsessive passion of a microscopist who becomes consumed with the search for perfection in his microscopy work, ultimately leading him to an extraordinary but tragic conclusion about his experiments and his desire for an unattainable love. In the story, the protagonist, Linley, is an ambitious young man fascinated by microscopic life and dedicated to improving the lens of his microscope. After a series of discoveries, including a prophecy from a spirit he consults, he constructs an incredibly powerful diamond lens. Through this lens, he encounters a fantastical creature he names Animula—an ethereal being of exquisite beauty living in a hidden world within a drop of water. As Linley's obsession deepens, he neglects his own well-being, culminating in a desperate realization of his love for Animula and the realization that his scientific pursuits have led to her demise when the drop of water evaporates. The story examines themes of ambition, love, and the consequences of unchecked obsession, ultimately portraying the tragic intersection between scientific pursuit and emotional longing. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 70.0 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Murder -- Fiction Microscopy -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: American Literature 82633 2025-09-20T07:30:08.719792 text/html 59094 2024-10-22T23:21:22 text/html 171853 2025-09-20T07:30:10.640793 application/epub+zip 170707 2025-09-20T07:30:09.118808 application/epub+zip 93150 2025-09-20T07:30:08.903785 application/epub+zip 212369 2025-09-20T07:30:11.951827 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 205096 2025-09-20T07:30:10.420810 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 127747 2022-09-22T17:48:00.174718 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 74697 2025-09-20T07:30:08.593811 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 54974 2024-10-22T23:21:22 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17478 2025-09-20T07:30:12.074771 application/rdf+xml 27207 2025-09-20T07:30:08.971783 image/jpeg 4833 2025-09-20T07:30:08.938777 image/jpeg 156398 2025-09-20T07:30:08.732780 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia