It wasn’t microscopes so much as detailed and thoughtful observation of macro phenomena—fossil and living specimens from around the world—that sparked the theor

It wasn’t microscopes so much as detailed and thoughtful observation of macro phenomena—fossil and living specimens from around the world—that sparked the theory of speciation from natural selection. That is, it was noting the morphological, as opposed to cellular, differences and similarities among closely related species—and realizing that environmental factors drove them—that led to understanding. Microscopes were invented in the 1600s and cell biology as a discipline began soon after. But the dynamics of speciation were perhaps too grand to have been noted in the minutiae of slides. And it would not be for almost another century after Darwin till we understood that the mechanics of evolution were driven by random mutations of DNA.