Read the following passage from A Catechism of Familiar Things. The telescope is an optical instrument, which serves for discovering and viewing distant objects, either directly by glasses, or by reflection. The honor of the invention is much disputed; it is certain, however, that the celebrated Galileo was the first who improved the telescope so as to answer astronomical purposes. The name is formed from two Greek words, one signifying far, the other to observe. Paraphrase the passage above.