<B CESCIE3A>
<Q E3 EX SCIO HOOKE>
<N MICROGRAPHIA>
<A HOOKE ROBERT>
<C E3>
<O 1640-1710>
<M X>
<K X>
<D ENGLISH>
<V PROSE>
<T SCIENCE OTHER>
<G X>
<F X>
<W WRITTEN>
<X MALE>
<Y 20-40>
<H PROF>
<U PROF>
<E X>
<J X>
<I X>
<Z EXPOS>
<S SAMPLE X>


[^HOOKE, ROBERT.
TEXT:  MICROGRAPHIA, 1665.
EARLY SCIENCE IN OXFORD, VOL. XIII: THE LIFE
AND WORK OF ROBERT HOOKE, PART V.
ED. R. T. GUNTHER (FACSIMILE).
LONDON: DAWSONS OF PALL MALL, 1968 (1938).
PP. 44.17  - 47.30       (SAMPLE 1)
PP. 112.34 - 116.35      (SAMPLE 2)
PP. 210.15 - 213.29      (SAMPLE 3)^]

<S SAMPLE 1>
<P 13.5,44>
[}OBSERV. VIII.  OF THE FIERY SPARKS STRUCK FROM A FLINT OR 
STEEL.}] 

   It is a very common Experiment, by striking with a Flint     #
against a 
Steel, to make certain fiery and shining Sparks to fly out      #
from between 
those two compressing Bodies. About eight years since, upon     #
casually 
reading the Explication of this odd (^Phaenomenon^) , by the    #
most Ingenious
(^Des Cartes^) , I had a great desire to be satisfied, what     #
that Substance was 
that gave such a shining and bright Light: And to that end I    #
spread a 
sheet of white Paper, and on it, observing the place where      #
several of these 
Sparks seemed to vanish, I found certain very small, black,     #
but glistering 
Spots of a movable Substance, each of which examining with my   #
(^Miscrocope^) , 
I found to be a small round (^Globule^) ; some of which, as     #
they looked 
prety small, so did they from their Surface yield a very        #
bright and strong 
reflection on that side which was next the Light; and each      #
look'd almost 
like a prety bright Iron-Ball, whose Surface was prety          #
regular, such as is 
represented by the Figure A. In this I could perceive the       #
Image of the 
Window prety well, or of a Stick, which I moved up and down     #
between 
the Light and it. Others I found, which were, as to the bulk    #
of the Ball, 
prety regularly round, but the Surface of them, as it was not   #
very smooth, 
but rough, and more irregular, so was the reflection from it    #
more faint and 
confused. Such were the Surfaces of B.C.D. and E. Some of       #
these I 
found cleft or cracked, as C, others quite broken in two and    #
hollow, as 
D. which seemed to be half the hollow shell of a Granado,       #
broken irregularly 
in pieces. Several others I found of other shapes; but that 
which is represented by E, I observed to be a very big Spark    #
of Fire, 
which went out upon one side of the Flint that I struck fire    #
withall, to 
<P 13.5,45>
which it stuck by the root F, at the end of which small Stem    #
was fastened-on 
a (^Hemisphere^) , or half a hollow Ball, with the mouth of it  #
open from 
the stemwards, so that it looked much like a Funnel, or an old  #
fashioned 
Bowl without a foot. This night, making many tryals and         #
observations 
of this Experiment, I met, among a multitude of the Globular    #
ones which 
I had observed, a couple of Instances, which are very           #
remarkable to the 
confirmation of my (^Hypothesis^) .  
   And the First was of a pretty big Ball fastened on to the    #
end of a small 
sliver of Iron, which (\Compositum\) seemed to be nothing else  #
but a long thin 
chip of Iron, one of whose ends was melted into a small round   #
Globul; the 
other end remaining unmelted and irregular, and perfectly       #
Iron.   
   The Second Instance was not less remarkable then the First;  #
for I 
found, when a Spark went out, nothing but a very small thin     #
long sliver 
of Iron or Steel, unmelted at either end. So that it seems,     #
that some of 
these Sparks are the slivers or chips of the Iron               #
(^vitrified^) , Others are only 
the slivers melted into Balls without vitrification, And the    #
third kind 
are only small slivers of the Iron, made red-hot with the       #
violence of the 
stroke given on the Steel by the Flint.  
   He that shall diligently examine the (^Phaenomena^) of this  #
Experiment, 
will, I doubt not, find cause to believe, that the reason I     #
have heretofore 
given of it, is the true and genuine cause of it, namely, That  #
(^the Spark 
appearing so bright in the falling, is nothing else but a       #
small piece of the Steel 
or Flint, but most commonly of the Steel, which by the          #
violence of the stroke 
is at the same time sever'd and heatt red-hot, and that         #
sometimes to such a 
degree, as to make it melt together into a small Globule of     #
steel; and sometimes
also is that heat so very intense, as further to melt it and    #
vitrifie it; but
many times the heat is so gentle, as to be able to make the     #
sliver only red hot,
which notwithstanding falling upon the tinder^) (that is only   #
a very curious 
small Coal made of the small threads of Linnen burnt to coals   #
and 
char'd) (^it easily sets it on fire^) . Nor will any part of    #
this (^Hypothesis^) seem 
strange to him that considers, First, that either hammering,    #
or filing, or 
otherwise violently rubbing of Steel, will presently make it    #
so hot as to 
be able to burn ones fingers. Next, that the whole force of     #
the stroke 
is exerted upon that small part where the Flint and Steel       #
first touch: For 
the Bodies being each of them so very hard, the puls cannot be  #
far communicated,
that is, the parts of each can yield but very little, and       #
therefore
the violence of the concussion will be (^exerted^) on that      #
piece of Steel 
which is cut off by the Flint. Thirdly, that the filings or     #
small parts of 
Steel are very apt, as it were, to take fire, and are           #
presently red hot, that 
is, there seems to be a very (^combustible sulphureous^) Body   #
in Iron or Steel, 
which the Air very readily preys upon, as soon as the body is   #
a little violently 
heated.   
   And this is obvious in the filings of Steel or Iron cast     #
through the flame 
of a Candle ; for even by that sudden (\transitus\) of the      #
small chips of Iron, 
they are heat red hot, and that (^combustible sulphureous^)     #
Body is presently 
prey'd upon and devoured by the (^aereal^) incompassing         #
(^Menstruum^) , 
whose office in this Particular I have shewn in the             #
Explication of 
Charcole.   
<P 13.5,46>
   And in prosecution of this Experiment, having taken the      #
filings of Iron 
and Steel, and with the point of a Knife cast them through the  #
flame of a 
Candle, I observed where some conspicuous shining Particles     #
fell, and 
looking on them with my (^Microscope^) , I found them to be     #
nothing else 
but such round Globules, as I formerly found the Sparks struck  #
from the 
Steel by a stroke to be, only a little bigger; and shaking      #
together all the 
filings that had fallen upon the sheet of Paper underneath,     #
and observing 
them with the (^Microscope^) , I found a great number of small  #
Globules, such 
as the former, though there were also many of the parts that    #
had remained 
untoucht, and rough filings or chips of Iron.  So that, it      #
seems, Iron 
does contain a very (^combustible sulphureous^) Body, which     #
is, in all likelihood, 
one of the causes of this (^Phaenomenon^) , and which may be    #
perhaps 
very much concerned in the business of its hardening and        #
tempering: of 
which somewhat is said in the Description of                    #
(^Muscovy-glass^) .   
   So that, these things considered, we need not trouble our    #
selves to find 
out what kind of Pores they are, both in the Flint and Steel,   #
that contain 
the (^Atoms of fire^) , nor how those (^Atoms^) come to be      #
hindred from running 
all out, when a dore or passage in their Pores is made by the   #
concussion:  
nor need we trouble our selves to examine by what               #
(^Prometheus^) 
the Element of Fire comes to be fetcht down from above the      #
Regions of 
the Air, in what Cells or Boxes it is kept, and what            #
(^Epimetheus^) lets it go:  
Nor to consider what it is that causes so great a conflux of    #
the atomical 
Particles of Fire, which are said to fly to a flaming Body,     #
like Vultures or 
Eagles to a putrifying Carcass, and there to make a very great  #
pudder.  
Since we have nothing more difficult in this (^Hypothesis^) to  #
conceive, first, 
as to the kindling of Tinder, then how a large Iron-bullet,     #
let fall red or 
glowing hot upon a heap of Small-coal, should set fire to       #
those that are 
next to it first: Nor secondly, is this last more difficult to  #
be explicated, 
then that a Body, as Silver for Instance, put into a weak       #
(^Menstruum^) , as  
unrectified Aqua fortis should, when it is put in a great heat, #
be there 
dissolved by it, and not before; which (^Hypothesis^) is more   #
largely explicated 
in the Description of Charcoal. To conclude, we see by this     #
Instance, 
how much Experiments may conduce to the regulating of           #
(^Philosophical 
notions^) . For if the most Acute (^Des Cartes^) had applied    #
himself 
experimentally to have examined what substance it was that      #
caused that 
shining of the falling Sparks struck from a Flint and a Steel,  #
he would 
certainly have a little altered his (^Hypothesis^) , and we     #
should have found, 
that his Ingenious Principles would have admitted a very        #
plausible Explication 
of this (^Phaenomenon^) ; whereas by not examining so far as    #
he 
might, he has set down an Explication which Experiment do's 
contradict.  
   But before I leave this Description, I must not forget to    #
take notice of 
the Globural form into which each of these is most curiously    #
formed.  
And this (^Phaenomenon^) , as I have elsewhere more largely     #
shewn, proceeds 
from a propriety which belongs to all kinds of fluid Bodies     #
more or 
less, and is caused by the Incongruity of the Ambient and       #
included Fluid, 
which so acts and modulates each other, that they acquire, as   #
neer as is 
<P 13.5,47>
possible, a (^sperical^) or (^globular^) form, which propriety  #
and several of the 
(^Phaenomena^) that proceed from it, I have more fully          #
explicated in the sixth 
Observation.  
   One Experiment, which does very much illustrate my present   #
Explication, 
and is in it self exceeding pretty, I must not pass by: And     #
that is a 
way of making small (^Globules^) or (^Balls^) of Lead, or Tin,  #
as small almost as 
these of Iron or Steel, and that exceeding easily and quickly,  #
by turning 
the filings or chips of those Metals also into perfectly round  #
Globules.  
The way, in short, as I received it from the (^Learned          #
Physitian Doctor^) I.G. 
is this;   
   Reduce the Metal you would thus shape, into exceeding fine   #
filings, 
the finer the filings are, the finer will the Balls be:         #
(^Stratifie^) these filings 
with the fine and well dryed powder of quick Lime in a          #
(^Crucible^) proportioned 
to the quantity you intend to make: When you have thus filled 
your (^Crucible^) , by continual (^stratifications^) of the     #
filings and powder, so 
that, as neer as may be, no one of the filings may touch        #
another, place the 
(^Crucible^) in a (^gradual fire^) , and by degrees let it be   #
brought to a heat big 
enough to make all the filings, that are mixt with the quick    #
Lime, to melt, 
and no more; for if the fire be too hot, many of these filings  #
will joyn 
and run together; whereas if the heat be proportioned, upon     #
washing 
the Lime-dust in fair Water, all those small  filings of the    #
Metal will subside 
to the bottom in a most curious powder, consisting all of       #
exactly 
round (^Globules^) , which if it be very fine, is very          #
excellent to make Hour-glasses 
of.  
   Now though quick Lime be the powder that this direction      #
makes 
choice of, yet I doubt not, but that there may be much more     #
convenient 
ones found out, one of which I have made tryal of, and found    #
very effectual;  
and were it not for discovering, by the mentioning of it,       #
another 
Secret, which I am not free to impart, I should have here       #
inserted 
it. 

<S SAMPLE 2>
<P 13.5,112>
[}OBSERV. XVIII. OF THE SCHEMATISME OR TEXTURE OF CORK, AND 
OF THE CELLS AND PORES OF SOME OTHER SUCH FROTHY BODIES.}]

   I took a good clear piece of Cork, and with a Pen-knife      #
sharpen'd as 
keen as a Razor, I cut a piece of it off, and thereby left the  #
surface of 
it exceeding smooth, then examining it very diligently with a   #
(^Microscope^) ,
me thought I could perceive it to appear a little porous; but   #
I 
could not so plainly distinguish them, as to be sure that they  #
were pores, 
much less what Figure they were of: But judging from the        #
lightness and 
yielding quality of the Cork, that certainly the texture could  #
not be so 
<P 13.5,113>
curious, but that possibly, if I could use some further         #
diligence, I might 
find it to be discernable with a (^Microscope^) , I with the    #
same sharp Pen-knife, 
cut off from the former smooth surface an exceeding thin piece  #
of 
it, and placing it on a black object Plate, because it was it   #
self a white 
body, and casting the light on it with a deep (^plano-convex    #
Glass^) , I could 
exceeding plainly perceive it to be all perforated and porous,  #
much like 
a Honey-comb, but that the pores of it were not regular; yet    #
it was not 
unlike a Honey-comb in these particulars.  
   First, in that it had a very little solid substance, in      #
comparison of the 
empty cavity that was contain'd between, as does more           #
manifestly appear 
by the Figure A and B of the XI. (^Scheme^) , for the           #
(\Interstitia\) , or walls 
(as I may so call them) or partitions of those pores were neer  #
as thin in 
proportion to their pores, as those thin films of Wax in a      #
Honey-comb 
(which enclose and constitute the (^sexangular cells^) ) are    #
to theirs.  
   Next, in that these pores, or cells, were not very deep,     #
but consisted 
of a great many little Boxes, separated out of one continued    #
long pore, 
by certain (^Diaphragms^) , as is visible by the Figure B,      #
which represents a 
sight of those pores split the long-ways.  
   I no sooner discern'd these (which were indeed the first     #
(^microscopical^) 
pores I ever saw, and perhaps, that were ever seen, for I had   #
not met with 
any Writer or Person, that had made any mention of them before  #
this) 
but me thought I had with the discovery of them, presently      #
hinted to me 
the true and intelligible reason of all the (^Phaenomena^) of   #
Cork; As,  
   First, if I enquir'd why it was so exceeding light a body?   #
my (^Microscope^) 
could presently inform me that here was the same reason         #
evident that 
there is found for the lightness of froth, an empty             #
Honey-comb, Wool, 
a Spunge, a Pumice-stone, or the like; namely, a very small     #
quantity of a 
solid body, extended into exceeding large dimensions.  
   Next, it seem'd nothing more difficult to give an            #
intelligible reason, 
why Cork is a body so very unapt to suck and drink in Water,    #
and consequently 
preserves it self, floating on the top of Water, though left    #
on it
never so long: and why it is able to stop and hold air in a     #
Bottle, though 
it be there very much condens'd and consequently presses very   #
strongly 
to get a passage out, without suffering the least bubble to     #
pass through 
its substance. For, as to the first, since our (^Microscope^)   #
informs us that the 
substance of Cork is altogether fill'd with Air, and that that  #
Air is perfectly 
enclosed in little Boxes or Cells distinct from one another. It #
seems 
very plain, why neither the Water, nor any other Air can        #
easily insinuate 
it self into them, since there is already within them an        #
(\intus existens\) , 
and consequently, why the pieces of Cork become so good floats  #
for 
Nets, and stopples for Viols, or other close Vessels.   
   And thirdly, if we enquire why Cork has such a springiness   #
and swelling 
nature whem compress'd? and how it comes to suffer so great a   #
compression, 
or seeming penetration of dimensions, so as to be made a        #
substance 
as heavie again and more, bulk for bulk, as it was before       #
compression, 
and yet suffer'd to return, is found to extend it self again    #
into the 
same space? Our (^Microscope^) will easily inform us, that the  #
whole mass 
<P 13.5,114>
consists of an infinite company of small Boxes or Bladders of   #
Air, which 
is a substance of a springy nature, and that will suffer a      #
considerable condensation 
(as I have several times found by divers trials, by which I     #
have 
most evidently condens'd it into less then a twentieth part of  #
its usual dimensions 
neer the Earth, and that with no other strength then that of    #
my 
hands without any kind of forcing Engine, such as Racks,        #
Leavers, Wheels,
Pullies, or the like, but this onely by and by) and besides,    #
it seems very 
probable that those very films or sides of the pores, have in   #
them a springing 
quality, as almost all other kind of Vegetable substances       #
have, so as 
to help to restore themselves to their former position.   
   And could we so easily and certainly discover the            #
(^Schematisme^) and 
(^Texture^) even of these films,and of several other bodies,    #
as we can these of 
Cork; there seems no probable reason to the contrary, but that  #
we might 
as readily render the true reason of all their                  #
(^Phaenomena^) , as namely, what 
were the cause of the springiness, and toughness of some, both  #
as to their 
flexibility and restitution. What, of the friability or         #
brittleness of some 
others, and the like; but till such time as our                 #
(^Microscope^) , or some other 
means, enable us to discover the true (^Schematism^) and        #
(^Texture^) of all kinds 
of bodies, we must grope, as it were, in the dark, and onely    #
ghess at the 
true reasons of things by similitudes and comparisons.   
   But, to return to our Observation. I told several lines of   #
these 
pores, and found that there were usually about threescore of    #
these small 
Cells placed end-ways in the eighteenth part of an Inch in      #
length, whence 
I concluded there must be neer eleven hundred of them, or       #
somewhat 
more then a thousand in the length of an Inch, and therefore    #
in a square 
Inch above a Million, or 1166400. and in a Cubick Inch, above   #
twelve 
hundred Millions, or 1259712000. a thing almost incredible,     #
did not our 
(^Microscope^) assure us of it by ocular demonstration; nay,    #
did it not discover 
to us the pores of a body, which were they (^diaphragm'd^) ,    #
like those of 
Cork, would afford us in one Cubick Inch, more then ten times   #
as many 
little Cells, as is evident in several charr'd Vegetables; so   #
prodigiously 
curious are the works of Nature, that even these conspicuous    #
pores of 
bodies, which seem to be the channels or pipes through which    #
the (\Succus [^SOURCE TEXT: suceus^]
nutritius\) , or natural juices of Vegetables are convey'd,     #
and seem to correspond 
to the veins, arteries and other Vessels in sensible            #
creatures, that 
these pores I say, which seem to be the Vessels of nutrition    #
to the vastest 
body in the World, are yet so exceeding small, that the         #
(^Atoms^) which (^Epicurus^) 
fancy'd would go neer to prove too bigg to enter them, much     #
more 
to constitute a fluid body in them. And how infinitely smaller  #
then must be 
the Vessels of a Mite, or the pores of one of those little      #
Vegetables I have 
discovered to grow on the back-side of a Rose-leaf, and shall   #
anon more 
fully describe, whose bulk is many millions of times less then  #
the bulk of 
the small shrub it grows on; and even that shrub, many          #
millions of times 
less in bulk then several trees (that have heretofore grown in  #
(^England^) , 
and are this day flourishing in other hotter Climates, as we    #
are very credibly 
inform'd) if at least the pores of this small Vegetable should  #
keep 
any such proportion to the body of it, as we have found these   #
pores 
<P 13.5,115>
of other Vegetables to do to their bulk.  But of these pores I  #
have said 
more elsewhere.  
   To proceed then, Cork seems to be by the transverse          #
constitution of 
the pores, a kind of (\Fungus\) or Mushrome, for the pores lie  #
like so many 
Rays tending from the center, or pith of the tree, outwards;    #
so that if 
you cut off a piece from a board of Cork transversly, to the    #
flat of it, 
you will, as it were, split the pores, and they will appear     #
just as they are 
express'd in the Figure B of the XI. (^Scheme^) . But if you    #
shave off a 
very thin piece from this board, parallel to the plain of it,   #
you will cut 
all the pores transversly, and they will appear almost as they  #
are express'd 
in the Figure A, save onely the solid (\Interstitia\) will not  #
appear so thick 
as they are there represented.  
   So that Cork seems to suck its nourishment from the          #
subjacent bark of 
the Tree immediately, and to be a kind of excrescence, or a     #
substance 
distinct from the substances of the entire Tree, something      #
(^analogus^) to 
the Mushrome, or Moss on other Trees, or to the hairs on        #
Animals. And 
having enquir'd into the History of Cork, I find it reckoned    #
as an 
excrescency of the bark of a certain Tree, which is distinct    #
from the two 
barks that lie within it, which are common also to other        #
trees; That 'tis 
some time before the Cork that covers the young and tender      #
sprouts 
comes to be discernable; That it cracks, flaws, and cleaves     #
into many great 
chaps, the bark underneath remaining entire; That it may be     #
separated 
and remov'd from the Tree, and yet the two under-barks (such    #
as are 
also common to that with other Trees) not at all injur'd, but   #
rather 
helped and freed from an external injury. Thus (^Ionstonus^)    #
in (^Dendrologia^) , 
speaking (\de Subere\) , says, (\Arbor est procera, Lignum est  #
robustum, dempto 
cortice in aquis non fluitat, Cortice in orbem detracto         #
juvatur, crascescens 
enim praestringit & strangulat, intra triennium iterum          #
repletur: Caudex ubi 
adolescit crassus, cortex superior densus carnosus, duos        #
digitos crassus, scaber, 
rimosus, & qui nisi detrahatur dehiscit, alioque subnascente    #
expellitur, interior 
qui subest novellus ita rubet ut arbor minio picta              #
videatur\) . Which 
Histories, if well consider'd, and the tree, substance, and     #
manner of growing, 
if well examin'd, would, I am very apt to believe, much         #
confirm this 
my conjecture about the origination of Cork.  
   Nor is this kind of Texture peculiar to Cork onely; for      #
upon examination 
with my (^Microscope^) , I have found that the pith of an       #
Elder, or almost 
any other Tree, the inner pulp or pith of the Cany hollow       #
stalks of 
several other Vegetables: as of Fennel, Carrets, Daucus,        #
Bur-docks, 
Teafels, Fearn, some kinds of Reeds, &c. have much such a kind  #
of 
(^Schematisme^) , as I have lately shewn that of Cork, save     #
onely that here 
the pores are rang'd the long-ways, or the same ways with the   #
length of 
the Cane, whereas in Cork they are transverse.  
   The pith also that fills that part of the stalk of a         #
Feather that is above 
the Quil, has much such a kind of texture, save onely that      #
which way soever 
I set this light substance, the pores seem'd to be cut          #
transversly; so 
that I ghess this pith which fills the Feather, not to consist  #
of abundance 
of long pores separated with Diaphragms, as Cork does, but to   #
be a kind 
<P 13.5,116>
of solid or hardned froth,or a (^congeries^) of very small      #
bubbles consolidated 
in that form, into a pretty stiff as well as tough concrete,    #
and that each Cavern, 
Bubble, or Cell, is distinctly separate from any of the rest,   #
without 
any kind of hole in the encompassing films, so that I could no  #
more blow 
through a piece of this kinde of substance, then I could        #
through a piece of 
Cork, or the sound pith of an Elder.  
   But though I could not with my (^Microscope^) , nor with my  #
breath, nor 
any other way I have yet try'd, discover a passage out of one   #
of those 
cavities into another, yet I cannot thence conclude, that       #
therefore there 
are none such, by which the (\Succus nutritius\) , or           #
appropriate juices of Vegetables, 
may pass through them; for, in several of those Vegetables, 
whil'st green, I have with my (^Microscope^) , plainly enough   #
discover'd these 
Cells or Poles fill'd with juices, and by degrees sweating      #
them out: as I 
have also observed in green Wood all those long                 #
(^Microscopical^) pores 
which appear in Charcoal perfectly empty of any thing but Air.  
   Now, though I have with great diligence endeavoured to find  #
whether 
there be any such thing in those (^Microscopical^) pores of     #
Wood or 
Piths, as the (^Valves^) in the heart, veins, and other         #
passages of Animals, that 
open, and give passage to the contain'd fluid juices one way,   #
and shut 
themselves, and impede the passage of such liquors back         #
again, yet have I 
not hitherto been able to say any thing positive in it;         #
though, me thinks, 
it seems very probable, that Nature has in these passages, as   #
well as in those 
of Animal bodies, very many appropriated Instruments and        #
contrivances, 
whereby to bring her designs and end to pass, which 'tis not    #
improbable, 
but that some diligent Observer, if help'd with better          #
(^Microscopes^) , may 
in time detect.  
   And that this may be so, seems with great probability to be  #
argued 
from the strange (^Phaenomena^) of sensitive Plants, wherein    #
Nature seems 
to perform several Animal actions with the same (^Schematism^)  #
or (^Orginization^) 
that is common to all Vegetables, as may appear by some no      #
less 
instructive then curious Observations that were made by divers  #
Eminent 
Members of the (^Royal Society^) on some of these kind of       #
Plants, whereof 
an account was delivered in to them by the most Ingenious and   #
Excellent 
(^Physician^) , Doctor (^Clark^) , which, having that liberty   #
granted me by 
that most Illustrious Society, I have hereunto adjoyn'd.  

<S SAMPLE 3>
<P 13.5,210>
[}OBSERV. LIII. OF A FLEA.}]

   The strength and beauty of this small creature, had it no    #
other relation
at all to man, would deserve a description.
For its strength, the (^Microscope^) is able to make no         #
greater discoveries
of it then the naked eye, but onely the curious contrivance of  #
its leggs
and joints, for the exerting that strength, is very plainly     #
manifested, such
as no other creature, I have yet observ'd, has any thing like   #
it; for the
joints of it are so adapted, that he can, as 'twere, fold them  #
short one within
another, and suddenly stretch, or spring them out to their      #
whole length,
that is, of the fore-leggs, the part A, of the 34.              #
(^Scheme^) , lies within B,
and B within C, parallel to, or side by side each other; but    #
the parts
of the two next, lie quite contrary, that is, D without E, and  #
E without
F, but parallel also; but the parts of the hinder leggs, G, H   #
and I,
bend one within another, like the parts of a double jointed     #
Ruler, or 
like the foot, legg and thigh of a man; These six leggs he      #
clitches up altogether,
and when he leaps, springs them all out, and thereby exerts
his whole strength at once.
   But, as for the beauty of it, the (^Microscope^) manifests   #
it to be all over
adorn'd with a curiously polish'd suit of (^sable^) Armour,     #
neatly jointed,
and beset with multitudes of sharp pinns, shap'd almost like    #
Porcupine's
Quills, or bright conical Steel-bodkins; the head is on either  #
side beautify'd
with a quick and round black eye K, behind each of which also
appears a small cavity, L, in which he seems to move to and     #
fro a certain
thin film beset with many small transparent hairs, which        #
probably may
be his ears; in the forepart of his head, between the two       #
fore-leggs, he
has two small long jointed feelers, or rather smellers, M M,    #
which have
four joints, and are hairy, like those of several other         #
creatures; between
these, it has a small (\proboscis\) , or (^probe^) , N N O,     #
that seems to consist of a
<P 13.5,211>
tube N N, and a tongue or sucker O, which I have perceiv'd him  #
to slip
in and out. Besides these, it has also two chaps or biters P    #
P, which are
somewhat like those of an Ant, but I could not perceive them    #
tooth'd;
these were shap'd very like the blades of a pair of round       #
top'd Scizers,
and were opened and shut just after the same manner; with       #
these Instruments
does this little busie Creature bite and pierce the skin, and   #
suck
out the blood of an Animal, leaving the skin inflamed with a    #
small round
red spot. These parts are very difficult to be discovered,      #
because, for
the most part, they lye covered between the fore-legs. There    #
are many 
other particulars, which, being more obvious, and affording no  #
great
matter of information, I shall pass by, and refer the Reader    #
to the 
Figure.

[}OBSERV. LIV. OF A LOUSE.}]

   This is a Creature so officious, that 'twill be known to     #
every one at
one time or other, so busie, and so impudent, that it will be   #
intruding
it self in every ones company, and so proud and aspiring        #
withall,
that it fears not to trample on the best, and affects nothing   #
so much as a
Crown; feeds and lives very high, and that makes it so saucy,   #
as to pull 
any one by the ears that comes in its way, and will never be    #
quiet till it
has drawn blood: it is troubled at nothing so much as at a man  #
that
scratches his head, as knowing that man is plotting and         #
contriving some
mischief against it, and that makes it oftentime sculk into     #
some meaner
and lower place, and run behind a mans back, though it go very  #
much
against the hair; which ill conditions of it having made it     #
better known
then trusted, would exempt me from making any further           #
description of
it, did not my faithful (^Mercury^) , my (^Microscope^) ,       #
bring me other information
of it. For this has discovered to me, by means of a very bright
light cast on it, that it is a Creature of a very odd shape;    #
it has a head
shap'd like that exprest in 35. (^Scheme^) marked with A,       #
which seems almost
Conical, but is a little flatted on the upper and under sides,  #
at the
biggest part of which, on either side behind the head (as it    #
were, being
the place where other Creatures ears stand) are placed its two  #
black
shining goggle eyes B B, looking backwards, and fenced round    #
with several
small (^cilia^) or hairs that incompass it, so that it seems    #
this Creature
has no very good foresight: It does not seem to have any        #
eye-lids, and
therefore perhaps its eyes were so placed, that it might the    #
better cleanse
them with its fore-legs; and perhaps this may be the reason,    #
why they
so much avoid and run from the light behind them, for being     #
made to
live in the shady and dark recesses of the hair, and thence     #
probably their
eye having a great aperture, the open and clear light,          #
especially that
of the Sun, must needs very much offend them; to secure these   #
eyes
from receiving any injury from the hairs through which it       #
passes, it has
<P 13.5,212>
two horns that grow before it, in the place where one would     #
have
thought the eyes should be; each of these C C hath four         #
joynts, which
are fringed, as 'twere, with small brisles, from which to the   #
tip of its
snout D, the head seems very round and tapering, ending in a    #
very
sharp nose D, which seems to have a small hole, and to be the   #
passage
through which he sucks the blood. Now whereas if it be plac'd   #
on its
back, with its belly upwards, as it is in the 35. (^Scheme^) ,  #
it seems in several 
Positions to have a resemblance of chaps, or jaws, as is        #
represented
in the Figure by E E, yet in other postures those dark strokes  #
disappear;
and having kept several of them in a box for two or three       #
dayes, so that
for all that time they had nothing to feed on, I found, upon    #
letting one
creep on my hand, that it immediately fell to sucking, and did  #
neither
seem to thrust its nose very deep into the skin, nor to open    #
any kind of
mouth, but I could plainly perceive a small current of blood,   #
which
came directly from its snout, and past into its belly; and      #
about A there
seem'd a contrivance, somewhat resembling a Pump, pair of       #
Bellows, or
Heart, for by a very swift (^systole^) and (^drastole^) the     #
blood seem'd drawn
from the nose, and forced into the body. It did not seem at     #
all, though
I viewed it a good while as it was sucking, to thrust more of   #
its nose into
the skin then the very snout D, nor did it cause the least      #
discernable
pain, and yet the blood seem'd to run through its head very     #
quick and
freely, so that it seems there is no part of the skin but the   #
blood is dispers'd
into, nay, even into the (\cuticula\) ; for had it thrust its   #
whole nose
in from D to C C, it would not have amounted to the supposed    #
thickness 
of that (^tegument^) , the length of the nose being not more    #
then a three
hundredth part of an inch. It has six legs, covered with a      #
very transparent
shell, and joynted exactly like a Crab's, or Lobster's; each    #
leg is
divided into six parts by these joynts, and those have here     #
and there
several small hairs; and at the end of each leg it has two      #
claws, very
properly adapted for its peculiar use, being thereby inabled    #
to walk
very securely both on the skin and hair; and indeed this        #
contrivance of
the feet is very curious, and could not be made more            #
commodiously and
compendiously, for performing both these requisite motions, of  #
walking
and climbing up the hair of a mans head, then it is: for, by    #
having the
lesser claw (a) set so much short of the bigger (b) when it     #
walks of
the skin the shorter touches not, and then the feet are the     #
same with
those of a Mite, and several other small Insects, but by means  #
of the
small joynts of the longer claw it can bend it round, and so    #
with both
claws take hold of a hair, in the manner represented in the     #
Figure, the
long transparent Cylinder F F F, being a Man's hair held by it.
   The (\Thorax\) seem'd cas'd with another kind of substance   #
then the belly,
namely, with a thin transparent horny substance, which upon the
fasting of the Creature did not grow flaccid; through this I    #
could plainly
see the blood, suck'd from my hand, to be variously             #
distributed, and
mov'd to and fro; and about G there seem'd a pretty big white   #
substance,
which seem'd to be moved within its (\thorax\) ; besides,       #
there appear'd 
very many small milk-white vessels, which crost over the breast
<P 13.5,213>
between the legs, out of which, on either side, were many       #
small branchings,
these seemd to be the veins and arteries, for that which is     #
analogus
to blood in all Insects is milk-white.
   The belly is covered with a transparent substance likewise,  #
but more
resembling a skin then a shell, for 'tis grain'd all over the   #
belly just like
the skin in the palms of a man's hand, and when the belly is    #
empty, grows
very flaccid and wrinkled; at the upper end of this is placed   #
the stomach
H H, and perhaps also the white spot I I may be the liver or    #
(^pancreas^) ,
which by the (^peristaltick^) motion of the guts, is a little   #
mov'd to and fro,
not with a (^systole^) and (^diastole^) , but rather with a     #
thronging or justling
motion. Viewing one of these Creatures, after it had fasted     #
two dayes,
all the hinder part was lank and flaccid, and the white spot I  #
I hardly
mov'd, most of the white branchings disappear'd, and most also  #
of the
redness or sucked blood in the guts, the (^peristaltick^)       #
motion of which
was scarce discernable; but upon the suffering it to suck; it   #
presently
fill'd the skin of the belly, and of the fix scolop'd           #
embosments on either
side, as full as it could be stuft; the stomach and guts were   #
as full as
they could hold; the (^peristaltick^) motion of the gut grew    #
quick, and the
justling motion of I I accordingly; multitudes of milk-white    #
vessels
seem'd quickly filled, and turgid, which were perhaps the       #
veins and arteries, 
and the Creature was so greedy, that though it could not        #
contain
more, yet it continued sucking as fast as ever, and as fast     #
emptying it self
behind: the digestion of this Creature must needs be very       #
quick, for
though I perceiv'd the blood thicker and blacker when sucked    #
[^SOURCE TEXT: suck d^] , yet,
when in the guts, it was of a very lovely ruby colour, and      #
that part of
it, which was digested into the veins, seemed white; whence it  #
appears,
that a further digestion of blood may make it milk, at least    #
of a resembling
colour: What is else observable in the figure of this           #
Creature, may
be seen by the 35. (^Scheme^) . 



