Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon / By R. Hooke.

Robert Hooke

Date:: 1665

Credit: Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon / By R. Hooke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

251/384 page 189

$Microgr a P)H i a. Figure. The length and (hapeof the part of the Seale whi'clv^s buried by the lkin,is evidenced by the firft Figure^ which is the reptejqntation o£ one of them pluck’d out and view’tj through a good Microfcape, namely,, the part LFGGFL, wherein is alfo more plainly to be ietnyhe manner, of carving of the fcclopt part of every particular Scale,how eachridgeW, barrEEE is alternately hollowed or engrayep, and how,ey^rygutter between them is terminated with very tranfpgrent and.ford^pinted: fpikes, and how every other of thefe, as A A A A, are much.longer then the interjacent ones DDD. . ■ ' , lhe texture or form alio of the hidden part appears, : namely,-the - middle part, G G G, feems to,conlift of a great tuimber bf^rwU -qifllfc or pipes, by which, perhaps, the whole may bemoiuilhed j[ $he fide, parts FF confiftof a more fibrous texture, though indeed the .whole Scale feenfd to be of a very tough grilly fubftance,like.the larger Scales; of other Fifhes. c The Scales of the (kin of a Dog-fifh (which is us’d by fucha&.workin Wood,for the fmoothing of their work,and confifts plainly enough to the^ naked eye,of a great number offmall horny points) through'the Microfiope appear’d each of them curioully ridg’d, and very neatly carved 3 anctin^. deed, you can hardly look on the kales of any Fifti, but you may difcover-. abundance of curiofity and beautifying3 and not only in thefe Fillies,but in. the fhells and crufts or armour of moft forts of Marine Animals fo inverted*. 8}loo yj'j . . ; TJiiK: 1 r. r ,• t\\ ) rbirj:ft viit’io c]ot etb (obi! - •*; ~ iv.'j! 'A f A ,, :.i' J,!..d ,■ \ b ,y.\ Obfev. XXXIV. Of the Sting of a Bee. ►tuv/fli qol! rfj THe Sting of a Bee, delineated in the fecond Figure of the ^Vl.Seheine^ foems to be a weapon of offence, and is as great an Inftance, that: Nature did realy intend revenge as any, and that firft, becaufe there1 feems to be no other ufe of it. Secondly, by reafon of its admirable fhape, Teeming to be purpofely fhap’d for that very end. Thirdly,frorn the vij rulency of the liquor iteje&s, and the fad effe&s and fymptoms that fol¬ low it* i)'f! H0[7,loa But whatever be the ufe of it,certain it is,that the ftru&ure of it is very- admirable 3 what it appears to the naked eye, I need not defcnbe, the thing being known almoft to every one,but it appears through the Microj feope, to confift of two parts, the one a ftieath, without a chape or top, ftiap’d almoft like the Holfter of a Piftol, beginning at dy and ending at b,.this ftieath I could moft plainly perceive to be hollow, and to con¬ tain in it, both a Sword or Dart, and the poifonous liquor that caufos the: pain. The (heath orcafefeemd to have feveral joints or fettings together, marked by fg hih^lmno, it was arm’d moreover neer the top, with fe-r veral crooks or forks (pqrft)on one fide, and (pqrftu) on the other* each of which foem’d like fo many Thorns growing on a briar, or rather likefo many Cat’s Claws 3 for the crooks themfelves feem’d to be little (harp tranfparent points or claws, growing out of little protuberancies on Z 2 the$