Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon / By R. Hooke.
- Robert Hooke
- Date:
- 1665
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon / By R. Hooke. Source: Wellcome Collection.
252/384 page 190
![the fide of the (heath, which, by obferving the Figure diligently, is eafie enough to be perceiv’d i and from feveral particulars, I fuppofe the Aniv mal has a power of delaying them, and (hutting them in again as it pleaies, as a Cat does its claws, or as an Adder or Viper can its teeth' °f The other part of the Sting was the Sword, as 1 may fo call it, which is fheath’d, as it were,in it, the top of which a b appears quite through at the fmallet end, juft as if the chape of the (heath of a Sword were loft, and the end of it appear’d beyond the Scabbard 5 the end of this Dartf*) was very (harp, and it was arm’d likcwife with the like Tenterhooks or claws with thofe of the (heath, fuch as (vxy, xy z a) thefe crooks, I anr very apt to think, can be clos’d up alfo, or laid flat to the fides of the Sword when it is drawn into the Scabbard,as I have feveral times oblerv d it to be, and can be (pred again or extended when ever the Animal ^ The confideration ofwhichvery pretty ftru<fture,hns hinted to me,that certainly the ufeof thefe claws feems to be very confiderable, as to the main end of this Inftrument, for the drawing in, and holding the fting in the fleflh 5 for the point being very (harp, the top of the Sting or Dagger (a b) is very eafily thruft into an Animal’s body,which being once entred, the Bee, by endeavouring to pull it into the (heath, draws (by reafon of the crooks ( v xy ) and ( xy z z ) which lay hold of the (kin on either fide) the top of the (heath (tfrv) into the (kin after it, and the crooks t s and r,z/, being entred, when the Bee endeavours to thruft out the top of the fting out of the (heath again, they lay ho]d of the (kin on ei¬ ther fide, andfotiotonely keep the (heath from Aiding back, but helps the top inwards, and thus, by an alternate and (iicceflive retracting and emitting of the Sting in and out of the (heath, the little enraged creature by degrees makes his revengfull weapon pierce the tougheft and thickeit Hides of his enemies, in fo much that fome few of thefe ftout and re(o- lute foldiers with thefe little engines, do often put to flight a huge malty Bear, one of their deadly enemies, and thereby Chew the world how much more confiderable in Warr a few (kilfull Engineers and refolute foldiers politickly order’d, that know how to manage (uch engines, are, then a vaft unweildy rude force, that confides in, and acb onelyby, its ftrength. But (to proceed) that he thus gets in his Sting into the (km, I conjecture, becaufe, when I have obferv d this creature living, I have found it to move the Sting thus, to and fro, and thereby alfo, perhaps, does, as ’twere, pump or force out the poilonous liquor, and make it hang at the end of the (heath about b in a drop. The crooks, I foppofe alfo to be the caufe why thefe angry creatures, haftily removing them- (elvesfrom their revenge, do often leave thefe weapons behind them, fheath’d, as ’twere, in the fleih, and, by that means, caufe the pamlull fymptoms to be greater,and more lading,which are very probably 3 partly by the piercing and tearing of the (kin by the Sting, but chietly by the corrofive and poifonous liquor that is by this Syringe-pipe con¬ vey’d among the fenfitive parts thereof and thereby more ealily gnaws](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30326370_0252.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
