Carta de L. Publicada Na Fil. Tra
Carta de L. Publicada Na Fil. Tra
extant point in the middle, and having lain thus a little while
with a motion o f their feet, they bur ft afunder, and the globuls
>were prefently diffus’d and diflipated, fo that I could not d if
cern theleaft thing of any film,inwhich the globuls had doubtlefs
been incjbfed: And at this time o f their bu riling afunder I was a-
ble to difcover more globuls than when they were alive.
But then I obferv’d a third fort o f little Aoimals, that were
twice a? long as broad, and to my eye'yet eight times Tina Her
than the firft, Yet for all this, 1 thought 1 difcern’d little
feet, whereby they moved very briskly, both in a round and
ftreight line.
There was,further, a fourthfort, which w
was not able to give them any figure at all. Thefe were a thou-
fand times finaller than the eye ofa big L cufe: For I judge, the
axis o f the eye of fuch a Loufe to be more than ten times as long
as the axis o f any o f the faid little creatures. Thefe exceeded
all the former in celerity. 1 have often obferv’d them to ftand ftill
as ’twere upon a point,and then turn themTelves about with that
fwiftnefs, as we fee a Top turn round, the circumference they
made being no bigger than that of a fmallgrain o f Sand and
then extending themfelves ftreight forw ard, and by and by ly.
iog in a bending pofture.
I difeover’d alfo feveral other forts of Animals , but thefe
were very bigrefpe&ively *of which I intend not tofpeak here;
only th % tb at they were generally made up offu ch fo ft p a rts *
as the former,they burftingafunder asMbdtv aS they came to w ant
water. Obftrv.lL
The 26. Mayf it rained hard • the rain growing lefs, I eayfed
fome o f that Rain-water, running down from the houfe-top, to
be gatherU in a clean G iafs, after it had been waflied two o r
r :! • * r ’ three
( 8*3 )
foree times with the water. And in this 1 obferv’d fome few
very little living creatures,and feeing them,! thought they might
havcbeen produced in the leaden gutters in fome water,<hat had
there remain’d before. Obferv.llh
Oil the fame day, the Rain continuing, 1 took a great Porce-
lain-dift, and expofed it to the free Air upon a wooden vefTel,
about a foot and a half high, that fo no earthy parts, from the
falling of the Rain*water upon that p la c e , might be fpatter’d
or dafhed into the faid difli. With the firft water that fell into
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thedilh, I waflied it very clean, and then flung the water away,
and receiv’d frefh into if, but could difcern no living creatures
therein; only 1 fawmany irregular terreftrial parts in the fame.
The 30 .Of after I had,ever fince the t6r^,obferv*d every
d ay twice or thrice the fame Rain-water, 1now difcover’d fome,
y e t very few,exceeding little Animals, which were very clear.
The 3 if/* ofMay,l perceived in the fame water more of thofe
Animals,as alio fome that were fomewhat bigger. And I im agine,'
that many thoufandsof thefe little Creatures do not equal an
ordinary grain o f Sand in bignefs: And comparing them w ith
a Cheefe-mite (which may be feen to move with the naked eye)
I make the proport io n o f one o f thefe fmall W ater-creatures to
a Cheefe-mite, to be like that o f a Bee to a H orfe: For,the cir
cumference of one o f thefe little Animals in water, is not fo big
as the thicknefs o f a hair in a Cheefe-mite
Obferv, IV.
Jtms yth, having:received, early in the morning, fome Rain-
Water inadilh,as befofejand poured it into a very clean Wine-
glafs, and expofed it about 8 of the clock in the morning to the
Air,abbhtihe height oftlie third flory of my houfe,to find, whe
ther the little Animairt. ould appear the fooner in the water,
;hus (landing inthe Air:
Obferving the fame accordingly the roft&of JuneA imagin’d ,
I faw fome living creatures therein ; but bccaufe they feem’d
to be buc* very few in number, nor were plainly difpernabk, 1
had homind rc^ruft to this obfervatipn.
The'i ir^ofthe fame month, feeing this water .mbye in the
Clafli(from’a fliffgaleof wind (Which had bio wii for 3 6 hours
without intermirtfon;' accompanied w\th a co ld , that 1 could
very well endure toy ^ipter-cloaths,) I dicj not think,! fliould
tBedperceiveaWy livitig creatures therein; yet viewing it at-,
5 tentively
(824) '
tend v ely ,ld id , with admiration, obferye a thoufand o f them in
one drop of water, which were of the finalleft fort, that I had
feen hitherto.
The r 2 tbof June,the wind being at weft,
interloping clouds,! viewed the fame Rain water,and found the
fore-mention 4little Animals fo plentifully in the water which
I took up from tl|efurface,that one or two thoufand in one (in
gle dro p did not ma ke up their number.
The i %tb of the fame month, view ing the fame water again ,
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infe&s again in no lefs number, taking notice, that the fame had
a tranfparent part (landing our behind: I difcover’d alfo fome
little animals which were fomewbat longer than an oval, and
thefe were about fix times as bigas tbecxtream fmall creatures:
Their head, which run out fomewhat in length, they often drew
in, and then appear’d to be alrnofl round, I perceived alfo fome
that were altogether round, and the o f thefe was twice as
long as that of the fmallefi creatures. Thefe two greater forts
were very flexile, fo that their body did bend at the touch o f
the leaft and fineft filament.
The 14 o f June I perceived the oval infers in greater plenty.
The l i t faw them in yet greater numbers; and they were flat
beneath,and round above 5 and befides,I noted very finall crea
tures, that were three times as long as they were broad: And d i
vers other forts, too long to defcribe here. And in the evening
o f the fame d ay , 1 difcover’d l ittle feet in the fmall oval crea
tures, which were many in number $ as alfo a much bigger crea
ture o f the fame figure, which was likewife furnilhed with legs,
~And here I gave over my Obfervations as to this water.
*
The itho f this month of Juneit rained very h a rd ; and I
catched fome o f that Rain-water in anew Porcelain difh, which
had never been ufed before, but found no living creatures at all
in it, but many terreflrial particles,and,among others, fuch as I
thought came from the fmoak of Smiths^coals, and fome thin
thrids, ten times thinner than the thrid of a Silk*worni, which
feem’d to be made up o f globuls ; and where they lay thick up
on one another, they had a green colour.
The 2 6tb,having been eight days out o f Town, and kept my
Study {but up clofe, whenl was come home and did view the faid
water, I perceived feveral animalcuthat were very fmall. And
5 Q_2 here-
(82 6
here with I cfcfifted from making at this time any further O h-
fervations of Rain-water*
Mean time, this T o wn o f Delft b m g very ricb'in w a t e r e d
we receiving from the R iv er of Maaje frelb water , which ma
ke th our water very g o o d ; I viewed this w ater divers times ,
and faw extream final i creatures in it, o f different kinds and co
lours 3 and even fo fmall, that I could very hardly difcern th eir
figures; But fome were muchbigger, the defcribingof whofe
m otion and fihape would be coo tedious: This only l rnuft men
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tion here, that the number of them in this water was far lefs than
that o f thofe, found in Rain-water} for if I faw a m atter o f 25 o f
them in one drop o f this Town- water, that was much.
In the open Court o f my houfe I have a well, which is a b o u t
11 foot deep, before one comes to the water. It is encompafled
w ith high walls,fo that the Sun,though in yet can hardly
Ihine much upon it. This water comes out o f the ground,w hich
is Tandy, with fuch a power, that when I have laboured to empty
the well, I could not fo do it but there remained ever a foots
depth o f water in it, This water is in Summer time fo cold,that
you cannot poflibly endure your hand in it for any reafonable
time. N ot 'thinking at all to meet with any living creatures in
it, (it being of a good tafte and c le a rj looking upon it in Sept.
of the laft year, l difcover’d in it a great number o f living ani
mals very finalf, that were exceeding clear, and a little bigger
than th e fm a lle fto fa llth a tle v e r faw ; and I think, that in a
grain weight o f thisw ater there was above 500 of thofe crea*
tures, which were very quiet and without motion.
In the W inter I perceived none of thefe little animals,nor have
I feen any of them this year before the month of and then
they ap p ear'd not very numerous, bu t in the month o f
0W them in great plenty.
July2 7 .1 676.1 went to the Sea-fide, at Schevelingen, the
wind coming from Seawith a very warm Sun-Ihine ; and view
ing fome o f the Sea*water very attentively, I difcaver’d divers
living a n p als therein, I gave to a man, that went into the Sea
to wafti himfelf, a new G lad-bottle, bought on purpofe for th a t
end, intreating him, that being on the Sea,he would firft walk i t
well tw ice or thrice, and then fill it full o f the $ea: water* w h ic h
defire pf mine having been com plied w ith, I tyed the b o ttle
d o f t witb a clean bladder,afid coming home, and viewing it, I
faw
c 3*7 y
in i t a little animal that was blackifl), looking as if it had been
made up of two globuls. This creature bad a peculiar motion,
after the manner as when we fee a very little flea leaping upon
a whitepaper; fo that it might very well be called a Water-fleas
but it was by far not fo great as the eye o f that little animal,
which Dr. Sm
mm
erdm
calls the Water-flea. I alfo difeovered
little creatures therein, that were clear, o f the famefize with the
former animal which I firft obferved in this water, but of an o«
val figure, whofe motion was Serpentlike. I took further no
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