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1

OBSERV. VIII. OF THE FIERY SPARKS STRUCK FROM A FLINT OR
2STEEL.

3
4    It is a very common Experiment, by striking with a Flint against a
5Steel, to make certain fiery and shining Sparks to fly out from between
6those two compressing Bodies. About eight years since, upon casually
7reading the Explication of this odd Phaenomenon , by the most Ingenious
8Des Cartes , I had a great desire to be satisfied, what that Substance was
9that gave such a shining and bright Light: And to that end I spread a
10sheet of white Paper, and on it, observing the place where several of these
11Sparks seemed to vanish, I found certain very small, black, but glistering
12Spots of a movable Substance, each of which examining with my Miscrocope ,
13I found to be a small round Globule ; some of which, as they looked
14prety small, so did they from their Surface yield a very bright and strong
15reflection on that side which was next the Light; and each look'd almost
16like a prety bright Iron-Ball, whose Surface was prety regular, such as is
17represented by the Figure A. In this I could perceive the Image of the
18Window prety well, or of a Stick, which I moved up and down between
19the Light and it. Others I found, which were, as to the bulk of the Ball,
20prety regularly round, but the Surface of them, as it was not very smooth,
21but rough, and more irregular, so was the reflection from it more faint and
22confused. Such were the Surfaces of B.C.D. and E. Some of these I
23found cleft or cracked, as C, others quite broken in two and hollow, as
24D. which seemed to be half the hollow shell of a Granado, broken irregularly
25in pieces. Several others I found of other shapes; but that
26which is represented by E, I observed to be a very big Spark of Fire,
27which went out upon one side of the Flint that I struck fire withall, to

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28which it stuck by the root F, at the end of which small Stem was fastened-on
29a Hemisphere , or half a hollow Ball, with the mouth of it open from
30the stemwards, so that it looked much like a Funnel, or an old fashioned
31Bowl without a foot. This night, making many tryals and observations
32of this Experiment, I met, among a multitude of the Globular ones which
33I had observed, a couple of Instances, which are very remarkable to the
34confirmation of my Hypothesis .
35    And the First was of a pretty big Ball fastened on to the end of a small
36sliver of Iron, which Compositum seemed to be nothing else but a long thin
37chip of Iron, one of whose ends was melted into a small round Globul; the
38other end remaining unmelted and irregular, and perfectly Iron.
39    The Second Instance was not less remarkable then the First; for I
40found, when a Spark went out, nothing but a very small thin long sliver
41of Iron or Steel, unmelted at either end. So that it seems, that some of
42these Sparks are the slivers or chips of the Iron vitrified , Others are only
43the slivers melted into Balls without vitrification, And the third kind
44are only small slivers of the Iron, made red-hot with the violence of the
45stroke given on the Steel by the Flint.
46    He that shall diligently examine the Phaenomena of this Experiment,
47will, I doubt not, find cause to believe, that the reason I have heretofore
48given of it, is the true and genuine cause of it, namely, That the Spark
49appearing so bright in the falling, is nothing else but a small piece of the Steel
50or Flint, but most commonly of the Steel, which by the violence of the stroke
51is at the same time sever'd and heatt red-hot, and that sometimes to such a
52degree, as to make it melt together into a small Globule of steel; and sometimes
53also is that heat so very intense, as further to melt it and vitrifie it; but
54many times the heat is so gentle, as to be able to make the sliver only red hot,
55which notwithstanding falling upon the tinder (that is only a very curious
56small Coal made of the small threads of Linnen burnt to coals and
57char'd) it easily sets it on fire . Nor will any part of this Hypothesis seem
58strange to him that considers, First, that either hammering, or filing, or
59otherwise violently rubbing of Steel, will presently make it so hot as to
60be able to burn ones fingers. Next, that the whole force of the stroke
61is exerted upon that small part where the Flint and Steel first touch: For
62the Bodies being each of them so very hard, the puls cannot be far communicated,
63that is, the parts of each can yield but very little, and therefore
64the violence of the concussion will be exerted on that piece of Steel
65which is cut off by the Flint. Thirdly, that the filings or small parts of
66Steel are very apt, as it were, to take fire, and are presently red hot, that
67is, there seems to be a very combustible sulphureous Body in Iron or Steel,
68which the Air very readily preys upon, as soon as the body is a little violently
69heated.
70    And this is obvious in the filings of Steel or Iron cast through the flame
71of a Candle ; for even by that sudden transitus of the small chips of Iron,
72they are heat red hot, and that combustible sulphureous Body is presently
73prey'd upon and devoured by the aereal incompassing Menstruum ,
74whose office in this Particular I have shewn in the Explication of
75Charcole.

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76    And in prosecution of this Experiment, having taken the filings of Iron
77and Steel, and with the point of a Knife cast them through the flame of a
78Candle, I observed where some conspicuous shining Particles fell, and
79looking on them with my Microscope , I found them to be nothing else
80but such round Globules, as I formerly found the Sparks struck from the
81Steel by a stroke to be, only a little bigger; and shaking together all the
82filings that had fallen upon the sheet of Paper underneath, and observing
83them with the Microscope , I found a great number of small Globules, such
84as the former, though there were also many of the parts that had remained
85untoucht, and rough filings or chips of Iron. So that, it seems, Iron
86does contain a very combustible sulphureous Body, which is, in all likelihood,
87one of the causes of this Phaenomenon , and which may be perhaps
88very much concerned in the business of its hardening and tempering: of
89which somewhat is said in the Description of Muscovy-glass .
90    So that, these things considered, we need not trouble our selves to find
91out what kind of Pores they are, both in the Flint and Steel, that contain
92the Atoms of fire , nor how those Atoms come to be hindred from running
93all out, when a dore or passage in their Pores is made by the concussion:
94nor need we trouble our selves to examine by what Prometheus
95the Element of Fire comes to be fetcht down from above the Regions of
96the Air, in what Cells or Boxes it is kept, and what Epimetheus lets it go:
97Nor to consider what it is that causes so great a conflux of the atomical
98Particles of Fire, which are said to fly to a flaming Body, like Vultures or
99Eagles to a putrifying Carcass, and there to make a very great pudder.
100Since we have nothing more difficult in this Hypothesis to conceive, first,
101as to the kindling of Tinder, then how a large Iron-bullet, let fall red or
102glowing hot upon a heap of Small-coal, should set fire to those that are
103next to it first: Nor secondly, is this last more difficult to be explicated,
104then that a Body, as Silver for Instance, put into a weak Menstruum , as
105unrectified Aqua fortis should, when it is put in a great heat, be there
106dissolved by it, and not before; which Hypothesis is more largely explicated
107in the Description of Charcoal. To conclude, we see by this Instance,
108how much Experiments may conduce to the regulating of Philosophical
109notions . For if the most Acute Des Cartes had applied himself
110experimentally to have examined what substance it was that caused that
111shining of the falling Sparks struck from a Flint and a Steel, he would
112certainly have a little altered his Hypothesis , and we should have found,
113that his Ingenious Principles would have admitted a very plausible Explication
114of this Phaenomenon ; whereas by not examining so far as he
115might, he has set down an Explication which Experiment do's
116contradict.
117    But before I leave this Description, I must not forget to take notice of
118the Globural form into which each of these is most curiously formed.
119And this Phaenomenon , as I have elsewhere more largely shewn, proceeds
120from a propriety which belongs to all kinds of fluid Bodies more or
121less, and is caused by the Incongruity of the Ambient and included Fluid,
122which so acts and modulates each other, that they acquire, as neer as is

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123possible, a sperical or globular form, which propriety and several of the
124Phaenomena that proceed from it, I have more fully explicated in the sixth
125Observation.
126    One Experiment, which does very much illustrate my present Explication,
127and is in it self exceeding pretty, I must not pass by: And that is a
128way of making small Globules or Balls of Lead, or Tin, as small almost as
129these of Iron or Steel, and that exceeding easily and quickly, by turning
130the filings or chips of those Metals also into perfectly round Globules.
131The way, in short, as I received it from the Learned Physitian Doctor I.G.
132is this;
133    Reduce the Metal you would thus shape, into exceeding fine filings,
134the finer the filings are, the finer will the Balls be: Stratifie these filings
135with the fine and well dryed powder of quick Lime in a Crucible proportioned
136to the quantity you intend to make: When you have thus filled
137your Crucible , by continual stratifications of the filings and powder, so
138that, as neer as may be, no one of the filings may touch another, place the
139Crucible in a gradual fire , and by degrees let it be brought to a heat big
140enough to make all the filings, that are mixt with the quick Lime, to melt,
141and no more; for if the fire be too hot, many of these filings will joyn
142and run together; whereas if the heat be proportioned, upon washing
143the Lime-dust in fair Water, all those small filings of the Metal will subside
144to the bottom in a most curious powder, consisting all of exactly
145round Globules , which if it be very fine, is very excellent to make Hour-glasses
146of.
147    Now though quick Lime be the powder that this direction makes
148choice of, yet I doubt not, but that there may be much more convenient
149ones found out, one of which I have made tryal of, and found very effectual;
150and were it not for discovering, by the mentioning of it, another
151Secret, which I am not free to impart, I should have here inserted
152it.

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153

OBSERV. XVIII. OF THE SCHEMATISME OR TEXTURE OF CORK, AND
154OF THE CELLS AND PORES OF SOME OTHER SUCH FROTHY BODIES.

155
156    I took a good clear piece of Cork, and with a Pen-knife sharpen'd as
157keen as a Razor, I cut a piece of it off, and thereby left the surface of
158it exceeding smooth, then examining it very diligently with a Microscope ,
159me thought I could perceive it to appear a little porous; but I
160could not so plainly distinguish them, as to be sure that they were pores,
161much less what Figure they were of: But judging from the lightness and
162yielding quality of the Cork, that certainly the texture could not be so

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163curious, but that possibly, if I could use some further diligence, I might
164find it to be discernable with a Microscope , I with the same sharp Pen-knife,
165cut off from the former smooth surface an exceeding thin piece of
166it, and placing it on a black object Plate, because it was it self a white
167body, and casting the light on it with a deep plano-convex Glass , I could
168exceeding plainly perceive it to be all perforated and porous, much like
169a Honey-comb, but that the pores of it were not regular; yet it was not
170unlike a Honey-comb in these particulars.
171    First, in that it had a very little solid substance, in comparison of the
172empty cavity that was contain'd between, as does more manifestly appear
173by the Figure A and B of the XI. Scheme , for the Interstitia , or walls
174(as I may so call them) or partitions of those pores were neer as thin in
175proportion to their pores, as those thin films of Wax in a Honey-comb
176(which enclose and constitute the sexangular cells ) are to theirs.
177    Next, in that these pores, or cells, were not very deep, but consisted
178of a great many little Boxes, separated out of one continued long pore,
179by certain Diaphragms , as is visible by the Figure B, which represents a
180sight of those pores split the long-ways.
181    I no sooner discern'd these (which were indeed the first microscopical
182pores I ever saw, and perhaps, that were ever seen, for I had not met with
183any Writer or Person, that had made any mention of them before this)
184but me thought I had with the discovery of them, presently hinted to me
185the true and intelligible reason of all the Phaenomena of Cork; As,
186    First, if I enquir'd why it was so exceeding light a body? my Microscope
187could presently inform me that here was the same reason evident that
188there is found for the lightness of froth, an empty Honey-comb, Wool,
189a Spunge, a Pumice-stone, or the like; namely, a very small quantity of a
190solid body, extended into exceeding large dimensions.
191    Next, it seem'd nothing more difficult to give an intelligible reason,
192why Cork is a body so very unapt to suck and drink in Water, and consequently
193preserves it self, floating on the top of Water, though left on it
194never so long: and why it is able to stop and hold air in a Bottle, though
195it be there very much condens'd and consequently presses very strongly
196to get a passage out, without suffering the least bubble to pass through
197its substance. For, as to the first, since our Microscope informs us that the
198substance of Cork is altogether fill'd with Air, and that that Air is perfectly
199enclosed in little Boxes or Cells distinct from one another. It seems
200very plain, why neither the Water, nor any other Air can easily insinuate
201it self into them, since there is already within them an intus existens ,
202and consequently, why the pieces of Cork become so good floats for
203Nets, and stopples for Viols, or other close Vessels.
204    And thirdly, if we enquire why Cork has such a springiness and swelling
205nature whem compress'd? and how it comes to suffer so great a compression,
206or seeming penetration of dimensions, so as to be made a substance
207as heavie again and more, bulk for bulk, as it was before compression,
208and yet suffer'd to return, is found to extend it self again into the
209same space? Our Microscope will easily inform us, that the whole mass

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210consists of an infinite company of small Boxes or Bladders of Air, which
211is a substance of a springy nature, and that will suffer a considerable condensation
212(as I have several times found by divers trials, by which I have
213most evidently condens'd it into less then a twentieth part of its usual dimensions
214neer the Earth, and that with no other strength then that of my
215hands without any kind of forcing Engine, such as Racks, Leavers, Wheels,
216Pullies, or the like, but this onely by and by) and besides, it seems very
217probable that those very films or sides of the pores, have in them a springing
218quality, as almost all other kind of Vegetable substances have, so as
219to help to restore themselves to their former position.
220    And could we so easily and certainly discover the Schematisme and
221Texture even of these films,and of several other bodies, as we can these of
222Cork; there seems no probable reason to the contrary, but that we might
223as readily render the true reason of all their Phaenomena , as namely, what
224were the cause of the springiness, and toughness of some, both as to their
225flexibility and restitution. What, of the friability or brittleness of some
226others, and the like; but till such time as our Microscope , or some other
227means, enable us to discover the true Schematism and Texture of all kinds
228of bodies, we must grope, as it were, in the dark, and onely ghess at the
229true reasons of things by similitudes and comparisons.
230    But, to return to our Observation. I told several lines of these
231pores, and found that there were usually about threescore of these small
232Cells placed end-ways in the eighteenth part of an Inch in length, whence
233I concluded there must be neer eleven hundred of them, or somewhat
234more then a thousand in the length of an Inch, and therefore in a square
235Inch above a Million, or 1166400. and in a Cubick Inch, above twelve
236hundred Millions, or 1259712000. a thing almost incredible, did not our
237Microscope assure us of it by ocular demonstration; nay, did it not discover
238to us the pores of a body, which were they diaphragm'd , like those of
239Cork, would afford us in one Cubick Inch, more then ten times as many
240little Cells, as is evident in several charr'd Vegetables; so prodigiously
241curious are the works of Nature, that even these conspicuous pores of
242bodies, which seem to be the channels or pipes through which the Succus SOURCE TEXT: suceus
243nutritius , or natural juices of Vegetables are convey'd, and seem to correspond
244to the veins, arteries and other Vessels in sensible creatures, that
245these pores I say, which seem to be the Vessels of nutrition to the vastest
246body in the World, are yet so exceeding small, that the Atoms which Epicurus
247fancy'd would go neer to prove too bigg to enter them, much more
248to constitute a fluid body in them. And how infinitely smaller then must be
249the Vessels of a Mite, or the pores of one of those little Vegetables I have
250discovered to grow on the back-side of a Rose-leaf, and shall anon more
251fully describe, whose bulk is many millions of times less then the bulk of
252the small shrub it grows on; and even that shrub, many millions of times
253less in bulk then several trees (that have heretofore grown in England ,
254and are this day flourishing in other hotter Climates, as we are very credibly
255inform'd) if at least the pores of this small Vegetable should keep
256any such proportion to the body of it, as we have found these pores

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257of other Vegetables to do to their bulk. But of these pores I have said
258more elsewhere.
259    To proceed then, Cork seems to be by the transverse constitution of
260the pores, a kind of Fungus or Mushrome, for the pores lie like so many
261Rays tending from the center, or pith of the tree, outwards; so that if
262you cut off a piece from a board of Cork transversly, to the flat of it,
263you will, as it were, split the pores, and they will appear just as they are
264express'd in the Figure B of the XI. Scheme . But if you shave off a
265very thin piece from this board, parallel to the plain of it, you will cut
266all the pores transversly, and they will appear almost as they are express'd
267in the Figure A, save onely the solid Interstitia will not appear so thick
268as they are there represented.
269    So that Cork seems to suck its nourishment from the subjacent bark of
270the Tree immediately, and to be a kind of excrescence, or a substance
271distinct from the substances of the entire Tree, something analogus to
272the Mushrome, or Moss on other Trees, or to the hairs on Animals. And
273having enquir'd into the History of Cork, I find it reckoned as an
274excrescency of the bark of a certain Tree, which is distinct from the two
275barks that lie within it, which are common also to other trees; That 'tis
276some time before the Cork that covers the young and tender sprouts
277comes to be discernable; That it cracks, flaws, and cleaves into many great
278chaps, the bark underneath remaining entire; That it may be separated
279and remov'd from the Tree, and yet the two under-barks (such as are
280also common to that with other Trees) not at all injur'd, but rather
281helped and freed from an external injury. Thus Ionstonus in Dendrologia ,
282speaking de Subere , says, Arbor est procera, Lignum est robustum, dempto
283cortice in aquis non fluitat, Cortice in orbem detracto juvatur, crascescens
284enim praestringit & strangulat, intra triennium iterum repletur: Caudex ubi
285adolescit crassus, cortex superior densus carnosus, duos digitos crassus, scaber,
286rimosus, & qui nisi detrahatur dehiscit, alioque subnascente expellitur, interior
287qui subest novellus ita rubet ut arbor minio picta videatur . Which
288Histories, if well consider'd, and the tree, substance, and manner of growing,
289if well examin'd, would, I am very apt to believe, much confirm this
290my conjecture about the origination of Cork.
291    Nor is this kind of Texture peculiar to Cork onely; for upon examination
292with my Microscope , I have found that the pith of an Elder, or almost
293any other Tree, the inner pulp or pith of the Cany hollow stalks of
294several other Vegetables: as of Fennel, Carrets, Daucus, Bur-docks,
295Teafels, Fearn, some kinds of Reeds, &c. have much such a kind of
296Schematisme , as I have lately shewn that of Cork, save onely that here
297the pores are rang'd the long-ways, or the same ways with the length of
298the Cane, whereas in Cork they are transverse.
299    The pith also that fills that part of the stalk of a Feather that is above
300the Quil, has much such a kind of texture, save onely that which way soever
301I set this light substance, the pores seem'd to be cut transversly; so
302that I ghess this pith which fills the Feather, not to consist of abundance
303of long pores separated with Diaphragms, as Cork does, but to be a kind

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304of solid or hardned froth,or a congeries of very small bubbles consolidated
305in that form, into a pretty stiff as well as tough concrete, and that each Cavern,
306Bubble, or Cell, is distinctly separate from any of the rest, without
307any kind of hole in the encompassing films, so that I could no more blow
308through a piece of this kinde of substance, then I could through a piece of
309Cork, or the sound pith of an Elder.
310    But though I could not with my Microscope , nor with my breath, nor
311any other way I have yet try'd, discover a passage out of one of those
312cavities into another, yet I cannot thence conclude, that therefore there
313are none such, by which the Succus nutritius , or appropriate juices of Vegetables,
314may pass through them; for, in several of those Vegetables,
315whil'st green, I have with my Microscope , plainly enough discover'd these
316Cells or Poles fill'd with juices, and by degrees sweating them out: as I
317have also observed in green Wood all those long Microscopical pores
318which appear in Charcoal perfectly empty of any thing but Air.
319    Now, though I have with great diligence endeavoured to find whether
320there be any such thing in those Microscopical pores of Wood or
321Piths, as the Valves in the heart, veins, and other passages of Animals, that
322open, and give passage to the contain'd fluid juices one way, and shut
323themselves, and impede the passage of such liquors back again, yet have I
324not hitherto been able to say any thing positive in it; though, me thinks,
325it seems very probable, that Nature has in these passages, as well as in those
326of Animal bodies, very many appropriated Instruments and contrivances,
327whereby to bring her designs and end to pass, which 'tis not improbable,
328but that some diligent Observer, if help'd with better Microscopes , may
329in time detect.
330    And that this may be so, seems with great probability to be argued
331from the strange Phaenomena of sensitive Plants, wherein Nature seems
332to perform several Animal actions with the same Schematism or Orginization
333that is common to all Vegetables, as may appear by some no less
334instructive then curious Observations that were made by divers Eminent
335Members of the Royal Society on some of these kind of Plants, whereof
336an account was delivered in to them by the most Ingenious and Excellent
337Physician , Doctor Clark , which, having that liberty granted me by
338that most Illustrious Society, I have hereunto adjoyn'd.

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339

OBSERV. LIII. OF A FLEA.

340
341    The strength and beauty of this small creature, had it no other relation
342at all to man, would deserve a description.
343For its strength, the Microscope is able to make no greater discoveries
344of it then the naked eye, but onely the curious contrivance of its leggs
345and joints, for the exerting that strength, is very plainly manifested, such
346as no other creature, I have yet observ'd, has any thing like it; for the
347joints of it are so adapted, that he can, as 'twere, fold them short one within
348another, and suddenly stretch, or spring them out to their whole length,
349that is, of the fore-leggs, the part A, of the 34. Scheme , lies within B,
350and B within C, parallel to, or side by side each other; but the parts
351of the two next, lie quite contrary, that is, D without E, and E without
352F, but parallel also; but the parts of the hinder leggs, G, H and I,
353bend one within another, like the parts of a double jointed Ruler, or
354like the foot, legg and thigh of a man; These six leggs he clitches up altogether,
355and when he leaps, springs them all out, and thereby exerts
356his whole strength at once.
357    But, as for the beauty of it, the Microscope manifests it to be all over
358adorn'd with a curiously polish'd suit of sable Armour, neatly jointed,
359and beset with multitudes of sharp pinns, shap'd almost like Porcupine's
360Quills, or bright conical Steel-bodkins; the head is on either side beautify'd
361with a quick and round black eye K, behind each of which also
362appears a small cavity, L, in which he seems to move to and fro a certain
363thin film beset with many small transparent hairs, which probably may
364be his ears; in the forepart of his head, between the two fore-leggs, he
365has two small long jointed feelers, or rather smellers, M M, which have
366four joints, and are hairy, like those of several other creatures; between
367these, it has a small proboscis , or probe , N N O, that seems to consist of a

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368tube N N, and a tongue or sucker O, which I have perceiv'd him to slip
369in and out. Besides these, it has also two chaps or biters P P, which are
370somewhat like those of an Ant, but I could not perceive them tooth'd;
371these were shap'd very like the blades of a pair of round top'd Scizers,
372and were opened and shut just after the same manner; with these Instruments
373does this little busie Creature bite and pierce the skin, and suck
374out the blood of an Animal, leaving the skin inflamed with a small round
375red spot. These parts are very difficult to be discovered, because, for
376the most part, they lye covered between the fore-legs. There are many
377other particulars, which, being more obvious, and affording no great
378matter of information, I shall pass by, and refer the Reader to the
379Figure.
380
381

OBSERV. LIV. OF A LOUSE.

382
383    This is a Creature so officious, that 'twill be known to every one at
384one time or other, so busie, and so impudent, that it will be intruding
385it self in every ones company, and so proud and aspiring withall,
386that it fears not to trample on the best, and affects nothing so much as a
387Crown; feeds and lives very high, and that makes it so saucy, as to pull
388any one by the ears that comes in its way, and will never be quiet till it
389has drawn blood: it is troubled at nothing so much as at a man that
390scratches his head, as knowing that man is plotting and contriving some
391mischief against it, and that makes it oftentime sculk into some meaner
392and lower place, and run behind a mans back, though it go very much
393against the hair; which ill conditions of it having made it better known
394then trusted, would exempt me from making any further description of
395it, did not my faithful Mercury , my Microscope , bring me other information
396of it. For this has discovered to me, by means of a very bright
397light cast on it, that it is a Creature of a very odd shape; it has a head
398shap'd like that exprest in 35. Scheme marked with A, which seems almost
399Conical, but is a little flatted on the upper and under sides, at the
400biggest part of which, on either side behind the head (as it were, being
401the place where other Creatures ears stand) are placed its two black
402shining goggle eyes B B, looking backwards, and fenced round with several
403small cilia or hairs that incompass it, so that it seems this Creature
404has no very good foresight: It does not seem to have any eye-lids, and
405therefore perhaps its eyes were so placed, that it might the better cleanse
406them with its fore-legs; and perhaps this may be the reason, why they
407so much avoid and run from the light behind them, for being made to
408live in the shady and dark recesses of the hair, and thence probably their
409eye having a great aperture, the open and clear light, especially that
410of the Sun, must needs very much offend them; to secure these eyes
411from receiving any injury from the hairs through which it passes, it has

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412two horns that grow before it, in the place where one would have
413thought the eyes should be; each of these C C hath four joynts, which
414are fringed, as 'twere, with small brisles, from which to the tip of its
415snout D, the head seems very round and tapering, ending in a very
416sharp nose D, which seems to have a small hole, and to be the passage
417through which he sucks the blood. Now whereas if it be plac'd on its
418back, with its belly upwards, as it is in the 35. Scheme , it seems in several
419Positions to have a resemblance of chaps, or jaws, as is represented
420in the Figure by E E, yet in other postures those dark strokes disappear;
421and having kept several of them in a box for two or three dayes, so that
422for all that time they had nothing to feed on, I found, upon letting one
423creep on my hand, that it immediately fell to sucking, and did neither
424seem to thrust its nose very deep into the skin, nor to open any kind of
425mouth, but I could plainly perceive a small current of blood, which
426came directly from its snout, and past into its belly; and about A there
427seem'd a contrivance, somewhat resembling a Pump, pair of Bellows, or
428Heart, for by a very swift systole and drastole the blood seem'd drawn
429from the nose, and forced into the body. It did not seem at all, though
430I viewed it a good while as it was sucking, to thrust more of its nose into
431the skin then the very snout D, nor did it cause the least discernable
432pain, and yet the blood seem'd to run through its head very quick and
433freely, so that it seems there is no part of the skin but the blood is dispers'd
434into, nay, even into the cuticula ; for had it thrust its whole nose
435in from D to C C, it would not have amounted to the supposed thickness
436of that tegument , the length of the nose being not more then a three
437hundredth part of an inch. It has six legs, covered with a very transparent
438shell, and joynted exactly like a Crab's, or Lobster's; each leg is
439divided into six parts by these joynts, and those have here and there
440several small hairs; and at the end of each leg it has two claws, very
441properly adapted for its peculiar use, being thereby inabled to walk
442very securely both on the skin and hair; and indeed this contrivance of
443the feet is very curious, and could not be made more commodiously and
444compendiously, for performing both these requisite motions, of walking
445and climbing up the hair of a mans head, then it is: for, by having the
446lesser claw (a) set so much short of the bigger (b) when it walks of
447the skin the shorter touches not, and then the feet are the same with
448those of a Mite, and several other small Insects, but by means of the
449small joynts of the longer claw it can bend it round, and so with both
450claws take hold of a hair, in the manner represented in the Figure, the
451long transparent Cylinder F F F, being a Man's hair held by it.
452    The Thorax seem'd cas'd with another kind of substance then the belly,
453namely, with a thin transparent horny substance, which upon the
454fasting of the Creature did not grow flaccid; through this I could plainly
455see the blood, suck'd from my hand, to be variously distributed, and
456mov'd to and fro; and about G there seem'd a pretty big white substance,
457which seem'd to be moved within its thorax ; besides, there appear'd
458very many small milk-white vessels, which crost over the breast

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459between the legs, out of which, on either side, were many small branchings,
460these seemd to be the veins and arteries, for that which is analogus
461to blood in all Insects is milk-white.
462    The belly is covered with a transparent substance likewise, but more
463resembling a skin then a shell, for 'tis grain'd all over the belly just like
464the skin in the palms of a man's hand, and when the belly is empty, grows
465very flaccid and wrinkled; at the upper end of this is placed the stomach
466H H, and perhaps also the white spot I I may be the liver or pancreas ,
467which by the peristaltick motion of the guts, is a little mov'd to and fro,
468not with a systole and diastole , but rather with a thronging or justling
469motion. Viewing one of these Creatures, after it had fasted two dayes,
470all the hinder part was lank and flaccid, and the white spot I I hardly
471mov'd, most of the white branchings disappear'd, and most also of the
472redness or sucked blood in the guts, the peristaltick motion of which
473was scarce discernable; but upon the suffering it to suck; it presently
474fill'd the skin of the belly, and of the fix scolop'd embosments on either
475side, as full as it could be stuft; the stomach and guts were as full as
476they could hold; the peristaltick motion of the gut grew quick, and the
477justling motion of I I accordingly; multitudes of milk-white vessels
478seem'd quickly filled, and turgid, which were perhaps the veins and arteries,
479and the Creature was so greedy, that though it could not contain
480more, yet it continued sucking as fast as ever, and as fast emptying it self
481behind: the digestion of this Creature must needs be very quick, for
482though I perceiv'd the blood thicker and blacker when sucked SOURCE TEXT: suck d , yet,
483when in the guts, it was of a very lovely ruby colour, and that part of
484it, which was digested into the veins, seemed white; whence it appears,
485that a further digestion of blood may make it milk, at least of a resembling
486colour: What is else observable in the figure of this Creature, may
487be seen by the 35. Scheme .