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Micrographia / Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon

Robert Hooke

  • Essays
  • Book language: English
  • 394 pages

Micrographia is a 1665 collection of scientific essays by Robert Hooke, based on observations made with magnifying glasses and microscopes. It surveys minute bodies and natural phenomena, from insects and plants to minerals, and helped shape early modern science. It is worth listening to for its curious, methodical voice and its glimpses into how the invisible world was first examined.

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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.

Contents

  1. MICROGRAPHIA: OR SOME Physiological Descriptions OF MINUTE BODIES MADE BY MAGNIFYING GLASSES WITH OBSERVATIONS and INQUI
  2. THE PREFACE.
  3. Observ. I. Of the Point of a sharp small Needle.
  4. Observ. II. Of the Edge of a Razor.
  5. Observ. III. Of fine Lawn, or Linnen Cloth.
  6. Observ. IV. Of fine waled Silk, or Taffety.
  7. Observ. V. Of watered Silks, or Stuffs.
  8. Observ. VI. Of Small Glass Canes.
  9. Observ. VII. Of some Phænomena of Glass drops.
  10. Observ. VIII. Of the fiery Sparks struck from a Flint or Steel.
  11. Observ. IX. Of the Colours observable in Muscovy-Glass, and other thin Bodies.
  12. Observ. X. Of Metalline, and other real Colours.
  13. Observ. XI. Of Figures observ’d in small Sand.
  14. Observ. XII. Of Gravel in Urine.
  15. Observ. XIII. Of the small Diamants, or Sparks in Flints.
  16. Observ. XIV. Of several kindes of frozen Figures.
  17. Observ. XV. Of Kettering-stone, and of the pores of Inanimate bodies.
  18. Observ. XVI. Of Charcoal, or burnt Vegetables.
  19. Observ. XVII. Of Petrify’d wood, and other Petrify’d bodies.
  20. Observ. XVIII. Of the Schematisme or Texture of Cork, and of the Cells and Pores of some other such frothy Bodies.
  21. Observ. XIX. Of a Plant growing in the blighted or yellow specks of Damask-rose-leaves, Bramble-leaves, and some other k
  22. Observ. XX. Of blue Mould, and of the first Principles of Vegetation arising from Putrefaction.
  23. Observ. XXI. Of Moss, and several other small vegetative Substances.
  24. Observ. XXII. Of common Sponges, and several other Spongie fibrous bodies.
  25. Observ. XXIII. Of the curious texture of Sea-weeds.
  26. Observ. XXIV. Of the surfaces of Rosemary, and other leaves.
  27. Observ. XXV. Of the stinging points and juice of Nettles, and some other venomous Plants.
  28. Observ. XXVI. Of Cowage, and the itching operation of some bodies.
  29. Observ. XXVII. Of the Beard of a wilde Oat, and the use that may be made of it for exhibiting always to the Eye the temp
  30. Observ. XXVIII. Of the Seeds of Venus looking-glass, or Corn Violet.

and 36 more chapters

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