DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68888#0054
8 Micrographi a .
Observ. V. Os watered Silks, or Stuffs*
Sthem. 3. ^T*Here are but few Artisicial things that are worth obscrving with a
Fi&' *' I APicrofiope s and therefore I (hall (peak but briessy concerning them.
For the Productions of art are such rude mis-fhapen things, that when
view’d with a Microfcopejhere is little else obfervable,but their deformity.
The most curious Carvings appearing no better then thofe rude Russian
Images we find mention’d in Pur ch as, where three notches at the end of a
Stick, flood for a face. And the most sinooth and burnifli’d surfaces appear
most rough and unpolisht: So that my first Reason why Ishalladdbuta
few observations of them, is, their mis-shapen form and the next, is their
uselessness. For why (hould we trouble our selves in the examination of
that form or fliape (which is all we are able to reach with a Microfiope)
which we know was design’d for no higher a ufe, then what we were able
to view with our naked eye ? Why should we endeavour to difcover
mysteries in that which has no such thing in it ? And like Rabbins find out
Caballifins, and £nigmas in the Figure, and placing of Letters, where no
soch thing lies hid : whereas in natural forms there are some sb (mail, and
so curious,and their design’d business so far remov’d beyond the reach os
our sight,that the more we magnify the objcCs, the more excellencies and
mysteries do appears And the more we difeoverthe imperfections of our
senses, and the Omnipotency and Infinite perfections of the great Crea-
tour. I (hall therefore onely add one or two Observations more of artisi-
cial things, and then come to the Treaty concerning soch matters as are
the Productions of a more curious Workman. One of thesejhall be that
of a piece of water’d Silk, reprefcnted in the socond Figure of the third
Schemers it appear’d through the least magnifying Glass. A B. lignifying
the long way of the Stusf,and C D the broad way. This Stufs, if the right
side of it be looked upon, appears to the naked eye, all over so waved,
undulated, or grain’d, with a curious, though irregular variety of brigh-
ter and darker parts, that it adds no small gracefulness to theGlossofit.
It is so known a propriety, that it needs but little explication, but it is ob-
fervable, which perhaps everyone has not considered, that those parts
which appear the darker part of the wave, in one positionto the light, in
another appears the lighter,and the contrary sand by this means the undu-
lations become transient, and in a continual change,according as the po-
sition of the parts in resoed of the incident beams of light is varied. The
reason of which odd phenomena., to one that has but diligently examin’d
it even with his naked eye, will be obvious enough. But he that obferves
it with a Microjcepe, may more easily perceive what this Proteus is, and
how it comes to change its shape. He may very easily perceive, that it
proceeds onely from the variety of the Ressexions of light, which is caus’d
by the various jbape os the Particles, or little protuberant parts of the
thread that compole the sorface s and that thofe parts of the waves that
appear
Observ. V. Os watered Silks, or Stuffs*
Sthem. 3. ^T*Here are but few Artisicial things that are worth obscrving with a
Fi&' *' I APicrofiope s and therefore I (hall (peak but briessy concerning them.
For the Productions of art are such rude mis-fhapen things, that when
view’d with a Microfcopejhere is little else obfervable,but their deformity.
The most curious Carvings appearing no better then thofe rude Russian
Images we find mention’d in Pur ch as, where three notches at the end of a
Stick, flood for a face. And the most sinooth and burnifli’d surfaces appear
most rough and unpolisht: So that my first Reason why Ishalladdbuta
few observations of them, is, their mis-shapen form and the next, is their
uselessness. For why (hould we trouble our selves in the examination of
that form or fliape (which is all we are able to reach with a Microfiope)
which we know was design’d for no higher a ufe, then what we were able
to view with our naked eye ? Why should we endeavour to difcover
mysteries in that which has no such thing in it ? And like Rabbins find out
Caballifins, and £nigmas in the Figure, and placing of Letters, where no
soch thing lies hid : whereas in natural forms there are some sb (mail, and
so curious,and their design’d business so far remov’d beyond the reach os
our sight,that the more we magnify the objcCs, the more excellencies and
mysteries do appears And the more we difeoverthe imperfections of our
senses, and the Omnipotency and Infinite perfections of the great Crea-
tour. I (hall therefore onely add one or two Observations more of artisi-
cial things, and then come to the Treaty concerning soch matters as are
the Productions of a more curious Workman. One of thesejhall be that
of a piece of water’d Silk, reprefcnted in the socond Figure of the third
Schemers it appear’d through the least magnifying Glass. A B. lignifying
the long way of the Stusf,and C D the broad way. This Stufs, if the right
side of it be looked upon, appears to the naked eye, all over so waved,
undulated, or grain’d, with a curious, though irregular variety of brigh-
ter and darker parts, that it adds no small gracefulness to theGlossofit.
It is so known a propriety, that it needs but little explication, but it is ob-
fervable, which perhaps everyone has not considered, that those parts
which appear the darker part of the wave, in one positionto the light, in
another appears the lighter,and the contrary sand by this means the undu-
lations become transient, and in a continual change,according as the po-
sition of the parts in resoed of the incident beams of light is varied. The
reason of which odd phenomena., to one that has but diligently examin’d
it even with his naked eye, will be obvious enough. But he that obferves
it with a Microjcepe, may more easily perceive what this Proteus is, and
how it comes to change its shape. He may very easily perceive, that it
proceeds onely from the variety of the Ressexions of light, which is caus’d
by the various jbape os the Particles, or little protuberant parts of the
thread that compole the sorface s and that thofe parts of the waves that
appear