Page:Micrographia - or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon.djvu/226

Rh and cold. And were this Principle very well examin'd, I am very apt to think, it would afford us a very great help to find out the Mechanism of the Muscles, which indeed, as farr as I have hitherto been able to examine, seems to me not so very perplex as one might imagine, especially upon the examination which I made of the Muscles of Crabs, Lobsters, and several sorts of large Shell-fish, and comparing my Observations on them, with the circumstances I observ'd in the muscles of terrestrial Animals.

Now, as in this Instance of the Beard of a wilde Oat, we see there is nothing else requisite to make it wreath and unwreath it self, and to streighten and bend its knee, then onely a little breath of moist or dry Air, or a small atome almost of water or liquor, and a little heat to make it again evaporate, for, by holding this Beard, plac'd and fix'd as I before directed, neer a Fire, and dipping the tip of a small shred of Paper in well rectify'd spirit of Wine, and then touching the wreath'd Cylindrical part, you may perceive it to untwist it self; and presently again, upon the avolation of the spirit, by the great heat, it will re-twist it self, and thus will it move forward and backwards as oft as you repeat the touching it with the spirit of Wine; so may, perhaps, the shrinking and relaxing of the muscles be by the influx and evaporation of some kind of liquor or juice. But of this Enquiry I shall add more elsewhere.

From the Leaves, and Downs, and Beards of Plants, we come at last to the Seeds; and here indeed seems to be the Cabinet of Nature, wherein are laid up its Jewels. The providence of Nature about Vegetables, is in no part manifested more, then in the various contrivances about the seed, nor indeed is there in any part of the Vegetable so curious carvings, and beautifull adornments, as about the seed; this in the larger sorts of seeds is most evident to the eye; nor is it lest manifest through the Microscope, in those seeds whose shape and structure, by reason of their smalness, the eye is hardly able to distinguish.

Of these there are multitudes, many of which I have observ'd through a Microscope, and find, that they do, for the most part, every one afford exceeding pleasant and beautifull objects. For besides those that have various kinds of carv'd surfaces, there are other that have smooth and perfectly polish'd surfaces, others a downy hairy surface; some are cover'd onely with a skin, others with a kind of shell, others with both, as is observable also in greater seeds.

Of these seeds I have onely described four sorts which may serve as a specimen of what the inquisitive observers are likely to find among the rest. The first of these seeds which are described in the 17. Scheme, are those of Corn-Violets, the seed is very small, black, and shining, and, to the naked eye, looks almost like a very small Flea; But through the Rh