Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon / By R. Hooke.

  • Hooke, Robert, 1635-1703.
Date:
1665
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon / By R. Hooke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/384
    accomplifbt with prodigious benefit to all forts ofufeful knowledge , by tie invention of Optical Gl4es. By the means of TeleCcopes, there» nothing _fo far diftant but may be reprefentedtoour view ; and by the help of Microfcopes, there is nothing fo ('mail, m toefcape our inqui¬ ry • hence there is a new vifible World differed to the under funding. By this means the Heavens are open'd <tnd a vaft number of new Stars, a„d new Motions., arid new BroduUtms appear in them, to which all the antient Aftronomerswere utterly Strangers. By this the Earth it felf, which lyesfo neer us, under our feet, flews quite a new. thing to us, and in every little particle of its matter, we now behold almofi as great a variety of Creatures, as we were able before to reckon up in the whole Univerfe it [elf. It feems not improbable, but that by thefe helps the fubnlty of the compofitimcf Bodies, the firuBure cf their parts, the various texture of their matter, the inftruments and manner of their inward motions, and all the other pojfible appearances of things, may come to be more fully difcovered; all which the antient Peripateticks were content to comprehend in two general and ( unlefl further explain'd) ufelejl words of Matter andBocm.From whence there may arife many admi¬ rable advantages,towards the increafe of the Operative, and the Me- chanick Knowledge, to which this Age feems fo much inclined, becauje we may perhaps be inabled todifcern all the fecret workings of Nature, almofi in the fame manner as we do thofe that are the productions oj Art, and are manag'd by Wheels, and Engines, andSprings, that were devifedby humane Wit. > Inthii kind I here prefentto the World my imperfect Lndeavours; which though they ft) all prove no other way confider able,yet, I hope, they may be in fome measure ufeful to the main Defign of a reformation in Philofophy,if it be only by fiewing, that there it not fo much requir d towards it,any jlrength of Imagination,^ exattnefs of Method,or depth o/Contemplat\oif though the addition of thefe,wherethey can be had, muft needs produce a much more perfect compofurt)as a fincere Hand, and a faithful Eye, to examine, and to record, the things tbemfelves as they appear. And