Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10392
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Freshwater hydra
Date
1741
Creator
Charles John Bentinck (1708 - 1779, Anglo-Dutch) , Aristocrat
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 102mm
width (painting): 54mm
width (painting): 54mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Freshwater animal of the class hydrozoa, clinging to the side of a glass vessel.
This creature, usually referred to as a ‘polyp’ was the subject of a major series of researches by the Swiss naturalist Abraham Trembley (1710-1784) whose work is cited in the letter accompanying this illustration. Charles Bentinck notes that “The discovery ... was made by a young man of Geneva...As he was looking for some insects in ye water he chanced to see some small things that he took for plants, but upon examining them a little more he saw some motion...He try’d to cut one...Some days after he had cut it he found new arms...”
Figure pasted into a letter by the Honourable Charles Bentinck, the Hague, 15 September 1741, to Martin Folkes at the Duke of Richmond’s, Whitehall, London. Not published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Not signed.
Charles Bentinck was the brother of Willem Bentinck (1704-1774) 1st Count Bentinck.
This creature, usually referred to as a ‘polyp’ was the subject of a major series of researches by the Swiss naturalist Abraham Trembley (1710-1784) whose work is cited in the letter accompanying this illustration. Charles Bentinck notes that “The discovery ... was made by a young man of Geneva...As he was looking for some insects in ye water he chanced to see some small things that he took for plants, but upon examining them a little more he saw some motion...He try’d to cut one...Some days after he had cut it he found new arms...”
Figure pasted into a letter by the Honourable Charles Bentinck, the Hague, 15 September 1741, to Martin Folkes at the Duke of Richmond’s, Whitehall, London. Not published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Not signed.
Charles Bentinck was the brother of Willem Bentinck (1704-1774) 1st Count Bentinck.
Associated place