Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.14675

    The structure of diamonds

    Date
    20 November 1722
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Manuscript page number
    p284
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (page): 322mm
    width (page): 200mm
    Subject
    Description
    From a letter by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to James Jurin, the Secretary of the Royal Society.

    Fig. 1: a crumb of a diamond observed with a microscope, which shows the layers.
    Fig. 2: more clearly one can see here how the layers in the diamond are all on top of each other.
    Fig. 3: another side of the diamond showing lines that are not layers.
    Fig. 4: the size of the piece of diamond observed for figs 1-3.
    Fig. 5: a bit of rock crystal with six sides.
    Fig. 6: the same piece as in Fig. 5 but more enlarged showing the surface before polishing.
    Fig. 7: not referred to in the text.
    Fig. 8: a small part from the piece in Fig. 5, showing the perfectly smooth surface.
    Fig. 9: the size of the crumb in figure 8.

    Leeuwenhoek had these nine images drawn for him by an unknown artist. These drawings were engraved by John Sturt for Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 32, no. 374 (1723). A print of the engraved images can be found at EL/L4/83/013, now with the original letter.
    Object history
    Figures printed in Antoni Leeuwenhoek, 'De particulis et structura adamantum', Phil. Trans. vol. 32, no. 374, pp. 199-206.
    Related fellows
    Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > Netherlands
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