Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.15799

    Microscopic observations of sand

    Date
    1 February 1704
    Creator
    Unknown, Artist
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Manuscript page number
    p13
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (page): 226mm
    width (page): 177mm
    Subject
    Content object
    nature
       > mineral
    Description
    Nine drawings in a letter by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society.

    Leeuwenhoek takes his samples of sand grains from the stones of the nave of the Dom Church in Utrecht, which had been destroyed by a tornado in 1674.

    Fig. 1: grain of sand from the red stone
    Figs 2-4: grain of sand shown from different angles
    Fig. 5: two grains of sand joined together
    Figs 6-8: sand particle in a white marble stone
    Fig. 9: crystal.
    Object history
    The Journal book mentions (1 March 1703/4): 'A Letter dated 1. Febr. from Mr. Leeuwenhoeck was Read, containing his observations on the Figures of the Particles of Sand in Stone, Marble, & Alabaster. He was Order'd to be thanked' (JBO/11/44).

    Printed in A. Leeuwenhoek, ‘Concerning figures of sands’, Phil. Trans., vol. 24, no. 289 (January and February 1704), pp. 1537-55, tab. 2, figs 1-9.
    Related fellows
    Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > Netherlands
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