Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.15821

    The structure of diamonds

    Date
    20 November 1722
    Creator
    John Sturt (1658 - 1730, British) , Engraver
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Manuscript page number
    p13
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (page): 240mm
    width (page): 290mm
    Subject
    Description
    Nine engraved and etched figures. The original drawings can be found in Letter Book 15 (LBO/15/284). These are the figures as they were printed for the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 32, no. 374 (1723). They were engraved by John Sturt (signature on copper plate). Leeuwenhoek had the images drawn for him by an unknown artist.

    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.
    Object history
    Figures printed in Antoni Leeuwenhoek, 'De particulis et structura adamantum', Phil. Trans. vol. 32, no. 374 (1723), pp. 199-206.
    Related fellows
    Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
    James Jurin (1679 - 1750, British) , Physician
    Associated place
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