Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9441
Looking for a special gift? Buy a print of this image.
Fish scales
Date
1665
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
After
Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703, British) , Natural Philosopher
Object type
Library reference
RCN 45230
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 305mm
width (print): 182mm
width (print): 182mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Microscopic study of the scales of a sole, namely, a single scale (Fig 1. top) and a detail further magnified (Fig 2. bottom).
Inscribed above: ‘Schem XXI’
Written in the associated text: ‘The outside of it, to the naked eye, exhibited nothing more of ornament, save the usual order of ranging the scales into a triagonal form, onely the edges seem’d a little to shine…But through an ordinary Magnifying glass, it exhibited a most curiously carved and adorned surface, such as is visible in the second Figure’
Plate 21 from Robert Hooke’s Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon (1665), the first fully-illustrated book on the topic of microscopy. In the preface Hooke asserts that he had discovered ‘a new visible World’.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) British natural philosopher was a founding member of the Royal Society, elected in 1663. Before his career with the Royal Society, Hooke had been apprenticed to painter Peter Lely (1618-1680), where he learned to draw and paint. Though he did not engrave the images in Micrographia himself they were engraved after his illustrations.
Inscribed above: ‘Schem XXI’
Written in the associated text: ‘The outside of it, to the naked eye, exhibited nothing more of ornament, save the usual order of ranging the scales into a triagonal form, onely the edges seem’d a little to shine…But through an ordinary Magnifying glass, it exhibited a most curiously carved and adorned surface, such as is visible in the second Figure’
Plate 21 from Robert Hooke’s Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon (1665), the first fully-illustrated book on the topic of microscopy. In the preface Hooke asserts that he had discovered ‘a new visible World’.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) British natural philosopher was a founding member of the Royal Society, elected in 1663. Before his career with the Royal Society, Hooke had been apprenticed to painter Peter Lely (1618-1680), where he learned to draw and paint. Though he did not engrave the images in Micrographia himself they were engraved after his illustrations.
Associated place