Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9442
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Feathers
Date
1665
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
After
Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703, British) , Natural Philosopher
Object type
Library reference
RCN 45230
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 306mm
width (print): 208mm
width (print): 208mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Microscopic study showing the structure of feathers [unspecified].
Inscribed above: ‘Schem XXII’
Written in the associated text: ‘the outward surface of the Quill and Stem was of a very hard, stiff and thorny substance, which is obvious enough, and that the part above the Quill was fill’d with a very white and light pith, and, with the Microscope, I found this pith to be nothing else, but a kind of natural congeries of small ubbles,the films of which seem to be of the same substance with that of the Quill, that is, of a stiff transparent horny substance.’
Plate 22 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 XXII’
Written in the associated text: ‘the outward surface of the Quill and Stem was of a very hard, stiff and thorny substance, which is obvious enough, and that the part above the Quill was fill’d with a very white and light pith, and, with the Microscope, I found this pith to be nothing else, but a kind of natural congeries of small ubbles,the films of which seem to be of the same substance with that of the Quill, that is, of a stiff transparent horny substance.’
Plate 22 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