107

Nou: 8 . 1677.

The Society met at 4 and the President being Absent mr. Henshaw the vice president tooke
the chair. The first thing there Exhibited was the Expt. chargd on Mr Hook the Last Day
of Examining pepper water wth. better microscopes and thinner & smaller pipes. the fabric
of the microscope for holding such pipes was new and ^/more/ conuenient & expeditious for such Exa
minations than the vsuall formes consisting wholy of peices wch. Did slide any ways very easily
& would stand fixt & steady in any posture and admitt light to the object euery ways. by the com
paring of wch. various ways of Re inlightning the object one might the more easily & cer
tainly Discouer the true shape & constitution of any body. But notwth.standing the ^/pepper/ mixture was
very strong of the pepper /being/ pepper hauing steepd in/being made of/ Rain water & whole black pepper steepd
in it for 3/2/ or 4/3/ days & not wthstanding the microscope was much better then y/was/ shewd the Last Day
yet we could see nothing of ^/mr/ lewenhooks animall. mr Henshaw coniectured wth. a great Deal
of Reason that twas very likely that It might not now be a proper season for their generation
Dr whistler and was seconded by other obseruations that Gnatts the insects in water from wch gnatts
were bred and such like were. obserued to be generated only at certaine seasons. and it was fur
ther added that a person who had seen those creatures in holland this Last summer wth. a microscope of
his own could not wthin this fortnight find any such in pepper water made here. Dr. Whistler con
iectured that these small .. . . imagined creatures might indeed be nothing els but the small particles
of the pepper swimmingy in the water and noe insects. But Dr. mapletoft answered that /mr/ Lewenhooke
affirmed to shew them both aliue. & Dead. Dead when he putt vinegar to the said tincture. notwthstan
ding RH /mr Hook/ vpon examining the said water in the pipe wth. his /a/ microscope found a vast quantity of small Dust
of Pepper mouing vp & down in the water. After this RH shewd his a way of measuring the
bigness of any object seen by through the microsee was was ... wch. was by opening the
other eye & seeing some other object wth. the left eye whilt the right eye sees the object through
the microscope and it was euident that a pipe not much bigger than a piggs brisle appeard a Calinder
of about 3 inches Diameter. And It was suggested that there was some hope of producing the next Day
a microscope that would magnify much more & make the parts of the object /more/ distinct distinct
2dly R H. Produced a second tryall he had made vpon Leather for making it fitt to be imperuious to
water. this was a peice of washt Leather wett soaked in a composition of wax & oyle of terpen
tine boyled together. this was found very limber and yet very close & imperuious to Water
the water that was putt into it slipping from it like quicksiluer on paper wthout wilting
or adhearing to it, and twas coniectured that this might performe much the same affect wth tht
of the French inuention. mr Henshaw conceiud that Sperma ceti ^/while wax & pomatum -/ being mixed wth. the said
composition might consolidate & tuffen the said mixtureDrGrew-

vpon the reading of wt Discourse had passd October the 24 about cider & clarifying Liquors seue
rall suggestions were added to the former
mr Henshaw affirmed that there was a wine made by the iuice flowing from the Ripe grapes wthout expression
wch. was very dilicious and very cleer and therefore calld L oeil de pordere or the partridge Eye
but would not Last Long but was for present spending & presently fitt for Drinking
Dr. croon gaue a Discription of vin du Gout to be much the same
mr. Henshaw affirmd that most of those small ^/.. . ./ wines though they were very pleasant at first yet they were
not of any long continuance few of them outlasting Easter. but that those which were more
harsh and vnfitt for drinking at first were the lasting wines. These were made soe by the brusing &
pressing of the stone and the steeping in them the husk.      that twas this steeping of the husk
that gaue the rednesse to clarets and that the juice of the grape alone wthout steeping was white &
cleer.      Dr. Croon added suggested that wines clarifyd wth. milk the Lees being thereby precipi
tated would not keep but vintners draw them oft for present spending. as also that vintners in Bot-
ling their wines obserue to Leaue in it a flying lee as they call it being not perfectly cleer because there
by the wines will drink quicker & keep better.
vpon mentioning mr Lewenhooks obseruation about the generation of /eels & Insects/... It was related by
Sr. Christopher Wren that the young eels he had formerly take out of eels aliue were about the
length /& bignesse/.. and bignesse of small pinns.
Dr. Croon affirmd that he had observd a slow worm viuiparous
     That carps dissected at Swallowfeild by redding were found to be ouiparous /But the eggs wch perfect /young carps/ .. & viupar/
Sr. Ch: wren that he had taken out of a Lobters eggs a lobter perfectly shaped wth clawes &c.

Ref: CELL/RS/HF_109  © Centre for Editing Lives and Letters