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nou: 15. 77.
The society met at the vsuall place and the President being Absent mr Henshaw the
vice president took the chair.
The first Experiment there Exhibited was the pepper water which had been made wth
Rain water & a small quantity of common black pepper put ^/whole/ into it about ^/9 or/ 10 dayes -
before . in this RH had all this week Discouerd great numbers of exceeding small animalls
swimming to & fro . they appeard of the bigness of a mite through a glasse that magnifyd
about 100000 times in bulk and consequently it was iudged that they were neer a
/hundred/thousand thousand times lesse then a mite, their shape was to appearance like a very
small cleer transparent bubble of an ouall or egge forme and the biggest end of
this egglike bubble moued formost. /they/it were obserued to haue all manner of motions
to & fro in the water and by all that saw them they were verily beleiud to be anima[lls]
and that there could be noe falacy in the appearance. they wer seen by mr Henshaw
Sr. Chr: Wren. Sr. Iohn Hoskins Sr. Ionas more. Dr. mapletoft. mr. Hill. Dr. Croon
Dr. Grew. mr. Aubery and Divers others. soe that there was noe longer any dobt of mr. Lewen
hooks Discouery. notice was orderd to be taken of this Discouery and further tryall was
Desired to be made vpon .. . . Raine water alone & vpon Rainewater in wch .. . . had
been steeped wheat barly & other seeds & graines as also that blood and seuerall
other Liquors should be after the same manner Examined. The shape of the mi
croscope and the manner of Examining the liquor was as follows. first the pipes were
drawn exceeding thin & pretty small to with about the bignesse of a piggs bristle: these by
the microscope were magnifyd into the big a cylindricall pp pipe of 3 inches in Diameter
that is ^/it appeard/ At Least 100 times bigger in Diameter than really it was and consequently all things
that appeard in it were proportionally magnifyd. these pipes Dippd into the pepper
water were immediately filld wth. it the liquor readily ascending vp into them. these
pipes were stuck wth. wax vpon a brasse plate perforated through the middle soe
as to Lett the light through. and the plate was made to slide on a small peice of brasse
soe as to be sett along convenient but Differed frome tht object glasse, there being Lookd
vpon against the flame of a candle/a candle/ not directly but wth a glancing light the
small insects appeard swimming to & fro wth various motion like very small cleer
shining bubbles. After this Deb Expt.. much Debate arose whether these were produced
by the pepper or by the water, whether from equiuocall or seuerall Generations. mr. Hen
shaw. Sr Christ. Wren & Dr Holder were of opinion they were equiuocall. But RH/others/
that they were of seminall productions that twas possible they were from eggs Dispersd in
the air ^/& soe brought Down by the rain/ or sticking sticking on the pepper before it was steepd. vpon this Sr. Ch: Wren
suggested that tryall of that might be made by baking the pepper. for it was probable
if there were such eggs their prolifick faculty would be Destroyd. Mr. Henshaw
supposed it was from the heat of the pepper & the fermentation of the said tincture
that they were produced & not from seed, and vrged that such equiuocall Generations
were obserued in the Hairs of stone horses tayles steeped in water, producing a
kind of snake. It was doubted by many whether that creature (wch. was generally
from its shape supposed to be soe generated) were not some distinct species -
of liuing creature & there was noe one present that (though most had seen them) ^/that/ could
positiuely affirme that they had known them soe Generated. mr. Henshaw /related/affirmd
that twas not only this substance that was capable of animation but that lutestring
or guttstrings would by being steepd in water doe the same thing. that he had
seen the Expt. tryd wth. one not in water wch. would turne & wreath itself
about astick & then vnwreath itself againe, and this seuerall times one after
another. the reason of wch.. was not Explaind.

There was Presented by RH. from the Ld: BP: of Sarum a very large whitestone-cutt out of the bladder
of a Dogge at Cambridge. It was Included in twodouble Hoops of Iron Siluer neatly fitted
to it and Ingrauen wth. the name of the Doner andon the one and the name of the thing

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