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creature flying vp and down in the air, after the same manner as Gnats other
sorts of Insects in the summer time haue been obserued by mr Henshaw to
be bred ^ /in rain water/ from Gnats & to be conuerted into them againe at Last. that
he had obserued them also in Riuer water & well water though not soe plentifully
He also related that though the ^ /pepper/ water in wch. those animalls were swimming
were frozen into a Lump of ice yet Letting it alone to thaw of it self he
had found it againe very full of those liuing wormes as if the frost
had not at all done them any harme. He further related that he
had found a sort of flatt animalls which could contract and Dilate their
bodys somewt like a leech and that their motion in the water was dif
fering from the motion of any other creature he had euer seen in the water
To wit a motion of writhing their bodys in the manner as a boor doth
when it is said to be out of winding and that thereby they did guide
themselues & shoot through the water wth great swiftnesse _ _

then mr Hooke Propounded Dr Mayow for Candidate. after which
he shewd an Experiment to proue the strength of the expansion
of the air to be in proportion to the quanitity of the air contei
ned in the same space. soe that half the quantity had half
the strength & double the quantity Double the strength

This was shewd by a glasse cane sunk down into an other fil
=led almost to the top wth. quicksiluer the first was open at both ends
but the other hermetically seald at the bottom. In the first was left
about 3 inches of its Length filld wth air and the top of it was stopped
wth. soft wax that noe air might either enter in or goe out throug[h]
it. then was this cane lifted vp soe far as till the air was expanded
into twice its Dimensions and the quicksiluer vnder it was obser
ued to rise only to half the height of the standerd. when by lifting
it higher it had acquired 4 times its first Dimensions the cylinder
vnder it was found to rise but 3/4 of the standerd. which plainly
euidenced one part of the former theory to wit that the
force of the spring of the air was diminished in proportion to the
expansion. and that half the quantity had but half the strength

The other part of it was Designed to be exhibited by an other appa
ratus wch. was made ready for this tryall but vpon examination
it was found that a little part of the top . . . of ^ /the glasse for that tryall/ was flown off
and soe it was omitted till the next meeting -

Ref: CELL/RS/HF_161  © Centre for Editing Lives and Letters