Part 5

These threads that compose this fine contexture, though they are as small as those that constitute the finer sorts of Silks, have notwithstanding nothing of their glossie, pleasant, and lively reflection. Nay, I have been informed both by the Inventor himself, and several other eye-witnesses, that though the flax, out of which it is made, has been (by a singular art, of that excellent Person, and Noble Virtuoso, M. _Charls Howard_, brother to the _Duke of Norfolk_) so curiously dress’d and prepar’d, as to appear both to the eye and the touch, full as _fine_ and as _glossie_, and to receive all kinds of colours, as well as Sleave-Silk; yet when this Silken Flax is twisted into threads, it quite loseth its former luster, and becomes as plain and base a thread to look on, as one of the same bigness, made of common Flax.

The reason of which odd _Phenomenon_ seems no other then this; that though the curiously drest Flax has its parts so exceedingly small, as to equallize, if not to be much smaller then the clew of the Silk-worm, especially in thinness, yet the differences between the figures of the constituting filaments are so great, and their substances so various, that whereas those of the _Silk_ are _small_, _round_, _hard_, _transparent_, and to their bigness proportionably _stiff_, so as each filament preserves its proper _Figure_, and consequently its vivid _reflection_ intire, though twisted into a thread, if not too hard; those of Flax are _flat_, _limber_, _softer_, and _less transparent_, and in twisting into a thread they joyn, and lie so close together, as to lose their own, and destroy each others particular reflections. There seems therefore three Particulars very requisite to make the so drest Flax appear Silk also when spun into threads. First, that the substance of it should be made more _clear_ and _transparent_, Flax retaining in it a kind of opacating brown, or yellow; and the parts of the whitest kind I have yet observ’d with the _Microscope_ appearing white, like flaw’d Horn or Glass, rather then clear, like clear Horn or Glass. Next that, the filaments should each of them be _rounded_, if that could be done, which yet is not so very necessary, if the first be perform’d, and this third, which is, that each of the small filaments be _stifned_; for though they be square, or flat, provided they be _transparent_ and stiff, much the same appearances must necessarily follow. Now, though I have not yet made trial, yet I doubt not, but that both these proprieties may be also induc’d upon the Flax, and perhaps too by one and the same Expedient, which some trials may quickly inform any ingenious attempter of, who from the use and profit of such an Invention, may find sufficient argument to be prompted to such Inquiries. As for the _tenacity_ of the substance of Flax, out of which the thread is made, it seems much inferiour to that of Silk, the one being a _vegetable_, the other an _animal_ substance. And whether it proceed from the better concoction, or the more homogeneous constitution of _animal_ substances above those of _vegetables_, I do not here determine; yet since I generally find, that _vegetable_ substances do not equalize the _tenacity_ of _animal_, nor these the _tenacity_ of some purified _mineral_ substances; I am very apt to think, that the _tenacity_ of bodies does not proceed from the _hamous_, or _hooked_ particles, as the _Epicureans_ and some modern _Philosophers_ have imagin’d; but from the more exact _congruity_ of the constituent parts, which are contiguous to each other, and so bulky, as not to be easily separated, or shatter’d, by any small pulls or concussion of heat.

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Observ. IV. _Of fine waled Silk, or Taffety._

This[5] is the appearance of a piece of very fine Taffety-riband in the bigger magnifying Glass, which you see exhibits it like a very convenient substance to make Bed-matts, or Door-matts of, or to serve for Beehives, Corn-scuttles, Chairs, or Corn-tubs, it being not unlike that kind of work, wherewith in many parts in _England_, they make such Utensils of Straw, a little wreathed, and bound together with thongs of Brambles. For in this Contexture, each little filament, fiber, or clew of the Silk-worm, seem’d about the bigness of an ordinary Straw, as appears by the little irregular pieces, ab, cd, and ef; The _Warp_, or the thread that ran crossing the Riband, appear’d like a single Rope of an Inch Diameter; but the _Woof_, or the thread that ran the length of the Riband, appear’d not half so big. Each Inch of six-peny-broad Riband appearing no less then a piece of Matting Inch and half thick, and twelve foot square, a few yards of this, would be enough to floor the long Gallery of the _Loure_ at _Paris_. But to return to our piece of Riband: It affords us a not unpleasant object, appearing like a bundle, or wreath, of very clear and transparent _Cylinders_, if the Silk be white, and curiously ting’d; if it be colour’d, each of those small horney _Cylinders_ affording in some place or other of them, as vivid a reflection, as if it had been sent from a _Cylinder_ of Glass or Horn. Insomuch, that the reflections of Red, appear’d as if coming from so many _Granates_, or _Rubies_. The loveliness of the colours of Silks above those of hairy Stuffs, or Linnen, consisting, as I else-where intimate, chiefly in the transparency, and vivid reflections from the _Concave_, or inner surface of the _transparent Cylinder_, as are also the colours of Precious Stones; for most of the reflections from each of these _Cylinders_, come from the _Concave_ surface of the air, which is as ’twere the foil that incompasses the _Cylinder_. The colours with which each of these _Cylinders_ are ting’d, seem partly to be superficial, and sticking to the out-sides of them; and partly, to be imbib’d, or sunck into the substance of them: for Silk, seeming to be little else then a dried thread of Glew, may be suppos’d to be very easily relaxt, and softened, by being steeped in warm, nay in cold, if penetrant, juyces or liquors. And thereby those tinctures, though they tinge perhaps but a small part of the substance, yet being so highly impregnated with the colour, as to be almost black with it, may leave an impression strong enough to exhibite the desir’d colour. A pretty kinde of artificial Stuff I have seen, looking almost like transparent Parchment, Horn, or Ising-glass, and perhaps some such thing it may be made of, which being transparent, and of a glutinous nature, and easily mollified by keeping in water, as I found upon trial, had imbib’d, and did remain ting’d with a great variety of very vivid colours, and to the naked eye, it look’d very like the substance of the Silk. And I have often thought, that probably there might be a way found out, to make an artificial glutinous composition, much resembling, if not full as good, nay better, then that Excrement, or whatever other substance it be out of which, the Silk-worm wire-draws his clew. If such a composition were found, it were certainly an easie matter to find very quick ways of drawing it out into small wires for use. I need not mention the use of such an Invention, nor the benefit that is likely to accrue to the finder, they being sufficiently obvious. This hint therefore, may, I hope, give some Ingenious inquisitive Person an occasion of making some trials, which if successfull, I have my aim, and I suppose he will have no occasion to be displeas’d.

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Observ. V. _Of watered Silks, or Stuffs._

There are but few _Artificial_ things that are worth observing with a _Microscope_, and therefore I shall speak but briefly concerning them. For the Productions of art are such rude mis-shapen things, that when view’d with a _Microscope_, is little else observable, but their deformity. The most curious Carvings appearing no better then those rude _Russian_ Images we find mention’d in _Purchas_, where three notches at the end of a Stick, stood for a face. And the most smooth and burnish’d surfaces appear most rough and unpolisht: So that my first Reason why I shall add but a few observations of them, is, their mis-shapen form; and the next, is their uselessness. For why should we trouble our selves in the examination of that form or shape (which is all we are able to reach with a _Microscope_) which we know was design’d for no higher a use, then what we were able to view with our naked eye? Why should we endeavour to discover mysteries in that which has no such thing in it? And like _Rabbins_ find out _Caballisms_, and _ænigmâs_ in the Figure, and placing of Letters, where no such thing lies hid: whereas in _natural_ forms there are some so small, and so curious, and their design’d business so far remov’d beyond the reach of our sight, that the more we magnify the object, the more excellencies and mysteries do appear; And the more we discover the imperfections of our senses; and the Omnipotency and Infinite perfections of the great Creatour. I shall therefore onely add one or two Observations more _artificial_ things, and then come to the Treaty concerning such matters as are the Productions of a more curious Workman. One of these, shall be that of a piece of water’d Silk, represented in the second Figure of the third _Scheme_,[6] as it appear’d through the least magnifying Glass. _AB_ signifying the long way of the Stuff, and _CD_ the broad way. This Stuff, if the right side of it be looked upon, appears to the naked eye, all over so waved, undulated, or grain’d, with a curious, though irregular variety of brighter and darker parts, that it adds no small gracefulness to the Gloss of it. It is so known a propriety, that it needs but little explication, but it is observable, which perhaps everyone has not considered, that those parts which appear the darker part of the wave, in one position to the light, in another appears the lighter, and the contrary; and by this means the undulations become transient, and in a continual change, according as the position of the parts in respect of the incident beams of light is varied. The reason of which odd _phænomena_, to one that has but diligently examin’d it even with his naked eye, will be obvious enough. But he that observes it with a _Microscope_, may more easily perceive what this _Proteus_ is, and how it comes to change its shape. He may very easily perceive, that it proceeds onely from the variety of the _Reflections_ of light, which is caus’d by the various _shape of the Particles_, or little protuberant parts of the thread that compose the surface; and that those parts of the waves that appear the brighter, throw towards the eye a multitude of small reflections of light, whereas the darker scarce afford any. The reason of which reflection, the _Microscope_ plainly discovers, as appears by the Figure. In which you may perceive, that the brighter parts of the surface consist of an abundance of large and strong reflections, denoted by a, a, a, a, a, &c. for the surfaces of those threads that run the _long way_, are by the Mechanical process of watering, _creas’d_ or _angled_ in another kind of posture then they were by the weaving: for by the weaving they are onely _bent round_ the warping threads; but by the watering, they are _bent with an angle, or elbow_, that is in stead of lying, or being bent _round_ the threads, as in the third Figure, a, a, a, a, a, are about b, b, b (b, b, b representing the ends, as ’twere, of the cross threads, they are bent about) they are creas’d on the top of those threads, with an _angle_, as in the fourth Figure, and that with all imaginable variety; so that, whereas before they reflected the light onely from one point of the round surface, as about c, c, c, they now when water’d, reflect the beams from more then half the whole surface, as de, de, de, and in other postures they return no reflections at all from those surfaces. Hence in one posture they compose the brighter parts of the waves, in another the darker. And these reflections are also varied, according as the particular parts are variously bent. The reason of which creasing we shall next examine; and here we must fetch our information from the Mechanism or manner of proceeding in this operation; which, as I have been inform’d, is no other then this.

They double all the Stuff that is to be water’d, that is, they crease it just through the middle of it, the whole length of the piece, leaving the right side of the Stuff inward, and placing the two edges, or silvages just upon one another, and, as near as they can, place the wale so in the doubling of it, that the wale of the one side may lie very near parallel, or even with the wale of the other; for the nearer that posture they lie, the greater will the watering appear; and the more obliquely, or across to each other they lie, the smaller are the waves. Their way for folding it for a great wale is thus: they take a Pin, and begin at one side of the piece in any wale, and so moving it towards the other side, thereby direct their hands to the opposite ends of the wale, and then, as near as they can, place the two opposite ends of the same wale together, and so double, or fold the whole piece, repeating this enquiry with a Pin at every yard or two’s distance through the whole length; then they sprinkle it with water, and fold it the long-ways, placing between every fold a piece of Pastboard, by which means all the wrong side of the water’d Stuff becomes flat, and with little wales, and the wales on the other side become the more protuberant; whence the creasings or angular bendings of the wales become the more perspicuous. Having folded it in this manner, they place it with an interjacent Pastboard into an hot Press, where it is kept very violently prest, till it be dry and stiff; by which means, the wales of either contiguous sides leave their own impressions upon each other, as is very manifest by the second Figure, where ’tis obvious enough, that the wale of the piece ABCD runs parallel between the pricked lines ef, ef, ef, and as manifest to discern the impressions upon these wales, left by those that were prest upon them, which lying not exactly parallel with them, but a little athwart them, as is denoted by the lines of, oooo, gh, gh, gh, between which the other wales did lie parallel; they are so variously, and irregularly creas’d that being put into that shape when wet, and kept so till they be drie, they so let each others threads, that the Moldings remain almost as long as the Stuff lasts.

Hence it may appear to any one that attentively considers the Figure, why the parts of the wale a, a, a, a, a, a, should appear bright; and why the parts b, b, b, b, b, b, b, should appear shadowed, or dark; why some, as d, d, d, d, d, d, should appear partly light, and partly dark: the varieties of which reflections and shadows are the only cause of the appearance of watering in Silks, or any other kind of Stuffs.

From the variety of reflection, may also be deduc’d the cause why a small breez or gale of wind ruffling the surface of a smooth water, makes it appear black; as also, on the other side, why the smoothing or burnishing the surface of whitened Silver makes it look black; and multitudes of other phænomena might hereby be solv’d, which are too many to be here insisted on.

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Observ. VI. _Of Small Glass Canes._

That I might be satisfi’d, whether it were not possible to make an _Artificial_ pore as _small_ as any _Natural_ I had yet found, I made several attempts with small _glass pipes_, melted in the flame of a Lamp, and then very _suddenly_ drawn out into a great length. And, by _that means_, without much difficulty, I was able to draw some almost as small as a _Cobweb_, which yet, with the _Microscope_, I could plainly perceive[7] to be _perforated_, both by looking on the _ends_ of it, and by looking on it _against the light_ which was much the _easier way_ to determine whether it were solid or perforated; for, taking a small pipe of glass, and closing one end of it, then filling it _half full_ of water, and holding it _against the light_, I could, by this means, very easily find what was the _differing aspect_ of a _solid_ and a _perforated_ piece of glass; and so easily distinguish, without seeing either end, whether any _Cylinder_ of glass I look’d on, were a _solid stick_, or a _hollow cane_. And by this means, I could also presently judge of any small _filament_ of glass, whether it were _hollow_ or _not_, which would have been exceeding tedious to examine by looking on the end. And many such like ways I was fain to make use of, in the examining of divers other particulars related in this Book, which would have been no easie task to have determined meerly by the more common way of looking on, or viewing the Object. For, if we consider first, the very _faint light_ wherewith the object is enlightened, whence many particles appear _opacous_, which when more enlightned, appear very _transparent_, so that I was fain to _determine_ its _transparency_ by one glass, and its _texture_ by another. Next, the _unmanageableness_ of most _Objects_, by reason of their _smalness_, 3. The _difficulty of finding_ the desired point, and of _placing_ it so, as to reflect the _light conveniently_ for the Inquiry. Lastly, ones being able to view it but with _one eye_ at once, they will appear no small _obstructions_, nor are they easily _remov’d_ without many _contrivances_. But to proceed, I could not find that water, or some _deeply ting’d_ liquors would in small ones rise so high as one would expect; and the _highest_ I have found it yet rise in any of the pipes I have try’d, was to 21 _inches_ above the level of the water in the vessel: for though I found that in the small pipes it would _nimbly enter_ at first, and run about 6 or 7 _inches_ upwards; yet I found it then to move upwards _so slow_, that I have not yet had the _patience_ to observe it above that height of 21 _inches_ (and that was in a pretty _large Pipe_, in comparison of those I formerly mentioned; for I could observe the _progress_ of a _very deep ting’d liquor_ in it with my _naked eye_, without much trouble; whereas many of the _other pipes_ were so _very small_, that unless in a _convenient posture_ to the light, I could not perceive _them_:) But ’tis very probable, that a greater _patience_ and _assiduity_ may discover the liquors to _rise_, at least to remain _suspended_, at heights that I should be loath now even to _ghess_ at, if at least there be any _proportion_ kept between the height of the ascending liquor, and the _bigness of the holes_ of the pipes.

_AN ATTEMPT FOR THE EXPLICATION OF THIS EXPERIMENT._

My Conjecture, _That the unequal height of the surfaces of the water, proceeded from the greater pressure made upon the water by the Air without the Pipes_ ABC, _then by that within them_[8]; I shall endeavour to confirm from the truth of the two following _Propositions_:

The first of which is, _That an unequal pressure of the incumbent Air, will cause an unequal height in the water’s Surfaces_.

And the second is, _That in this experiment there is such an unequal pressure_.

That the first is true, the following _Experiment_ will evince. For if you take any Vessel so contrived, as that you can at pleasure either _increase_ or _diminish_ the _pressure_ of the Air upon this or that part of the _Superficies_ of the _water_, the _equality_ of the height of those parts will presently be _lost_; and that part of the _Superficies_ that sustains the _greater pressure_, will be _inferior_ to that which undergoes the _less_. A fit Vessel for this purpose, will be an inverted Glass _Syphon_, such an one as is described in the _Sixth Figure_. For if into it you put Water enough to fill it as high as _AB_, and gently blow in at _D_, you shall _depress_ the Superficies _B_, and thereby _raise_ the opposite Superficies _A_ to a _considerable height_, and by gently _sucking_ you may produce clean _contrary_ effects.

Next, That there is such an _unequal pressure_, I shall prove from this, _That there is a much greater incongruity of Air to Glass, and some other Bodies, then there is of Water to the same_.

By _Congruity, I mean a property of a fluid Body, whereby any part of it is readily united with any other part, either of itself, or of any other Similar, fluid, or solid body: And by Incongruity a property of a fluid, by which it is hindred from uniting with any dissimilar, fluid, or solid Body._

This last property, any one that hath been observingly conversant about fluid Bodies, cannot be ignorant of. For (not now to mention several _Chymical Spirits_ and _Oyls_, which will _very hardly_, if at _all_, be brought to _mix_ with one another; insomuch that there may be found some 8 or 9, or more, several distinct Liquors, which _swimming_ one upon another, will not presently _mix_) we need seek no further for Examples of this kind in _fluids_, then to observe the _drops of rain_ falling through the _air_ and the _bubbles of air_ which are by any means conveyed under the surface of the _water_; or a drop of common _Sallet-Oyl_ swimming upon water. In all which, and many more examples of this kind that might be enumerated, the _incongruity_ of two _fluids_ is easily discernable. And as for the _Congruity_ or _Incongruity_ of Liquids, with several kinds of _firm_ Bodies, they have long since been taken notice of, and called by the Names of _Driness_ and _Moisture_ (though these two names are not comprehensive enough, being commonly used to signifie only the adhering or not adhering of _water_ to some other _solid Bodies_) of this kind we may observe that _water_ will more readily _wet some woods_ then _others_; and that _water_, let fall upon a _Feather_, the whiter side of a _Colwort_, and some other leaves, or upon almost any _dusty_, _unctuous_, or _resinous_ superficies, will not _at all adhere_ to them, but easily _tumble off_ from them, like a solid _Bowl_; whereas, if dropt upon _Linnen_, _Paper_, _Clay_, _green Wood_, &c. it will not be taken off, without leaving some part of it behind _adhering_ to them. So _Quick-silver_, which will very _hardly_ be brought to _stick_ to any _vegetable body_, will _readily adhere_ to, and _mingle_ with, several clean _metalline bodies_.