6 
~~ may find fufficient atmenent to be prompted to fuch Inquiries. As for 
a 
MiIcROGRAPHIA. 
thofe of the si/k are fwall,round, bard, tranfparent, and to their bigneR — 
" proportionably fff; {0 as each filament prefervesits proper Figure, and 
confequently its vivid refledion intire, though twifted into a thread, if 
not too ; thofe of Flax are flat, limber, fofter,and lef tranfparent, and 
intwifting into a thread they joyn,and lie fo clofe together,as to lofe their 
own, and deftroy each others particular reflections. There feems theres 
fore three Particulars very requifite to make the fo dreft Flax appear Silk 
alfo when fpun into threads, Firft, that the fubftance of it fhould be 
made more c/ear and tran{parent, Flax retaining in ita kind of opacatin 
brown, or yellow ; and the parts of the whiteft kind I have yet obferv’ 
swith the AG@crofcope appearing white, like flaw’d Horn or Glafs, rather 
then clear, like clear Horn or Glafs.. Next that, the filaments fhould each 
of them be roxaded, if that could be done,which yet is not fo very necef _ 
fary, if the firft be perform’d, and this third, which is, that each of the 
{mall filaments be ffifved; for though they be fquare, or flat, provided 
they be #ranfparent and ftiff, much the fame appearances muft neceffarily 
follow. Now, though I have not yet made trial, yet I doubt not, but that 
both thefe proprieti¢s may be alfo induc'd upon the Flax,and perhaps too 
by one and the fame Expedient, which fome trials may quickly inform any 
ingenious attempter of, who from the ufe and profit of fuch an Invention, 
the texacity of the fubftance of Flax, out of which the thread ‘is made, it 
feems much inferiour to that of Silk, the one being a vegetable, the 
other an a#imal fub{tance. And whether it proceed from the better cons 
cottion, or the more homogeneous conttitution of axzimal fubftances 
above thofe of vegetables, I do not here determine; yet fince 
nerally find, that vegetable fubftances do not equalize the tenacity of ani 
mal, nor thele the texacity of fome purified mineral fubftancess I am 
very apt tothink, that the tenacity ab bodies does not proceed from the 
hamous, or hooked particles, asthe Epicureans, and fome modern Philofo- 
phers have imagin'd; but from the more exact congruity of the confti- 
tuent parts, which are contiguous to each other, and fo bulky, as not to 
be ealily feparated, or fhatter’d, by any {mall pulls or concuffion of - 
heat. 
, Oblerv. 1V. Of fine waled Silk, or Taffety. 
' ©P" His ts the appearance of a piece of very fine Taffety-riband in the — 
a bigger magnifying Glafs, which you fee exhibits it like a very con- 
_ venient fubftance to make Bed-matts,or Door-matts of,or to ferve for Bee- - 
hives, Corn-{cuttles,Chairs. or Corn-tubs,it being not unlike that kind of - 
work, wherewith in many parts in England, they make fuch Utenfils 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, — 
— d about the bignefs of an ordinary Straw, as appears by the little ir 
oh } re 
al 
eS 
‘= 
