LEEUWENHOEICS OBSERVATIONS. 5 



spattered or dashed into the said dish. With tlie first water that fell into the dish, 

 I washed it very c'ean, and then flung the water away, and receiv'd fresh into it, but 

 could discern no living creatures therein ; only I saw many irregular terrestrial parts 

 in the same. The 30th of May, after I had, ever since the 26th, observ'd every day 

 twice or thrice the same rain-water, I now discovered some but very few, exceeding 

 little animals, which were very clear. The 31st of May, I perceived in the same 

 water more of those animals, as also some that were somewhat bigger. And, I 

 imagine, that many thousands of these little creatures do not equal an ordinary grain 

 of sand in bigness : And comparing them with a cheese-mite, to be like that of a bee 

 to a horse : For, the circumference of one of these little animals in water, is not so 

 big as the thickness of a hair in a cheese-mite. 



Observ. IV. 



" June 9th, having received, early in the morning, some rain-water in a dish, 

 as before, and poured it into a very clean wine-glass, and exposed it about 8 of the 

 clock in the morning to the air, about the height of the third story of my 

 house, to find, whether the little animals would appear the sooner in the water, 

 thus standing in the air : Observing the same accordingly the loth of June, 

 I imagin'd I saw some living creatures therein ; but because they seem'd to be but 

 very few in number, nor were plainly discernible, I had no mind to trust to this 

 observation. The nth of the same month, seeing this water move in the glass from 

 a stiff gale of wind (which had blown for thirty-six hours without intermission, 

 accompanied with a cold, that I could very well endure my winter-cloaths,) I did 

 not think I should then perceive any living creatures therein ; yet viewing it atten- 

 tively, I did, with admiration, observe a thousand of them in one drop of water, 

 which were of the smallest sort, that I had seen hitherto. 



Observ. V. 



" The 9th of June I put of the same rain-water in a very clean wine-glass on my 

 counter of study, and viewing the same, I perceived no living creatures in it. 



"The loth of June, observing the mentioned rain-water, which now had stood 

 twenty-four hours in my study, I noted some few very small living creatures in 

 which by reason of their extreme minuteness I could see no figure, and among the 

 rest I discovered one that was somewhat greater, of an oval figure. Note., that when 

 I say I have viewed the water, I mean, that 1 have viewed only three, four, or five 

 drops of the water, which I also flung away. 



" The nth of June, looking upon the water afresh, I saw the said little creatures 

 again, but there were then but very few of them. 



'•The 1 2 th, I saw them as the day before; besides I took notice of one figured 

 like a mussel-shell, with its hollow side downwards, and it was of a length equal 

 to the eye of a louse. 



Observ. VI. 



"The 17th of tbis month of June it rained very hard ; and I catched some of 

 that rain-water in a new porcelain-dish, which had never been used before, but found 

 no living creatures at all in it, but many terrestrial particles, and, among others, 

 such as I thought came from the smoak of smith's-coals and some thin thrids, ten 

 times thinner than the thrid of a silk-worm, which seemed to be made up of globuls ; 

 and where they lay thick upon one another, they had a green colour. The 26th, 

 having been eight days out of town, and kept my study shut up close, when I was 

 come home and did view the said water, I perceived several animalcida, that were 

 very small, and herewith I desisted from making at this time any further observations 

 of rain-water. 



" Mean time, this town of Delft being very rich in water and we receiving from 

 the river Maase fresh water, which maketh our water very good ; I viewed this water 

 divers times, and saw extream small creatures in it, of different kinds and colours ; 

 and even so small, that I could very hardly discern their figures : But some were 



