LETTER 147. 28 aprit 1702 271 
On the 19th of September, 1701, it rained a little 
while about noon, whereupon I caught some of the 
rain-water, as pure as I was able to, in a clean East- 
Indian porcelain dish :* putting this water then in a glass 
tube, in order to see whether, in such new-fallen rain, on 
standing in my closet, any living creatures would turn up. 
I examined this water several days running, and dis- 
covered therein many little bits of dust, otherwise called 
particles, such as generally float in the air, consisting of 
very little bits of burnt wood, or charcoal, wherein I 
could make out the horizontal and ascending vessels; 
also a little bit of straw, and many blackish particles 
which I imagined to be congealed particles out of smoke 
from the coals that our smiths and brewers burn: and 
among these was a pretty structure” composed of round 
globules clotted together, just lke the little stars that 
we see in the snow in winter. But I could discover no 
living creature till the 28th of September, when I dis- 
covered some exceeding small animalcules that were 
fixed to the glass, or anon swam forwards with a quivering 
motion ; which afforded me no unpleasant spectacle. 
These animalcules were so small, that I could only 
make them out by very nice scrutiny; the tube, in which 
the water was, being so big and thick; but especially 
because the animalcules seemed to me as clear as glass: 
but it looked to me as though their bodies were twice as 
long as the width of their thickest part,’ the foremost 
and hindmost parts of their bodies running somewhat to 
a point. 
z ‘in a fine China 
in een suijvere gndiaanze porsteleijyne schootel MS. 
Bason’”’ Chamberlayne. 
2 
‘ 
een aardig maaksel MS. ‘an odd Phenomenon” Chamberlayne. 
* hare lighame twee maal soo lang waren, als deselve op haar dikste sijn 
MS. “twice as long as they were big’? Chamberlayne.—The organisms 
were probably flagellates, but are obviously unidentifiable. Their attachment 
to the glass suggests Monas vulgaris, which would also fulfil the other 
requirements of the description. 
