VOL. XXIV.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 155 



R. F, Georg. Jos, Camelli Tractatus de Plantis Philippensibus scandentibus, ad 

 Jacohum Petiver, S. R. S. missus, N° 293, p. 1707. 



An enumeration of certain climbing plants which grow in the Philippine 

 Islands. The descriptions are too incomplete to answer any botanical pur- 

 poses. 



Concerning the Flesh oj Whales, and the Crystalline humour of their Eye. By 

 Mr. Leuwenhoeck. N° 293, p. 1723. 



I have often concluded that the globules of blood, which are the cause of 

 its redness, are of the same magnitude both in large and small animals, and con- 

 sequently that the particles of blood in a whale are no larger than in the smallest 

 fish. But not being able to procure any whale's blood, I was obliged to ac- 

 quiesce in bare speculations. From the particles of blood I was led to consider 

 those of the flesh of a whale, imagining that the flesh particles of that fish were 

 no larger than those of a horse or cow, and that the bulk consisted only in the 

 number of its particles. Having cut across a piece of whale's flesh, in order to 

 separate the particles lengthwise; I could perceive no difference in size between 

 them and those of a large ox. 



On examining the crystalline humour of the eye, it appeared to me, that the 

 fibrous matter it is composed of, is of thinner particlevS than that of a young 

 perch. The reason why this appears to be the case is, that we see the former 

 on one side, where the threads or fibres are thickest; but if we view them where 

 the fibrous particles meet together, they are exceedingly fine and slender; where- 

 as, on the contrary, the fibrous matter of the whale not meeting together, but 

 often crossing, is of the same thickness throughout. 



I have discovered that the crystalline humour in a whale is of a quite different 

 texture, or circumvolution, from the fibrous matter in many other animals ; 

 for as in others it consists of three particular conjoined branches, all arising out 

 of one point, the same humour in the eye of a whale is composed of five cir- 

 cumvolutions, all which unite together in one point, and make one scale. 



And here again the amazing order and wisdom of the Creator is obvious; for 

 what man could wind about a globe or ball with a single thread of equal size 

 throughout, and not cross itself in any point; and yet such is the contexture of 

 the filaments or fibrous matter, of which the scales of the crystalline humour of 

 a whale are composed. 



Having carefully observed the eyes of several fishes,* and particularly the 

 tunica cornea, I found that the said tunic, or rather the pupil or apple of the 



* On the crystalline humour of the eye of fishes, see vol. iii. p. 91, of this Abridgment. 



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