Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.Adams, George
Science
Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.
Adams, George
Insects -- Early works to 1800; Microscopy -- Early works to 1800
eyes must be separated by means of a small fine knife; you may then, by
the assistance of the microscope, perceive that the leg is articulated,
by means of some particular ligaments, with that portion of the insect’s
mouth which answers to the lower jaw in the human frame. We may then
also discern the muscles which serve to move the legs, and draw them up
into a cavity that lies between the snout and those parts of the mouth
which are near the horns i i.
This insect not only walks with these legs at the bottom of the water,
but even moves itself on land by means of them; it likewise makes use of
them to swim, while it keeps its tail on the surface contiguous to the
air, and hangs downward with the rest of the body in the water: in this
situation no motion is perceived in it, but what arises from its legs,
which it moves in a most elegant manner. It is reasonable to conclude
from what has been said, that the principal part of the creature’s
strength lies in these legs; nor will it be difficult for those who are
acquainted with the nature of the ancient hieroglyphics, which are now
opening so clearly, to fix the rank of this insect in animated life, and
point out those orders of being, and the moral state through which it
receives its form and habits of life.
The snout is black and hard, the back part is quite solid, and somewhat
of a globular form, whereas the front f, is sharp and hollow; on the
back part three membranaceous divisions may be observed, by means of
which, and the muscles contained in the snout, the insect can at
pleasure expand or contract it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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