Exploring our archives

Since it’s almost Easter, I thought an egg related post might be in order.

The Hooke Folio details a meeting on 16th January 1679, where Mr Henshaw gives an account of Dr Kuffler’s way of ‘hatching chickens’ using artificial methods rather than leaving the eggs to hatch naturally with the mother hen. Kuffler kept the eggs on a wire over a balneum (similar to a modern day bain marie) with a cover over and placed it close to a furnace. He turned the eggs each day for eighteen days before removing them and putting them ‘on a hair cloth near the ash hole of a stove’. Soon after  Kuffler claims the eggs began to hatch and three days later the chicks were able to feed themselves. Kuffler’s method of artificially incubating the eggs prompted further discussion on 23rd January 1679 concerning whether the chickens produced ’ would be fruitfull & produce eggs and chickens as others that were hatchd the naturall way’. To which Mr Henshaw confirmed that they ‘were euery deale as fruitfull … as the other’.

The Hooke Folio’s account of Kuffler’s work shows how the Fellows of the Society were interested in the way the workings of nature could be ’artificially’ replicated and how the results of such artificial methods compared to those of the natural world.

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One of the earliest passages in  the Hooke folio records the Society’s receipt of a letter from Dutch microscopist Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) describing his observation of what he termed ‘animalcules’ in water together with a number of testimonials attesting to the truth of his discovery.

The ‘animalcules’ he describes are in fact the earliest observations of protozoa. Protozoa  are animal-like, single-celled organisms most commonly found in water and very rarely visible without the use of a microscope.

Leeuwenhoek’s observations prompted Hooke to conduct a series of experiments during Royal Society meetings in an attempt to see the ‘exceedingly small animals’ which Leeuwenhoek described. His initial experiment which observed pump water through a single microscope at a meeting on the 1st November 1677, met with little success and he decided to use pepper water in his next experiment. Unfortunately this did not work either. At the meeting of the 15th November 1677, Hooke finally sees ‘exceedingly small animals’ in rain water with a small amount of black pepper added to it and by the 6th December 1677, Hooke had refined the microscope sufficiently that ‘the small insects’ appear ‘much more magnified and clear’.

The Hooke Folio is particularly useful in charting the development of Hooke’s experiments to view protozoa because the records held by the Society (prior to the rediscovery of the Folio) break off abruptly part way through describing Hooke’s experiment on 15th November 1677 and do not recommence until the 6th December 1677. The Folio pages, missing from the official records, describe, amongst a number of other things, how Hooke modified the microscope so that the ‘animals’ could be seen more clearly and a debate amongst the fellows about how the ‘animals’ might be generated in the water and whether pepper somehow influences this generation.

This interest in protozoa is evident throughout the Folio, in fact some of the last pages of the Folio from 1691 record Mr Henshaw’s observations of ‘animals’ in pepper water.

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Did you see the lunar eclipse on Saturday night? Lunar eclipses occur when the earth blocks the sun’s light by passing between the sun and the moon and we see the earth’s shadow gradually cast across the moon. Although lunar eclipses are not particularly rare, with a clear sky, as on Saturday night, the sight of the moon with a red or copper hue is an impressive sight.

The Folio records accounts observing both solar and lunar eclipses and, interestingly, these were viewed as sufficiently important to be included in the index to the Folio. Such accounts tended to be in the form of letters, for instance in July 1782, Cassini writes to Flamstead, describing an eclipse of the moon in Dantizick, whilst in December 1685, Hevlius writes to Aston ,again with an account of a lunar eclipse in Dantizick. These descriptions are not confined to the Hooke Folio, however, and form part of a wider pattern of interest in lunar eclipses within the early Royal Society. For example accounts of eclipses are sent from various places including Paris and Moscow, whilst in 1666, Gresham-Professor of Geometry Mr Rook’s methods for observing a lunar eclipse are published in the Society’s Philosophical Transactions. He says that the observer, preferably using a telescope rather than the naked eye, should pick out three of the ‘eminentest spots’ which ‘lie nearest the ecliptick’ and note the time a shadow is first cast on each one and when they are ‘completely entered in’ and out of the shadow. Rook also comments that observing lunar eclipses is important, not only for the astronomical information that could be gleaned, but also for the geographical information, such as comparing how observations made by scientists in various countries both differed and converged.

If you missed Saturday’s eclipse, one should be visible (weather permitting) on July 16th, though only if you live in Asia, the Pacific or the West of the Americas, if you live in Europe then you’ll have to wait until 9th January.

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The first part of the folio (around 100 pages) contains Hooke’s extracts from early Royal Society journals. One of the recurring discussions centres on the chariot designs of Hooke and Thomas Blount. Although the use of the term ‘chariot’ might conjure up images of the classical two-wheeled variety, this is a thoroughly seventeenth-century version on both two and four wheels (though the use of the term ’chariot’ possibly stemmed from the fashion for using classical terms during the period). This provides a good example of how experiments and designs were presented to the Society as a kind of work in progress, which were discussed at meetings and where members could suggest improvements or offer solutions to difficulties encountered by the experimenters or designers.

Hooke and Blount showed their designs over the course of a number of meetings and various adjustments were made. For example Hooke realised that the springs of the chariot needed to be shortened for ease of turning in the street (which may also indicate the narrowness of seventeenth-century streets). However, shorter strings would impede the comfort of the rider, so following a series of experiments, Hooke decides to shorten and double the strings to accomodate both for the comfort of the rider and the demands of turning the chariot. He also experiments with the positioning of the rider in relation to the wheels, realising that this will impact on the burden felt by the horse.

By June 1665, Hooke was getting close to perfecting the design, but he was unable to show it again until 14th March 1666 as the Society’s meetings were suspended due to the plague, however prior to the recess, he was urged to perfect his chariot.

Hooke brought the chariot with him on his return to London. It was drawn by one horse and gave ‘great ease to the Riders both to him that sitts in the chariot and to him that sitts ouer the horse vpon a springy saddle’. By 23rd May 1666, Hooke and Blount’s chariots were requested to be shown ’Saturday following in the afternoon’ to ‘compare’ them. Exactly what is meant by ‘compare’ is not stated, though I do like to think that some kind of race might have been involved - just imagine the scene - Hooke and Blount at St George’s Field on a Saturday afternoon, Hooke on one side with his chariot, Blount on the other, whilst members of the Royal Society looked on - who needs rugby and football matches, when you can watch chariots on a Saturday afternoon?

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Very few people like going to the dentist, but imagine what dental treatment would have been like in the seventeenth century.

The first recorded dental treatments actually occured in ancient Egypt and China and by the seventeenth century, treatments included tinctures, styptics and extractions. In July 1678, Dr Holder suggests that toothache can be treated by putting oil of tobacco into the hollow of a rotten tooth, though Hooke remarks that such treatment sent a maid servant into convulsions and led to her death, so it might not be a good method after all.

A few months later in January 1679, they continue their discussion of teeth, but here recount how teeth could be aritficially set in place of old ones. They find that if a new tooth was inserted as soon as the rotten one had been drawn out ‘the gums would coalesce and inclose the teeth as firmly almost, as if they were natural.’ This treatment was carried out on a young lady whose teeth were ‘much rotted by eating sweet meats’ by extracting the bad teeth and replacing them with those of a young boy. The treatment, for the young lady proved successful, though was perhaps not so good for the now toothless young boy.   

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Recently the film Perfume was released. It’s based on the novel by Patrick Süskind set in eighteenth-century France and explores the protagonist’s obsessive desire to create a perfume, which ultimately takes a deadly turn.

Interestingly, the science of perfume making was a topic of discussion in the Hooke Folio. Whilst the focus is initially on perfume made with jasmine, the mixing of jasmine with orange flowers and rose petals is also examined - particularly in terms of the liquid and scent produced when pickled, and how to make the scent long lasting. They also look to the practices of perfume makers in other countries, for example the President praises the skills of Chinese perfume makers, whilst a comparison is made between the strength of perfume worn by women in Britain and those in Spain and Italy.

Seemingly women in Britain were scorned by their Italian and Spanish counterparts for their sensitivity to the ‘highest perfumes’, particularly in terms of finding the smell ‘offensive’. However it is suggested that this is because Britain has ’somewhat peculiar … air for that purpose’ using an anecdote from Mr Henshaw, who describes how an Italian woman developed a dislike for strong perfume (which she formerly prized) after spending a period of time in Britain.

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As you probably know, we are experiencing the second hottest January on record. Although official records began around a century after the date of the Hooke folio, predicting and understanding the weather was also important to Hooke and his contemporaries.

In the early part of the folio there are discussions about how to measure very low temperatures and also how Barometers can be refined and developed to make them more accurate. There are also quite a lot of letters where people write in complaining that their Barometers are not working. They are also interested in extremes of weather and the folio details correspondence about a hurricane in Tangiers and how the changes in the barometer reflected the change in weather. Interestingly, Hooke’s diary, also records the weather. To start with he divides the page in half where half contains the events of the day and the other details the weather, though later he records all this information together.  

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Hi my name is Jenni and I’m working with Anna to transcribe the Hooke Folio as part of a project between the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters and the Royal Society. We’ll be writing a blog each week to keep you updated with all our latest findings and to give you an insight into the project as it unfolds. We’d also really like you to get involved by adding comments or questions you might have about the folio.

My background’s in Museology, so as well as transcribing the folio, I’m also writing my PhD on the life and afterlife of the early Royal Society repository.

Part of my research involves trying to trace what happened to the objects of the repository, whether they are still around today or have been destroyed.  The Hooke Folio talks about a Rhino horn donated by Sir Robert Southwell, so at the moment I’m trying to find that. It also mentions a dogs gall bladder stone and whilst it would be great to find it, I have to confess I’m not quite so keen to see it

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