{"id":16555,"date":"2020-07-23T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=16555"},"modified":"2024-10-17T09:17:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T13:17:20","slug":"hookes-books-influences-around-robert-hookes-micrographia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2020\/07\/23\/hookes-books-influences-around-robert-hookes-micrographia\/","title":{"rendered":"Hooke’s Books: Influences around Robert Hooke’s Micrographia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Title<\/a>
Robert Hooke, Micrographia : or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses : with observations and inquiries thereupon<\/em>, 1st edition. London, 1665,
National Library of Medicine #2366075R<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Hooke (1635\u20131703) was an English artist, biologist, physicist, engineer, architect, and inventor, but his crowning glory was his book Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses<\/em>. First published 1665, with a second publishing in 1667, Micrographia<\/em> was a masterpiece that provided an exquisitely illustrated<\/a> introduction to the previously unknown microscopic world. The book contains large etchings of insects and plant matter in high detail, inspired by his view through a microscope. The etchings provide insight into the ornate body structures of flies, fleas, and gnats, that are not visible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n

Here at the National Library of Medicine our History of Medicine Division holds a copy of both the 1665<\/a> and 1667<\/a> editions of Micrographia.<\/em>\u00a0Hooke’s microscope<\/a> is located at our sister institution<\/a> the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.<\/p>\n

For an artist to make etchings<\/a>, like those in Micrographia<\/em>, a polished copper plate was coated with an acid-resistant layer of wax or varnish and the image scratched through the layer with a needle to expose the metal beneath. The plate was then submerged in acid until the intaglio (recessed) image was etched into the plate. After the printing of the two editions of Micrographia<\/em>, Hooke moved onto other projects most notably assisting Christopher Wren (1632\u20131723) redesign London after the Great Fire of 1666.<\/p>\n

\"Drawing <\/a>
Table 24 – Grey Drone Fly Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1st edition. London, 1665, National Library of Medicine #2366075R <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Drawing <\/a>
Table 26 – Blue Fly Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1st edition. London, 1665, National Library of Medicine #2366075R <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Drawing <\/a>
Table 29 – Gnat Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1st edition. London, 1665, National Library of Medicine #2366075R <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Drawing <\/a>
Table 34 – Flea Robert Hooke, Micrographia, 1st edition. London, 1665, National Library of Medicine #2366075R <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

After 1667, the etching plates from Micrographia<\/em> sat unused until they were rediscovered and reprinted as Micrographia Restaurata<\/a><\/em> by Henry Baker in 1745.<\/p>\n

When Hooke looked through a microscope at the structure of cork bark he was struck by the orderly little squares that reminded him of cells, the rooms in a monastery where monks lived. Hooke called the little boxes in the cork bark \u201ccells\u201d and today Hooke is recognized as the first person to use the word<\/a> in its now-common scientific context. These three illustrations were all made from the same copper plate over a period of eighty years, showing the microscopic structure of cork bark.<\/p>\n