mine an unripe or pinn'd Feather, will plainly enough
perceive the Vessel for the conveyance of it to be the thin filmy pith (as
'tis call'd) which passes through the middle of the quill.

As for the make and contexture of the Down it self, it is indeed very rare
and admirable, and such as I can hardly believe, that the like is to be
discover'd in any other body in the world; for there is hardly a large
Feather in the wing of a Bird, but contains neer a million of distinct
parts, and every one of them shap'd in a most regular & admirable form,
adapted to a particular Design: For examining a middle ciz'd Goose-quill, I
easily enough found with my naked eye, that the main stem of it contain'd
about 300. longer and more Downy branchings upon one side, and as many on
the other of more stiff but somewhat shorter branchings. Many of these long
and downy branchings, examining with an ordinary _Microscope_, I found
divers of them to contain neer 1200. small leaves (as I may call them, such
as EF of the first Figure of the 22. _Scheme_) and as many stalks on the
other side, such as IK of the same Figure, each of the leaves or
branchings, EF, seem'd to be divided into about sixteen or eighteen small
joints, as may be seen plainly enough in the Figure, out of most of which
there seem to grow small long _fibres_, such as are express'd in the
Figure, each of them very proportionably shap'd according to its position,
or place on the stalk EF; those on the under side of it, namely, 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, &c. being much longer then those directly opposite to
them on the upper; and divers of them, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, &c.
were terminated with small crooks, much resembling those small crooks,
which are visible enough to the naked eye, in the seed-buttons of
Bur-docks. The stalks likewise, IK on the other side, seem'd divided into
neer as many small knotted joints, but without any appearance of strings or
crooks, each of them about the middle K, seem'd divided into two parts by a
kind of fork, one side of which, namely, KL, was extended neer the length
of KI, the other, M, was very short.

The transverse Sections of the stems of these branchings, manifested the
shape or figure of it to be much like INOE, which consisted of a horny skin
or covering, and a white seemingly frothy pith, much like the make of the
main stem of a Feather.

The use of this strange kind of form, is indeed more admirable then all the
rest, and such