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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Paintings, lenses of cows, sheep, and horses by [David Brewster?]

Reference number: PT/74/4/6

Date: 1837

Description

Plate 15, figures 1-8 showing lenses from the eyes of cows, sheep, and horses after death. The figures are drawn on opposite sides of a folded sheet of paper, four figures per side. Inscribed with publication and plate details. Ink inscription verso reads 'Brewster. To be printed'. Not signed. The manuscript for this paper is wanting.

Subject: Zoology / Physics

Published in Philosophical Transactions as part of paper titled 'On the development and extinction of regular doubly refracting structures in the crystalline lenses of animals after death' by David Brewster.

Received by the Royal Society on 10 May 1837. Read 1 June 1837.

Reference number
PT/74/4/6
Earliest possible date
1837
Physical description
Watercolour and ink wash on paper
Page extent
3 pages
Format
Painting

Creator name

David Brewster

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Citation

David Brewster, Paintings, lenses of cows, sheep, and horses by [David Brewster?], 1837, PT/74/4/6, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pt_74_4_6/paintings-lenses-of-cows-sheep-and-horses-by-david-brewster, accessed on 14 February 2026

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/pt_74_4_6/paintings-lenses-of-cows-sheep-and-horses-by-david-brewster

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  • Philosophical Transactions

    The 'Philosophical Transactions' collection comprises manuscript versions of papers published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s first and longest continuously running journal dedicated to science.

    Dates: 1802 - 1865

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