Specimens: Ovaries

Leeuwenhoek observed ovaries in various animals for forty years. He was a spermist (also called animalculists), who theorized that reproduction occurred through the sperm. The role of the ovaries and eggs was not clear to them. The number of ovists, who theorized that reproduction occurred through the female egg, far out-numbered the spermists.

Links to letters below under Learn more.

  • 1678 March 18 (Letter 38 [24]) to Nehemiah Grew: cows and lambs
  • 1683 January 22 (Letter 70 [37]) to Christopher Wren: lambs
  • 1685 March 30 (Letter 84 [45]) to Members of the Royal Society: theory of reproduction, sheep, dog, rabbit, calves, lambs
  • 1687 August 6 (Letter 102 [57]) to Members of the Royal Society: calander
  • 1687 October 17 (Letter 104 [59]) to Members of the Royal Society: blowfly
  • 1692 March 7 (Letter 119 [71]) to Members of the Royal Society: corn moth
  • 1693 October 15 (Letter 126 [76] to Members of the Royal Society: flea
  • 1693 December 20 (Letter 129 [77]) to Members of the Royal Society: crane fly
  • 1694 March 19 (Letter 135 [81]) to Members of the Royal Society: animalculist response to ovulist George Garden, referring to a variety of animals
  • 1694 April 30 (Letter 137 [83]) to Members of the Royal Society: mussels, barnacle, other shell fish
  • 1694 November 30 (Letter 140 [85] to Peter Rabus: dragon flies
  • 1695 May 21 (Letter 145) to Peter Rabus: ray
  • 1695 July 10 (Letter 147 [90]) to Frederik Adriaan van Reede van Renswoude: aphids)
  • 1695 September 18 (Letter 157 [95]) to Johann Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg: mussels and other shell fish, louse
  • 1696 February 20 (Letter 164 [98] to Frederik Adriaan van Reede van Renswoude: louse
  • 1700 June 2 (Letter 211 [125]) to Frederik Adriaan van Reede van Renswoude: shrimp
  • 1701 December 6 (Letter 231 [142] to John Somers: hen
  • 1704 March 21 (Letter 248) to Members of the Royal Society: cochineal
  • 1716 May 19 (Letter 322 [XXIII]) to Gottfried Leibniz: dogs, rabbits, sheep
Learn more
Related pages:
Learn more about ...
Specimens: Sperm
Related letters:
What Leeuwenhoek wrote ...
Wrote Letter L-070 of 1678年03月18日 to Nehemiah Grew about sperm in other animals and what Harvey and de Graaf got wrong about reproduction
Wrote Letter L-122 of 1683年01月22日 to Christopher Wren about the function of the ovary, muscles of insects, drinking tea and mild beer, erythrocytes, and a theory on the formation of blood
Wrote Letter L-157 of 1685年03月30日 to Members of the Royal Society about sperm, the uterus of a bitch, sheep embryos, ovaries in young animals and apples, and his claims that sperm are the life-carriers and that there are male and female sperm
Wrote Letter L-190 of 1687年08月06日 to members of the Royal Society about the calander and the louse and against spontaneous generation
Wrote Letter L-193 of 1687年10月17日 to members of the Royal Society about amber, 'burned paper' from the sky, rotifers, maggots, blow flies, the stinging hairs of nettles, and the East-Indian centipede
Wrote Letter L-216 of 1692年03月07日 to the members of the Royal Society about corn-weevels, corn-moths, caterpillars, butterflies, calanders, lice in corn-lofts, little animals in rain water, black-flies in blossoms, and maggots in cheese
Wrote Letter L-228 of 1693年10月15日 to the members of the Royal Society about colors and the life cycle of fleas
Wrote Letter L-231 of 1693年12月20日 to the members of the Royal Society about spiders, lice, and mites
Wrote Letter L-240 of 1694年03月19日 to the members of the Royal Society refuting George Garden's ideas in Letter L-227 about the role of the ovary and eggs
Wrote Letter L-242 of 1694年04月30日 to the members of the Royal Society about his criticisms of Buonanni's theory of spontaneous generation, about mussels, barnacles, shrimp larvae, the eye of a dragon-fly, gnat, fly, and ant, and about ant eggs
Wrote Letter L-246 of 1694年11月30日 to Pieter Rabus about about dragon-fly eyes and eggs, crab eyes, vertebrate corneas, another rejection of spontaneous generation, and the impregnation of women
Wrote Letter L-254 of 1695年05月21日 to Pieter Rabus about the eggs and blood vessels of the ray
Wrote Letter L-260 of 1695年07月10日 to Frederik Adriaan van Reede about aphids, their reproduction, and the unsuccessful search for male aphids
Wrote Letter L-271 of 1695年09月18日 to Johann Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg about swan mussel sperm, eggs, embryos, and locomotion, small animals as food for larger ones and oysters and their larvae; he again refutes spontaneous generation
Wrote Letter L-285 of 1696年02月20日 to Frederik Adriaan van Reede about the anatomy of the body louse, especially the sexual organs and the louse's rapid reproduction, and his opposition to Jonston's and Kircher's observations on lice
Wrote Letter L-368 of 1700年06月02日 to Frederik Adriaan van Reede about the eyes, mouth parts, food, intestines, and eggs of a shrimp
Wrote Letter L-398 of 1701年12月06日 to John Somers about the sperm of young cocks living for days outside the cock and whether that was long enough to fertilise a hen's egg
Wrote Letter L-422 of 1704年03月21日 to the members of the Royal Society about cochineal and the insects that are the source of this dye
Wrote Letter L-532 of 1716年05月19日 to Gottfried Leibniz about muscle and tendon fibers, mammal teats, sperm; did not find eggs in ovaries, Fallopian tube, or womb; cannot imagine how the Fallopian tube could suck sperm; does not know the ovary's function

AltStyle によって変換されたページ (->オリジナル) /