Wrote Letter L-058 of 1677年10月05日 to Henry Oldenburg about skin, eels, fleas, and measuring and counting the little animals; enclosed testimonials

Date:
October 5, 1677
Standard reference information
L-number:
L-058
Leeuwenhoek's number:
21
Collected Letters number:
33
Collected Letters volume:
2

Text of the letter in the original Dutch and in English translation from Alle de Brieven. The Collected Letters at the DBNL - De Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren

The original manuscript on eight folio pages, written and signed by Leeuwenhoek, is preserved at the Royal Society (MS. 1858. Early Letters L1.29). A Latin translation is Early Letters L1.30. The original manuscripts of the five testimonal letters are also found at Early Letters L1.30.

Leeuwenhoek wrote this letter, sent with a Latin translation, to Henry Oldenburg (who had died a month earlier in September) in reply to Oldenburg's Letter L-057 of 7 August 1677 (28 July O.S.). Leeuwenhoek wrote about:

  • his theory for the existence of different skin colours
  • the reproduction of eels and their blood; the reproduction of lice
  • comparison of the larvae of fleas with silk-worms; discussed Swammerdam's views on fleas
  • his demonstration of a grain of millet as a measure of cubic capacity and states that he sends 8 testimonials about this (inserted after EL/L1/30);
  • numbers of organisms living in a drop of water.

Hooke published the second half of letter in Microscopium in early 1678, followed by a short discussion of Hooke's own efforts at lensmaking.

Leeuwenhoek enclosed five letters with the testimony of eight credible eye-witnesses to microorganisms in infusions.

J. Boogert, lawyer and notary in Delft
W. van der Burch
Hendrik Cordes, Lutheran minister in Den Haag
Robbert Gordon, medical student in Leiden
Benedictus Haan, Lutheran minister in Delft
Aldert Hodenpijl, manager of the Comanscolff, the St. Nicolaas guildhouse (of which Leeuwenhoek was a member) on the Oude Langendijk in Delft
Alexander Petrie, minister of the Scottish church in Rotterdam
Robert Poitevin, doctor of medicine

Volume 2 of Alle de Brieven / Collected Letters (p 449), probably following Dobell (p. 176), misidentifies the Leiden medical student as English baronet Sir Robert Gordon (1647-1704).

In 1694, Beneditcus Haan, by then living in Amsterdam, wrote another letter in support of Leeuwenhoek's observations.

Publication history
Related sources, especially Philosophical Transactions, and first editions only of Leeuwenhoek's volumes of letters. For later editions see Related events under Learn more.
Year Author Title
1678 Hooke, R. Lectures and collections: Cometa, Microscopium
1679 - 1682 Hooke, R. Philosophical Collections
1941 Leeuwenhoek, A. van Alle de Brieven. The Collected Letters. Volume 2
Notes

A fragment from this letter is in Letter 96.

Learn more
Related events:
Date Event
May 18, 1677 Benedict Haan and Henry Cordes wrote to the Royal Society attesting to the number of little animals in Leeuwenhoek's infusions
June 2, 1677 Robbert Gordon wrote to the Royal Society attesting to the number of little animals in Leeuwenhoek's infusions
August 7, 1677 Henry Oldenburg wrote Letter L-057 to Leeuwenhoek, asking him to examine the skin of Moors and enclosing Philosophical Transactions no. 136
August 13, 1677 Aldert Hodenpijl wrote to the Royal Society attesting to the number of little animals in Leeuwenhoek's infusions
August 21, 1677 Johannes Boogert, Robert Poitevin, and W. van der Burch wrote to the Royal Society attesting to the number of little animals in Leeuwenhoek's infusions
August 30, 1677 Alex Petrie wrote to the Royal Society attesting to the number of little animals in Leeuwenhoek's infusions
September 11, 1677 Visited by Hennig Brand, the Hamburg merchant who discovered phosphorus
January 1, 1678 Robert Hooke's Lectures and Collections: Cometa, Microscopium published
February 28, 1694 Benedictus Haan wrote Letter L-237 to Leeuwenhoek agreeing with him against George Garden about the female ovary

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