THE 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



Considering the high eftlmation in which the 

 Works of Mr. Leeuwenhoek have always been held, it 

 feems ftrange, that no compleat Engliili Tranllation of 

 them has. ever appeared. For this, feveral reafons might, 

 perhaps, be affigned : what feems to me the moft proba- 

 ble is, that there are interfperfed throughout his writings, 

 many fubje6i:s of a medical and chirurgical nature, with 

 Difquifitions of a peculiar kind, which to many Readers 

 might be offenfive ; fo that I think his works have been 

 confidered as calculated for the profeffional Man and Phi- 

 lofopher, rather than for general Perufal, and therefore 

 have remained in the Dutch and Latin Tongues. 



Be that as it may, when I firft read this Author's works, 

 I found in them fo many wonderful and entertaining dif- 

 coveries, with fo much ufeful information, that I confi- 

 dered, whether it was not pradicable to feparate thofe parts 



