122 Transactions of the Societij. 



<lead. He did not confine himself to any special cell or cells ; his 

 aim was what was called in his time Natural Knowledge, and he 

 made no deductions from abstract considerations which he knew 

 would be fruitless. Leeuwenhoek's mind was creative in the 

 highest degree, and his energy of enquiry was of lifelong endur- 

 ance. He had that most valuable power of estimating what was 

 worth doing and what could be done ; and this probably depended 

 iipon his training in his early years, of which years it is a pity 

 that we know so little. We know that he was not over-taught or 

 over-strained, and that in his years of work, he worked with use- 

 fulness and duty in front of him rather than notoriety. The facts 

 he collected all constituted answers to questions, they were not 

 merely something new ; and in collecting facts he always followed 

 principles in his collecting, and thereupon vivid suggestions arose 

 in him which he pursued ardently ; hence the living interest there 

 is still in his work. And there is no guessing in his work ; his 

 language expresses only the ascertained truth of his knowledge ; 

 and it would be a good deal better for our Science to-day, if our 

 language always did the same. There would be far less rubbish to 

 sweep away at the beginning of one's work on any subject. What 

 is called " original research " is so fascinating that papers are 

 shovelled into Societies and Journals nowadays in such enormous 

 undigested heaps, that one's spirit of enquiry is choked, and instead 

 of clarity there is nothing but confusion. His instruments were 

 poor indeed from our modern point of view, but he is not the best 

 soldier who carries the largest weapons, rather he who can wield 

 his weapon best ; so that the person who possesses the greatest 

 amount of " brass and glass " is not necessarily the best micro- 

 scopist. It is better to be like Leeuwenhoek, who used the Micro- 

 scope rather to educate and quicken his eye than to replace it. 

 Think how many of us, or rather, how many there are, who use 

 their Microscopes badly, unscientifically ! But Leeuwenlioek's own 

 made instrument, poor as it was, gave him a chance, which he 

 used to the uttermost, of discovering new worlds of life, of solving 

 certain problems of structure, and with these, also, certain problems 

 of function. 



Leeuwenhoek was born at Delft, on the 24th of October, 1632, 

 of probably not very poor parents, belonging to a good Delft family. 

 His grand- and great-grandfathers were brewers, and his grand- 

 ' mother the daughter of one ; his motlier was the daughter of Jacob 

 van den Burgh, who was a member of the Town Council and later 

 Sheriff. He was one of four children, having had three sisters. 

 He was sent to school, first to Warmond and then to Benthuizeu, 

 a straggling village, under the care of an uncle who had an ap- 

 pointment there. He could not have had a very good education, 

 as he knew no Latin, which was at that time in common use 

 amongst educated people ; and as he had worlds to conquer, he 



