put forward the theory of the crystalline lens of the eye 

 throwing an image on the back of the eye, the retina. 

 He supposed that the lens moved backwards and forwards 

 in focussing. 



The earliest illustration of a simple microscope is 

 given by Descartes, 1637, and is similar to one devised 

 by Lieberkuhn a century later. This consists of a lens 

 set in a concave polished metal reflector. It was shown 

 at the last meeting of our Society. I now come to one 

 who has aptly been described as the father of histology. 



ANTONIUS LEEUWENHOEK (1G32-1723). He 

 had no title to be called doctor, nor did he claim one. 



Dr. Carpenter, in the Ency. Brit., thought he was 

 an optician, or maker of lenses. Dr. Benjamin W. 

 Richardson proves this theory to be wrong, for his com- 

 mission as Beadle or Chamberlain to the Sheriff at Delft 

 is still in existence. The salary was £26 a year. The 

 duties were " to open and shut the door of the chamber, 

 to show honour and respect to the Councillors, to keep 

 the chamber clean, to make the fires, and to do all that 

 a good and faithful chamberlain should do." He held 

 the post thirty-nine years. 



Not the sort of man to make original discoveries; 

 yet Peter the Great, Boerhaave and Bidloo called upon 

 him to inspect his microscopes. 



These instruments were all made with his own hands, 

 even to the grinding of the lenses. An illustration of his 

 microscope is figured in his opera. He bequeathed- 

 twenty-six microscopes, in a small cabinet, to the Royal 

 Society. These are now lost. 



He demonstrated the circulation of the blood in the 

 rabbit's ear, the bat's wing, the tadpole and the frog; 

 described the structure of bone, and explained the fibrous 



