46 LEEUWENHOEK AND HIS “LITTLE ANIMALS”’ 
should write as we speak; and that’s a true familiar Letter 
which expresseth one’s Mind, as if he were discoursing with 
the Party to whom he writes in succinct and short Terms.” 
But whether serious scientific work should be published in so 
plain and unceremonious a fashion is, of course, debatable 
nowadays. 
Yet there can be no doubts in the mind of anyone who 
seriously studies his writings that Leeuwenhoek—as he so 
often tells us—worked entirely by himself. He received no 
help from contemporary microscopists, and was wholly 
inspired by his own inborn genius. Indeed, he disliked and 
resented interference, and distrusted the knowledge—and 
sometimes the purpose—of people who went to see him or 
who offered him advice: and for this he evidently had good 
reasons. Writing to Oldenburg as early as 1675 he 
remarked : * 
Your Excellency recommends me to make use of the 
services of other people, who are in a position to form a 
proper judgement of such things. Sir, I must say that 
there be few persons in this Town from whom I can get 
any help; and among those who can come to visit me 
from abroad, I have just lately had one who was much 
rather inclined to deck himself out with my feathers, 
than to offer me a helping hand. 
It was not until 1680, after Oldenburg had died and when 
he himself was in his 48th year, that Leeuwenhoek was 
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. As the date and other 
details are frequently given wrongly by biographers I must 
here briefly chronicle the relevant facts. For his election 
* Carbone (1930) has recently tried to show that L. was inspired by the 
Italian workers of his time. But Carbone’s only evidence for this is a 
letter (attributed by him to L.) which he has “discovered”? among the 
Magliabechi MSS. at Florence. It is certain, however, that this letter 
(dated 2 May 1692) was not written by Leeuwenhoek but by Leibniz. (It 
is in Latin, and unsigned: but it bears Leibniz’s seal, much internal 
evidence of his authorship, was written from Hanover, and had previously 
been published as an authentic Leibniz letter by Targioni-Tozzetti in 1746.) 
*From Letter 12. 14 August 1675. To Oldenburg. MS. Roy. Soc. 
Incompletely abstracted in English in Phil. Trans. (1675), Vol. X, No. 117, 
p. 380. Not published elsewhere. 
