78 LEEUWENHOEK AND HIS “ LITTLE ANIMALS ”’ 
worth quoting. Writing to the Royal Society early in 1710 
Leeuwenhoek remarks ’*: 
I have received by the hands of Mr Stuart’ the six 
several T'ransactions, for which gift I am most deeply 
thankful, and wish I had the ability to do the Honourable 
Society some service in return. 
Mr Hans Sloane * recommended Mr Stuart to me, in his 
letter, as a curious Gentleman who has travelled through 
many countries ; and the same Gentleman had two other 
Scottish gentlemen in his company, all of whom I gladly 
received, and so will I do all those who have an introduc- 
tion from Mr Sloane. But if I should receive everyone 
who comes to my house, or tries to come, I should have 
no freedom at all, but be quite a slave. 
The second letter was written to James Petiver,* who 
unsuccessfully attempted to see Leeuwenhoek in 1711. The 
passage in question reads as follows’: 
* Translated from Letter dated 14 January 1710. MS.Roy.Soc. Original 
in Dutch. The rest of this letter, in English translation, appeared in Phil. 
Trans. (1709 [1710]), Vol. XXVI, No. 323, p. 444: not published in Dutch 
or Latin collective works. 
? Alexander Stuart, M.D.; born about 1673, and died in 1742. He was 
elected F.R.S. in 1714. As a young man he journeyed to the Far East as a 
ship’s surgeon. He entered the University of Leyden, being then 36 years 
old, on 14 Dec. 1709, and graduated M.D. there on 22 June 1711. After- 
wards he settled in London, where he attained a position of considerable 
eminence in the medical profession. For these and other biographical 
details about Stuart—who is not mentioned in the Dict. Nat. Biogr.—I am 
indebted to Dr W. Bulloch, F.R.S. 
* Sir Hans Sloane, M.D. (1660-1753): Secretary of the Royal Society 
from 1693 till 1712, and President from 1727 to 1741. His varied scientific 
and other activities are too well known to require further notice here. For 
his life see the Dict. Nat. Biogr. 
* James Petiver (1663 ?-1718), a London apothecary. He was elected 
F.BR.S. in 1695, and wrote much on plants, shells, and other subjects. His 
vast collections were purchased by Sloane, and incorporated in his own. 
His life will be found in the Dict. Nat. Biogr., where it is recorded that “ in 
1711 he went to Leyden, mainly to purchase Dr Hermann’s museum for 
Sloane’’. Cf. also Green (1914), who speaks highly of some of Petiver’s 
work. 
> Translated from Letter dated 18 August 1711. MS.Roy.Soc. Original 
