a3 
200 LEEUWENHOEK AND HIS “‘ LITTLE ANIMALS ”’ 
the course of his letter he gave some further details concerning 
the animalcules in pepper-water. His words are as follows: * 
Some days ago I once more poured water upon some 
pounded pepper; and a few days later, I saw, among 
others, two kinds of animalcules’ in it; and moreover, 
there seemed to be big and little ones of either sort,’ so 
that methought the big ones were full-grown, and the 
little ones their young; and at the same time I imagined 
that in the biggest sort of these animalcules I could see 
the young, or maybe their eggs, inside their bodies. And 
I imagined, besides, whenever I saw two little animals 
entangled together, either swimming or lying still, that 
they were a-copulating. 
* Whereas I suffer many contradictions, and oft-times 
hear it said that I do but tell fairy-tales about the little 
animals, and that there are people in France who do not 
scruple to say that those are not living creatures which I 
exhibit, and that if such water be boiled, the particles 
which one imagines to be animals still continue to move ; 
yet notwithstanding, I have demonstrated the contrary 
" From Letter 33. 12 November 1680. To R. Hooke. MS.Roy.Soc. 
Printed in Brieven, Vol. I (Dutch), and Opera Omnia, Vol. II (Latin). An 
incomplete English translation was published in Phil. Collect. of R. Hooke 
(1681), No. 3, pp. 51-58. The whole letter was first published in Dutch in 
1684 (Ondervindingen en Beschouwingen, etc. pp. 1-32): while the full Latin 
version appeared in 1695 (Arc. Nat. Det.)—It should be noted that in the 
earlier part of this letter—not here translated—L. casually mentions that 
he “ saw some little animalecules swimming” (p. 8, Dutch printed version) 
among various © globules’? which he found in rain-water that he had put in 
a special piece of apparatus. They were probably protozoa or bacteria; but 
as no further mention is made of them, they are not identifiable. 
* Evidently ciliates. 
° dat yder soorte groter en kleynder haar vertoonde printed version (1684) 
dat ijder in sijn soort bestonden uijt groote en kleijne dierkens MS. (1680). 
‘ Probably a misinterpretation of the inclusions in food-vacuoles. 
° The lines following, as far as the calculations on p. 203, have been 
translated by Hoole (1798) in his Introduction, pp.iv-vi. His rendering is 
faithful in substance, though not always in diction. In translating L. he 
allowed himself more latitude than I have done. 
