LEEUWENHOEK’S NAME 303 
his name as “ Anthony van Leewenhoek’’—the w having dropped 
out of the surname, and an / and a y having crept into 
the first name. In old Dutch—as in modern English—it is 
quite usual to find “Anthony” spelled with an h. The 
objection to spelling Leeuwenhoek’s name thus is that he 
never—as far as | know—so spelled it himself.’ 
Authority might thus be found for a variety of spellings : 
and if importance were attached to the orthographical vagaries 
of Leeuwenhoek’s contemporaries, and of his interpreters and 
commentators down to the present day, any one of a long list of 
variant literal combinations might easily be advocated. I will 
merely note here that in the English versions of his epistles, 
published in the Philosophical T'ransactions, his surname is 
spelled in no less than 19 different ways. It appears as 
Leewenhoeck, Leeuwenhoeck, Leeuwenhoeek, Leewenhook, 
Lewenhoeck, Leeuwenhoek, Leuwenhook, lLeevvenhoeck, 
Leewenhoek, Leeuwenhoek, Leuwenhock, Leuwenhoeck, 
Leuvenhook, Lewenhoek, Lewuenhoek, Lewuenhoeck, 
Leewuenhoek, Leewnenhoek, and Leeuenhoek. Most of these 
spellings, however, are certainly due to misprints or mis- 
readings of his signature. 
It is further noteworthy that Leeuwenhoek’s name has 
suffered the most extraordinary mutations, mutilations, and 
perversions at the hands of foreigners. Germans, for example, 
commonly call him “Anton von Leuwenhoek ’”’—and_pro- 
nounce the name as though spelled thus in their own 
language; while to the French he is generally “ Antoine 
Leuwenhoeck ’’—if nothing worse. It is almost the rule, 
moreover, to find his name spelled in several different ways 
by the same writer—be he English, French, or German. 
Wrisbere (1765), for example, refers to Leeuwenhoek thrice— 
calling him (in Latin) ‘“ Loewenhoeckius,”’ “ Lavenochius,” 
and ‘‘ Loewenhoeck”’ on each several occasion. (Hxamples 
could easily be multiplied.) But perhaps the most remarkable 
transformations occur in Italian writings—even in those of 
his contemporaries and immediate followers. As instances I 
may cite Vallisneri, who usually called Leeuwenhoek 
“‘ Lewenoeckio ” but on at least one occasion *‘ Le Wenocchio ” ; 
" The name bestowed upon him at his baptism, however, was neither 
Antony nor Anthoni, but ‘‘Thonis.”’ (See Plate III.) 
