340 LEEUWENHOEK AND HIS “LITTLE ANIMALS” 
vation of its antiquities—realized that something ought to be 
done to commemorate Leeuwenhoek in the place of his birth, 
residence, and death. They therefore instituted a competition 
in which artists were invited to submit designs for a suitable 
memorial. ‘The winning entry was duly accepted and erected 
—a bronze shield,’ showing a bas-relief bust of Leeuwenhoek 
(modelled on Verkolje’s portrait) with a Dutch inscription, 
executed and signed by J.C. Schultsz. It is still stuck on the 
railings surrounding the school playground, where it was 
affixed in 1909. Apart from his tomb, this is still the only 
monument to Leeuwenhoek in Delft. 
But more recent research into the town archives—made 
by a later and more critical archivist, the late Mr L. G. N. 
Bouricius—has proved that Leeuwenhoek never lived on the 
spot where his modern bronze effigy with its false inscription 
now hangs. His real residence was in a neighbouring street 
—the Hippolytusbuurt—and has long since vanished without 
trace. Consequently, all the belated local endeavours to 
commemorate Leeuwenhoek have been futile. It is certain 
that he never lived on the spot where the delegates were 
thrilled in 1875, and where his memorial now incongruously 
stands: nor did he make the supposed discoveries in the year 
therein alleged. His own house—where he lived and laboured 
and died—was in a different street, and has long since been 
destroyed by his forgetful fellow-townsmen. ‘The railings 
adorning another man’s doorstep—now preserved in the 
Municipal Museum of Delft—are a worthless object which 
would surely have excited his derision. 
Before the celebrations of 1875 were held in Delft, invita- 
tions were issued by the organizing committee to every body 
and everybody likely to be interested. Yet England—almost 
alone—made no response. The Royal Society, indeed, not 
only sent no delegate, but even failed to acknowledge their 
invitation: and England and London and the Royal Society 
thus placed themselves—to quote Harting (1876)—“on a 
level with Spain and Portugal and Greece.” We ought, 
undoubtedly, to have taken some part in commemorating 
Leeuwenhoek’s discoveries, with which we were so intimately 
concerned: yet our disgrace is now, perhaps, mitigated by 
1 Figured in the anonymous article in the Wereldkroniek (1909). A 
plaster cast is also preserved in the Museum at Delft. 
