THE ENVOY 379 
Ledermiiller,’ a lawyer and amateur microscopist: thirdly, the 
physician Wrisberg°— better known as an anatomist and 
obstetrician—who published a dissertation on ‘“ Animalcula 
Infusoria” in 1765. The work of Ledermiiller (1760-1765) is 
really almost negligible, so far as the Protozoa are concerned. 
It is chiefly remarkable for being constantly misquoted as the 
first publication in which the indefinite term “ Infusoria ” was 
employed*: but so far as I have been able to discover, the 
word occurs nowhere in Ledermiiller’s long-winded writings. 
It was really first used, I believe, by Wrisberg in the booklet 
just mentioned, which—though always cited as a classic— 
contains little of protozoological importance or novelty. 
The much-quoted English works of Adams* (1746) and 
Baker ° (1742, 1743, 1753, etc.) are of no account. Both were 
copyists and compilers, who drew largely upon Leeuwenhoek’s 
publications for their own purposes. Baker’s books, however, 
enjoyed a great vogue among the amateurs of his day, and 
were translated into several foreign languages. In the opinion 
of Harting (1876)—which seems well founded—the Dutch 
translations of his popular works on the microscope were, 
indeed, responsible for a sudden revival of interest in Leeuwen- 
hoek in Holland: for it is a singular fact that on his death 
Leeuwenhoek was not only almost immediately forgotten by 
the learned world but even by his own countrymen, and the 
memory of his achievements has therefore undergone periodic 
-resuscitations both at home and abroad. 
The latter half of the XVIII Century was enlivened by 
the classical controversy between Spallanzani® and Needham 
— 
1 Martin Frobenius Ledermiiller (1719-1769). For his life see the 
recent sketches by Willnau (1921, 1926). 
* Heinrich August Wrisberg (1739-1808). His life will be found in the 
Allg. Dtsch. Biogr. and Hirsch’s Lexikon. 
* Biitschli—usually so accurate—appears to be responsible for the origin 
of this erroneous statement. Ledermiiller actually spoke only of “infusion 
animalcules”’ in the vernacular (“Infussions Thierlein”; op. cit. Vol. I, 
p. 88). 
* George Adams, the elder (?-1773) : mathematical instrument-maker to 
George III. See Dict. Nat. Biogr. 
° Henry Baker, F.R.S. See note 1 on p. 318 supra. 
° The Abate Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799)—too great and famous an 
ornament of Italian science to require annotation here. (But the reader 
may consult with profit the recent note by Bulloch, 1922.) 
