MEMOIR OF SWAMMERDAM. 19 



dam, for the more convenient prosecution of his 

 business, which was that of a timber merchant, he 

 obtained" the surname of Swammerdam from his 

 native place, according to a practice which was very 

 prevalent in Holland about that period. His only 

 son, John James Swammerdam, the father of the 

 subject of this memoir, was born at Amsterdam in 

 the year 1606, and was brought up to the profession 

 of an apothecary. This he seems to have exercised 

 with sufficient success to enable him to devote a con- 

 siderable portion, both of time and money, to the 

 study of natural history, for which he had a strong 

 partiality. This propensity led him to collect natural 

 objects from all quarters, and the extensive commerce 

 of the Dutch afforded great facilities, at that time, 

 for accomplishing such a purpose. He amassed an 

 extensive assortment of different animals, among 

 which insects occupied the most prominent place, 

 and likewise many plants and fossils, all which he 

 arranged with great care, according to the crude 

 notions which then prevailed respecting their dif- 

 ferences or relations to each other. This collec- 

 tion, which likewise contained a great variety of 

 miscellaneous curiosities, Chinese porcelain, articles 

 of vertu, &c., became so celebrated, that strangers 

 visiting the city were accustomed to resort to it, as 

 one of the spectacles deserving of their attention. 

 Such was the owner's estimate of its value, that he 

 considered it worth sixty thousand florins. 



The distinguished physiologist, of whom it is our 

 purpose more particularly to speak, was the son of 



