Jl Sketch of the |ife of John 



T would be difficult to find a more devoted 

 enthusiast in the pursuit of natural history 

 than Swammerdam. To the celebrated 

 Boerhaave we are indebted for an interest- 

 ing life of this distinguished anatomist and physio- 

 logist, who was among the first scientific men who 

 applied the microscope to the examination of the 

 minuter parts of the animal structure, and whose 

 consummate skill and indefatigable perseverance 

 effected many important discoveries. 



He was the son of John James Swammerdam 

 and Barentje Corver, and was born at Amsterdam 

 on the 12th February 1637. His father obtained 

 his name from the place of his birth, a village on 

 the Khine, and it continued to be applied to his 

 descendants ever after. He followed the trade of 

 an. apothecary, and was very fond of natural history, 

 and we are told was well skilled in several branches 



