ATTACKED BY AGUE. 129 



university. Here he highly distinguished himself 

 by his skill in anatomy, and the anxiety he dis- 

 played in the acquisition of every kind of know- 

 ledge relating to the physical sciences. He after- 

 wards visited Paris, with a view to prosecute his 

 studies there, and formed some valuable friendships 

 with men of kindred taste for science. Returning 

 to Ley den, he took the degree of M.D. in 1667, 

 and published his " Thesis on Respiration." At 

 this time he began to practise his invention for 

 injecting the arterial vessels with wax, variously 

 coloured ; a method from which anatomy has de- 

 rived very important advantages. While thus most 

 diligently occupied, he was attacked with a quartan 

 ague, which reduced him very low, and compelled 

 him to discontinue for a time all his engagements. 

 On his recovery he entirely relinquished the study 

 of the human anatomy, and devoted himself wholly 

 to the dissection of insects, in which he was singu- 

 larly dexterous. An opportunity now presented 

 itself, affording him the option of an advantageous 

 settlement. It is thus related by his biographer : 

 " In the year 1668 the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 

 being then in Holland with M. Thevenot in order 

 to see the curiosities of the country, came to view 

 those of Swammerdam, and surveyed them with 

 the greatest delight. On this occasion our natu- 

 ralist made some anatomical dissections of insects 



