ANOTHER MARTYR TO SCIENCE. 135 



in an unbroken silence. Agonised with " constant 

 and uninterrupted pains," this excellent man who 

 must undoubtedly be ranked among the numerous 

 martyrs to science expired at the early age of 

 forty-four. Shortly before his decease, he earnestly 

 recommended that his treatise on Bees should be 

 published in Dutch as well as Latin, as displaying 

 the wisdom and power of God in so particular a 

 manner ; and how much his pious soul was set 

 upon glorifying the mighty Creator, whose works 

 had afforded him such delight, is perceptible 

 throughout all the pages of this \vork. His MSS. 

 and plates he bequeathed to M. Thevenot ; and 

 after passing through several hands, they were 

 purchased in 1727 by Boerhaave, who lost no time 

 in giving them to the world. They form the well- 

 known work entitled " Swammerdam's Book of Na- 

 ture," to which the illustrious editor has prefixed 

 the Memoir from which this sketch is made. He 

 has given, at the close of it, a curious and interest- 

 ing account of the instruments employed by Swam- 

 merdam to perfect his beautiful discoveries, which, 

 I am persuaded, will interest the reader. " For 

 dissecting very minute subjects, he had a brass 

 table made on purpose, to which w r ere fastened 

 two brass arms, moveable at pleasure to any part 

 of it ; and the upper portions of these arms were 

 likewise so contrived as to be susceptible of a 



