136 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



and very amiable, he at one time quite gave up his 

 work under the influence of a remarkable woman, 

 Antoinette Bourignon. She was a wealthy, well- 

 educated person, extremely plain, and who believed 

 that a mission had been given her to preach 

 according to her own fancies, and not in accord- 

 ance with the general doctrines of the age. She 

 seems to have stimulated Swammerdam to lead a 

 purely religious life, and to give up his studies. It 

 was the age of sects and of intolerance; and 

 possibly the disagreeable reception which this 

 certainly very good woman met with, made the 

 man care more about her peculiar tenets. He 

 began, seriously, to try and sell his collections, 

 made catalogues of his possessions, and corre- 

 sponded with Antoinette. While various negotia- 

 tions were pending, Swammerdam published the 

 results of his ten years' labour and the " Anatomy 

 of the Day Fly," a great work, and his best. Then 

 he went on a journey into Denmark to use his in- 

 fluence with the king in order to get Antoinette a 

 home in that kingdom, the Lutherans of Holland 

 having ordered her to leave their country. He was 

 not successful ; and probably this affair made a 

 great commotion at home. On Swammerdam's 

 return, his father, enraged at him for his utter 

 carelessness about earning money and his want of 

 application to business, determined to allow him 

 only a small sum of money to live upon. He was 

 in utter despair, for this prevented his following his 

 wish to lead, for the future, a life of meditation and 



