JOHN SWAMMERDAM. 



133 



cerns. At length, on the 25th January 1670, when he 

 perceived his end approaching, he wrote his will, leav- 

 ing to Thevenot all his original manuscripts on the 

 history of bees, butterflies, and anatomy, with 52 

 plates ; all of which were at that time in the house 

 of Herman Wigendorp in Leyden, to whom they had 

 been delivered to be translated into Latin. He be- 

 queathed his property to Margaret Volckers, wife of 

 Daniel dt Hoest, appointing her and Christopher 

 Wyland his executors. The remainder of his time 

 he spent in devotion, and died on the 17th February. 

 It was some years before Thevenot obtained pos- 

 session of the manuscripts, and after his death they 

 passed into various hands, but were bought in 1 727 

 by the illustrious Boerhaave, who arranged and 

 published them in two folio volumes, prefixing a 

 life of the author, from which we have drawn the 

 materials of this notice. 



The learned editor gives an interesting account of 

 the instruments and expedients employed by Swam- 

 merdam in dissecting insects and other minute ani- 

 mals. When the anatomical preparations, insects, 

 and apparatus, were offered for sale, no purchaser 

 could be found, and the collection was subsequently 

 dispersed. The manuscripts and drawings of the 

 Biblia Naturae were deposited by Boerhaave in the 

 library of the University of Leyden. 



The works of Swammerdam contain more ori- 

 ginal and accurate observations than those of any 

 naturalist who preceded him, excepting Aristotle. 

 He refuted numerous errors committed by his pre- 

 decessors, and carried his observations to a degree of 

 minuteness and accuracy truly astonishing ; but it is 

 not a little surprising that he succeeded less in de- 



