A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



getting rid of them, such as using vinegar and hot 

 coffee. In doing this he little suspected that he was 

 anticipating modern antiseptic surgery by a century 

 and three-quarters, and to be attempting what anti- 

 septic surgery is now able to accomplish. For the 

 fundamental principle of antisepsis is the use of 

 medicines for ridding wounds of similar microscopic 

 organisms. Von Leeuwenhoek was only temporarily 

 successful in his attempts, however, and took occasion 

 to communicate his discovery to the Royal Society of 

 England, hoping that they would be "interested in 

 this novel ty." Probably they were, but not suf- 

 ficiently so for any member to pursue any protracted 

 investigations or reach any satisfactory conclusions, 

 and the whole matter was practically forgotten until 

 the middle of the nineteenth century. 



