194 COMPARISON OF 



truth may be eftabllflied, and errors may be de- 

 tedled, elpecially when the only objed of in- 

 quiry is to afcertain the genuine nature of thofe 

 moving bodies which appear in the feminal fluids 

 of all animals. 



In the month of November 1677, Leeuwen- 

 hoek, who had formerly communicated many 

 microfcopic obfervations to the Royal Society of 

 London, concerning the juices of plants, the 

 texture of trees, the optic nerve, rain water, &c. 

 writes to Lord Brouncker, prefident of the So- 

 ciety, in the following terms: ' Pc^ftquam * Exc. 



* Dominus Profeiior Cranen me vifitatione fua 

 ' faepius lionorarat, littcris rogavis Domino Ham 



* cognato fuo, qualdam obfervationum mearum 

 ' videndas darem. Hie Dominus Ham me fe- 



* cundo invifens, fecum in laguncula vitrea femen 

 ' viri, gonorrhoea laborantis, fponte dellillatum, 



* attulit, dicens, fe poft paucilTimas tem.poris mi- 



* niitas (cum materia ilia jam in tantum efTet 

 .^'refoluta ut fiftulae viireae immitti poifet) ani- 



* malcula viva in eo Qbffrvafle, quae caudam et 



* ultra 24 horas ncn viventia judicabat ; Idem 

 ^referebat fe animalcula obfervafTe niortua poft 

 ' fumptam ab aegroto therebintinam. Maieri- 



* am praedicatam fiilulae viireae immi(icim,prae- 

 ' fente Domino Ham, ohfcrvavi, quafdamque in 



* ea crcaturas vi rentes, ac poft decurfum 2 aur 3 

 ■ horarum eamdeni foius materiam obfervanfj 

 ^ monuas vidi. 



' EamdeiT. 



*' See Pliil. Trani^ No. i 41. p. 1041. 



