( x6x4, ) 
I. A Letter from Mr Antony Van Lcewnenhoek, 
F. ^ S concerning Cochineel. 
Delft m Holland, March 21, 1704. 
A Merchant of Jmjierdam writ me a very obliging 
Letter of the 7th ult. wherein he takes notice, that 
he ha^ perus'd my obfervations about Cochineel, and en- 
treats me in very civil term% that I would plcafe to read 
his Remarks alfo, (which he has divided into feven parts) 
upon the fame fubjeft : I fliall not rehearfe them all to 
you, becaufe it would take me up too much time, but on- 
ly a few of the moft confiderable Points. 
The faid Gentleman affirms, that it ii impofEble, and 
altogether incrediblj, that the Drug calfd Cochineel 
fliould be (as I haveafferted) Flies, or any fort of Ani^ 
mal endued with Wings Head or Feet 5 not only if we 
confider the vaft number of em brought in every Fleet 
from America for you'll find that two of the biggefl: of 
thefe Particles, eight of the middling fort, and twenty 
of the fmalleft do hardly weigh a gold Grain, fo that in 
a pound of em, at a Medium of great and froall, one 
mayeount 102400 Particles 5 now in a Fleet that brings 
20C000 Pounds of this Drug, what an infinite number of 
Animals rauft there be ? 
Befides, fays he, where can you find Men enough, 
who.at the proper time of the year (hall catch thefe In- 
fers, and difmember every individual by pulling off its 
Head, Legs and Wings, &c- Co that upon the whole mat- 
ter he concludes, that Cochineel muft needs be a Fruit, or 
the Excrefcence of fomekind of Plant.- 
Tho 
