1884*] Half-Hours with the Old Naturalists. 
205 
imperative condition, would be favourably construed. 
Swammerdam was furious, and upbraided his old friend as 
an apostate. 
At last the death of his father, in 1677, put an end to his 
financial difficulties, though his sister and her husband 
secured the lion’s share of the inheritance. The family 
museum, when disposed of, fetched but a small fraction of 
its estimated value. 
The relief, however, came too late. Swammerdam’s 
health was hopelessly ruined by repeated attacks of ague 
and by the debility consequent upon overwork, and often 
insufficient diet adting upon a constitution feeble from the 
beginning. But even if his health had been preserved he 
would have been, thanks to the influence of Bourignon, lost 
to Science. He died in 1680, or, acccording to some 
authorities, in 1682. 
In endeavouring to judge of his position in the history of 
biological Science, we must not overlook the shortness of 
his career. Dying at the early age of 43, or at the longest 
estimate of 45, much of his time being wasted by sickness 
and the last six or seven years rendered a blank at the 
dictates of fanaticism, we can only wonder how he con- 
trived to crowd so many important discoveries into so narrow 
a span. 
He had in the highest degree all the attributes which 
mark the eminent observer. In delicate and subtile mani- 
pulation, in contriving new methods to meet every case, in 
acute and accurate perception, he has never been surpassed 
and rarely equalled. Above all he must be remembered for 
his untiring industry and perseverance. 
As a generaliser he was much less distinguished. His 
entomological classification, based essentially upon their 
development, and especially upon the peculiarities of their 
pupa state, had merely the value of bringing the so-called 
transformations of inserts into notice, and is now without 
any save a historical interest. His lack of a definite nomen- 
clature is a great drawback. Were it not for the figures in 
his “ Biblise Naturae” many of the species described could 
not be identified. 
His works contain a large admixture of teleological pas- 
sages, and generally speaking of moral reflections, much 
more dyspeptic than philosophic, and remarkable neither for 
depth of thought nor grace of expression. These medita- 
tions remind the reader irresistibly of the morals formerly 
“ tagged ” on at the conclusion of a dramatic work. 
Had he but possessed a vigorous constitution he would 
