24 
MEJrOIH OP 
Schunnan, of Utrecht, whose extcnsire learning 
causes her to he ranked among the ornaments of 
the seventeenth century. Some of his tenets were 
not unlike those of the well knomi Antonia Bou- 
rignon, who flourished at the same period and in 
the same coimtry, whose partiality in the choice of 
votaries seems to have inclined in an opposite direc- 
tion from that of her cotempormy; at lefut if we 
may judge finm the influence she acquired over the 
distinguished Jolm Swammerdam, in whose mind 
her fanaticism found a ready reception, after it had 
lapsed into a state of gloom and hypochondriasm 
brought on by excessive study. Madam Merian’s 
zeal, however, never appears to have reached such 
a height as to unfit her for attending to the ordinary 
duties of life, as was unfortunately the case in the 
instance just referred to. On the contrary, she 
availed herself of the opportunity, while at Bosch, 
of examining the rich cabinet of insects in the pos- 
session of M. Somraerdyck, wliich rekindled all her 
zeal for the study of that branch of natural history. 
She likewise went to Amsterdam, and visited the 
different museums in that city, talcing every means 
in her power to extend hgr acquaintance ivith the 
subject. She mentions, in particular, the gratifica- 
tion and instiTiction she received from the collections 
of Nicolas Witsen, director of the East India Com- 
pany, and those of Dr. Frederic Ruisch mid Levin 
Vincent. It appears to have been the admiration 
excited by a \dew of the many splendid productions 
of tropical America, preserved in these cabinets. 
