MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 
23 
philosopliical investigations of Eedi and Swammer- 
dam, thougli at this time in progress, and even in 
part published, were as yet hut little laioivn. It is 
not, therefore, surprising that Madam Merian should 
occasionally have fallen into error, the more espe- 
cially as she seems to have been hut imperfectly 
acquainted even ■with the little that had been 
accomplished by her predecessors in the same field 
of labom'. 
After residing about fourteen years at Nuremberg, 
Madam Merian returned, in 1684, to Frankfort, 
along with her husband, who had again rejoined 
her some years previously. Not long after, how- 
ever, she left him, in company ndth her two daugh- 
ters, for the purpose of uniting themselves to a sect 
of religionists, named Labbadists, who had esta- 
blished themselves at Bosch, between Franeker and 
Leuwarden. These enthusuists were followers of 
the famous John Lahadie, a nath'e of Bourg in 
Guienne, who had renounced the doctrines of the 
church of Rome, and promulgated a set of opinions 
bearing some resemblance to those of the Quietists, 
but mingled with several peculiar notions of his 
oivn. His supposed sanctity and remarkable elo- 
quence had given him, notwithstanding the extra- 
vagance of some of his opinions, a great influence 
over many, particularly females, — a class of fol- 
lowers which Bayle affirms, significantly, he was 
always much more anxious to conciliate than the 
opposite sex. Besides Madam Merian, one of the 
most celebrated of 'his converts was Anna Maria 
