136 
ILLNESS OF SWAMMERDAM. 
A Frenchman rescued from the hands of the Inquisition the last 
manuscripts of Galileo. A Frenchman also—Thevenot—supported 
Swammerdam with his purse and credit. He was desirous of estab¬ 
lishing him at Paris. On the other hand, the Grand-Duke of Tuscany 
invited him to Florence. But the fate of Galileo was too strong a 
warning. Even in France there was little safety. The mystic Morin 
was burned at Paris in 1664; the very year in which Moliere performed 
the first acts of his “ Tartuffe.” Swammerdam, who was then residing 
there, might have been present at both spectacles. 
He himself, notwithstanding his positivism, showed very singular 
tendencies towards mysticism. The more deeply he entered into 
details, the more eagerly did he long to reascend to the general source 
of love and life; an impotent effort which consumed him. Already, 
at the age of thirty-two, excessive toil, chagrin, and religious melan¬ 
choly had brought him almost to the grave. From his early years he 
had suffered from the fevers so common in Holland, that land of swamp 
and morass, and had not paid due attention to them. He studied 
with his microscope every day from dawn till noon; the remainder 
of the day he wrote. And for his studies he preferred the summer 
days, with their strong light and burning sunshine. Then he would 
remain, with his head bare that he might not lose the smallest ray, 
frequently until deluged and bathed in sweat. His eyesight grew 
very weak. 
He was already in a feeble condition when, in 1669, he published in 
a preliminary essay the principle of the metamorphosis of insects. He 
was sure of being immortal; but so much the more in danger of dying 
of hunger. His father thenceforth withdrew from him all assistance. 
Swammerdam by his discoveries (as of the lymphatic vessels and 
hernias) had very considerably promoted the progress of medicine, and 
even of surgery; but he was not a physician. From a spirit of 
obedience he had attempted to practise: he could not continue, and 
fell ill. He was now without a home. His father shut up his house, 
retired to live with his son-in-law, and bade Swammerdam provide for 
himself, and lodge where he would. A wealthy friend had often 
solicited him to reside with him. When expelled from the paternal 
