The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. iii 
After this our author made a journey into France, where he fpent fome 
time at Saumur, in the houfe of Tanaquil Faber, and made a variety of obfer- 
vations upon infe@ts, It was there, that on the nineteenth of June m DCLXIV, he 
difcovered, by means of very flender tubes, the valves of the lymphatic vefiels, 
which he immediately fent, on the twenty-eighth, delineated with his own hand, 
to his friend Steno, who he then thought refided at Copenhagen. See his 
treatife on Refpiration, page go, gt. He afterwards wrote to Thevenot on 
the twenty-fourth of September in the year following, that perhaps the 
famous Frederick Ruyth might have feen thofe paintings before he publifhed 
his own on the fame fubje@: this he mentioned to Thevenot, on occafion of 
his fending him from Paris to Amfterdam, the little treatife on thofe valves 
which Ruyfh publifhed the fame year at the Hague. But Swammerdam 
barely hinted this, without directly charging Ruyth with plagiarifm, which 
he owns it is impoffible for him to prove; on the contrary, he exprefies a 
great deal of affection for his rival in this difcovery, and fays, he is fincerely 
rejoiced at his having the honour of it. And no doubt Swammerdam did 
no more than juftice to Ruyth’s merit on this occafion, as this laft, long 
before the edition of his book, had fhewed thefe valves\to others, and even 
to Bils. But the letters direéted to Steno at Copenhagen, could not reach 
his hands in Holland, where he then refided, but very late; and if Ruyth had 
{een them, how could he have had the affurance to publith the drawings taken 
notice of, without mentioning Swammerdam, who was then living, and even 
on the fpot. Among other things, our author, during his ftay in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Loire, obferved and defcribed the flying infect called Libella 
or Dragon Fly, and likewife fome Hemerobia or Day Flies. From Saumur 
he went to Paris, where he lived in the fame houfe, and in the ereateft 
friendfhip with Steno. He likewife contracted an intimacy with Melchifedec 
‘Thevenot, a very worthy gentleman, and formerly the French king’s minifter 
at Genoa, who moft hofpitably received and entertained him and Steno at 
his pleafant country feat of Yf—i, at a few miles diftance from Paris, and 
thereby afforded our author an opportunity of making further obfervations 
upon the infect creation. Not fatisfied with this piece of politenefs, he in 
confideration of Swammerdam’s fingular abilities, and the great pains he 
had taken to cultivate them, made him a moft liberal offer of every thing 
he thought requifite to promote his ftudies. Our author ever retained a 
grateful memory of thofe favours, and others which he afterwards from time 
to time conftantly received from this great refpecter of merit; and a little 
before his death owns in one of his letters, that he had never found in any 
other perfon, fo true, faithful, and fure a friend. Thevenot introduced his 
gueft to a great many other gentlemen, who met frequently at his houfe with 
a view of cultivating the arts and {ciences; but in all their affemblies our 
author continued for a long time, notwithftanding all the company’s entreaties, 
a filent auditor only, till his modefty being at laft overcome by repeated 
importunities, he found himfelf obliged to give one and then another 
{pecimen of his manner of diffeéting infeéts, and of fhewing their inward 
parts; by which he gained great applaufe, as by his tacit {kill he effectually 
filenced the talkative ignorance of others. ‘Fhevenot, moreover, {trenuoufly 
recommended our author’s fkill to that great man Conrad Van Beuningen, 
a fenator and burgomafter of Amfterdam, and at that time that republick’s 
minifter at the court of France; who obtained leave for Swammerdam 
at his return home, to difle@ the bodies of fuch patients as fhould 
happen to die in the hofpital of that city: and our author improved 
himfelf 
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