Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Leeuwenhoek and the campaign against spontaneous generation

  • Published:
Journal of the History of Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. See Jacques Roger, Les Sciences de la vie dans la pensée française du XVIII e siècle: La Génération des animaux de Descartes à l'Encyclopédie, 2nd ed. (Paris: Armand Colin, 1971), pp. 207, 211–212, 216, 219–220, 223.

    Google Scholar 

  2. See Robert Boyle, The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. Epitomiz'd, ed. Richard Boulton (London: J. Phillips and J. Taylor, 1699–1700), I, 29, 31, 62.

    Google Scholar 

  3. George Garden, “A Discourse Concerning the Modern Theory of Generation,” Phil. Trans., 192 (January–February 1690–91), 447; John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation (London: Samuel Smith, 1691), pp. 33–34, 36–37, 217–218. See René Descartes, “La Description du corps humain” and “Primae cogitationes circa generationem animalium,” in Oeuvres, ed. Charles Adam and Paul Tannery (Paris: Léopold Cerf, 1897–1910), XI, [223]–290, [505]–538.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nicolaas Hartsoeker, Recueil de plusieurs pieces de physique (Utrecht: La veuve de G. Broedelet & fils, 1722), pp. 22, 216; “Extrait critique des lettres de feu M. Leeuwenhoek,” in Cours de physique (The Hague: Jean Swart, 1730), pp. 19–20; Jean Leclerc, Opera philosophica, 3rd ed. (Amsterdam: Joan. Ludov. de Lorme, 1704), IV, 52; John Wilkins, Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion (London: Printed by A. Maxwell for T. Basset, H. Brome, and R. Chiswell, 1675), pp. 83–84. See also Nicolas Malebranche, Entretiens sur la métaphysique et sur la religion, in Oeuvres complètes, ed. André Robinet (Paris: J. Vrin, 1958–1970), XII, 229.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe (London: Richard Royston, 1678), p. 148.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe (London: Richard Royston, 1678), p. 150; Descartes, “Primae cogitationes,” p. 524; Ray, The Wisdom of God, pp. 34–35; Hartsoeker, “Extrait critique,” pp. 19–20. See also Richard S. Westfall, Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1958), chap. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  7. See Johannes Goedaert, Metamorphosis naturalis (Middelburg: Jaques Fierens, [1662–69]), II, 272, 274–283; Athanasius Kircher, Scrutinium physicomedicum contagiosae luis, quae pestis dicitur (Rome: Typis Mascardi, 1658), pp. 38, 40; and Mundus subterraneus (Amsterdam: Joannes Janssonius & Elizeus Weyerstraten, 1665), II, 347.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Henry Oldenburg to Saporta, 28 June 1659 (N.S.), in Oldenburg, Correspondence, ed. and trans. A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall (Madison and Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press, 1965- ), I, 259. See Everett I. Mendelsohn, “Philosophical Biology vs Experimental Biology: Spontaneous Generation in the Seventeenth Century,” Actes, XII e Congrès International d'Histoire des Sciences, Paris 1968 (Paris: Albert Blanchard, 1971), IB, 201–229.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isaak Severinus, Boudewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), I, 171; II, 394, 432, 669, 708, 712, 713.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Francesco Redi, Experiments on the Generation of Insects, trans. Mab Bigelow (Chicago: Open Court, 1909; reprint ed., New York: Kraus, 1969), pp. 33–34.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Pieter Rabus, Boek. Europe, 9 (November–December 1969), 482; 3 (November–December 1693), 555.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hartsoeker, “Extrait critique,” p. 18.

  13. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to Antonio Magliabechi, 18 September 1691, in Leeuwenhoek, Alle de Brieven (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1939- ), VIII, 176–177, 184–185; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 276–279. This work will be cited hereafter as Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B.

    Google Scholar 

  14. See Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 15 August 1673, in Leeuwenhoek, Alle de Brieven (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1939- ), I, 42–43.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 11 February 1675, in Leeuwenhoek, Alle de Brieven (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1939- ),pp. 272–273. Leeuwenhoek commented very briefly only on his dissatisfaction with Redi's illustration of a louse.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 9 October 1676, in Leeuwenhoek, Alle de Brieven (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1939- ), II, 100–101.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Leeuwenhoek, Alle de Brieven (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1939- ), pp. 126–129. Leeuwenhoek to Constantijn Huygens, 7 November 1676, ibid., pp. 182–185.

    Google Scholar 

  18. In his letter to Constantijn Huygens, Leeuwenhoek also spoke of observing the unborn already alive within the adult vinegar eels, as did Christiaan Huygens two years later. (Christiaan Huygens, Oeuvres complètes, published by the Société Hollandaise des Sciences [The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1888–1950], XIII, 700.) Henry Baker, however, would later cite only Marcus Antonius Cellius' demonstration of the viviparity of vinegar eels in Rome in 1688. (Henry Baker, Employment for the Microscope [London: R. Dodsley, 1753], p. 250n.)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 9 October 1676, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 128–131.

  20. Leeuwenhoek to the Elector Palatine, 9 November 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg der Brieven (Delft: Henrik van Krooneveld, 1696), p. 166.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 5 October 1677, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 240–243. The passage is confusing. As in the case of the vinegar eels, Leeuwenhoek spoke of these nematodes found in the gut of a true eel as aeltgens, “little eels.” Still, to assume, as did the Royal Society (Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society of London [London: A. Miller, 1756–57; reprint ed., Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1968], III, 347) and apparently, more recently, H. F. Nierstrasz (Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, pp. 240n8, 241n4), that Leeuwenhoek, took the worms in the gut for young eels themselves is to suppose a surprising casualness or ignorance about the mechanisms of sexual generation, and on the very eve of Leeuwenhoek's encounter with spermatozoa. If he perceived them to be young eels, the observation would also have constituted a striking example of preformation, which we might expect to have elicited further comment by Leeuwenhoek even if at some later date. (Indeed, he would specifically reject a very similar idea about mice less than two years later; see below.) As noted in the continuation of the text above, Leeuwenhoek would long remain frustrated by his admitted inability to find the young within true eels, and in what seems to be a reference to the observation in question in later years, when he had finally discovered the true unborn young, he does clearly recall these nematodes as only worms. (Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 24 January 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg der Brieven [Delft: Henrik van Kroonevelt, 1694], p. 612.) Consequently, I believe that in reading this passage a distinction must be made between Palingh en Ael, on the one hand, and aeltge or aeltgens as wormkens, on the other—a distinction that is not always clear in the English translation in A.d.B. I take Leeuwenhoek to mean that he found new little unborn worms within the nematodes and considered a possible analogy between the nematodes and the true eels, the latter then also perhaps bearing their young within them.

  22. Aristotle, Historia animalium, VI, 17, 570a, 3–24.

  23. Leeuwenhoek to Antonio Magliabechi, 18 September 1691, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VIII, 176–177, 184–187; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 16 September 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, Derde Vervolg der Brieven (Delft: Henrik van Kroonevelt, 1693), pp. 521–522.

  24. Christopher Wren informed the Royal Society in 1677 that he had discovered the young within eels nearly twenty years before, although Leeuwenhoek understandably would have been unaware of this. Birch, History of the Royal Society, III, 347.

  25. See Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 5 October 1677, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 244–253.

  26. Jan Swammerdam, Historia insectorum generalis, ofte algemeene Verhandeling van de bloedeloose Dierkens (Utrecht: Meinardus van Dreunen, 1669), p. 74. However, see also Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure, I, 59.

    Google Scholar 

  27. See note 49.

  28. Leeuwenhoek to Nehemiah Grew, 21 February 1679, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 416–417.

  29. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isaak Severinus, Boudewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), I, 173; II, plate IX, figs. 7 and 8.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isaak Severinus, Boudewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), I, 36; II, 630, 707–708, 713.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isaak Severinus, Boudewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), II, 708–709; Redi, Experiments, pp. 116–117, 119.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Leeuwenhoek to Hans Sloane, 2 January 1700, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg der Brieven (Delft: Henrik van Krooneveld, 1702), p. 154; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 3 November 1703, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L3.54, fol. 253v ff; John Farley, The Spontaneous Generation Controversy from Descartes to Oparin (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977), pp. 18–21 and passim; Roger, Les Sciences de la vie, pp. 217–219.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Leeuwenhoek to Lambert van Velthuysen, 13 June 1679, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., III, 76–77. Concerning Leeuwenhoek's characterization of spontaneous generation as an animal coming from itself, see for instance Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, pp. 702, 726; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 10 July 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 77.

  34. See my article, “Images and Ideas: Leeuwenhoek's Perception of the Spermatozoa,” J. Hist. Biol., 16 (1983), 185–224.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Leeuwenhoek to Lambert van Velthuysen, 13 June 1679, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., III, 76–79.

  36. Leeuwenhoek to William Brouncker, November 1677, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 284–291; Leeuwenhoek to Nehemiah Grew, 25 April 1679, ibid., III, 8–21. See Ruestow, “Images and Ideas,” pp. 189–192, 199–200.

  37. Leeuwenhoek to William Brouncker, November 1677, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 292–297.

  38. Leeuwenhoek to Robert Hooke, 12 November 1680, ibid., III, 328–329.

  39. Ibid., pp. 324–325.

  40. See for instance Ulysses Aldrovandus, De animalibus insectis (Bologna: Ioan. Bapt. Bellagambam, 1602), pp. 205, 354; John Jonston, Historia naturalis de insectis, p. 92, bound with Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus libri I (Amsterdam: Ioannes Iacobus Fil. Schipper, 1657); [Johannes de Mey] and Johannes Goedaert, Métamorphoses naturelles (Amsterdam: George Gallet, 1700), III, 159.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Leeuwenhoek to Lambert van Velthuysen, 13 June 1679, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., III, 74–75.

  42. Leeuwenhoek to Lambert van Velthuysen, 11 July 1679, ibid., pp. 86–87.

  43. Leeuwenhoek to Thomas Gale, 14 June 1680, ibid., pp. 260–261.

  44. Ibid., pp. 260–267.

  45. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 14 May 1686, ibid., VI, 62–63. He had also occasionally opened and then resealed the tubes in the course of the experiment.

  46. See also ibid., pp. 48–71; Redi, Experiments, pp. 92 ff., 108–109. It is clear from his letter in May 1686 that when Leeuwenhoek began his own study of galls in the summer of 1685 he was still unaware of Redi's treatment of the subject; for Leeuwenhoek was surprised to find that oak galls were on the leaves and not a fruit, and he did not imagine that there was an insect inside until he had brought the galls home. (See pp. 48–51 in the May letter.)

  47. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 4–37.

  48. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 276–291, 296–311.

  49. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 15 October 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, pp. 537–549. (See also Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 15 June 1717, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven [Delft: Adriaan Beman, 1718], p. 375.) Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg der Brieven (Delft: Henrik van Krooneveld, 1697), pp. 197 ff.

  50. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 10 July 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, pp. 77–99.

  51. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 17 October 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 98–113; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 322–329; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 22 April 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 28; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 18 May 1695, ibid., p. 60. For a similar two-year study that he undertook in later years, see Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 22 September 1711, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L4.40, fols. 151v-154r.

  52. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, pp. 693–720; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 15 August 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 119; Leeuwenhoek to the Elector Palatine, 18 September 1695, ibid., p. 154.

  53. See above.

  54. Leeuwenhoek to Antonio Magliabechi, 18 September 1691, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VIII, 176, 184–185.

  55. According to F. J. Cole, Leeuwenhoek in fact studied the generation and life cycles of some twenty-six animal types. F. J. Cole, “Leeuwenhoek's Zoological Researches,” Ann. Sci., 2 (1937), 7.

  56. See for instance Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 17 October 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 102–103, 108–111, 116–117, 120–121; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 278–279, 296–297, 304–307, 318–319, 326–327; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 10 July 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 89; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 Frebruary 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, pp. 192, 202.

  57. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, pp. 197 ff. His obviously very tolerant wife was recruited as well to carry insect eggs in her bosom to keep them warm. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 11 July 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VI, 318–321.

  58. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 10 July 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 90.

  59. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 August 1695, ibid., pp. 134–135.

  60. See for instance Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 17 October 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 106–107; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 December 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 577; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 22 April 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde vervolg, p. 29; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 August 1695, ibid., p. 134; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 15 October 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 545; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, p. 203.

  61. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 22 September 1711, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L4.40, fols. 148v–150v, 153r; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 21 August 1714, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 108.

  62. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, p. 201.

  63. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 18–19; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 286–289; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 15 October 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 541; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, pp. 190, 198–199.

  64. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, pp. 26–29 and “table” I, figs. 3, 4.

  65. Leeuwenhoek to Christopher Wren, 22 January 1683, ibid., IV, pp. 20–23 and “table” II, fig. 2.

  66. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, pp. 191, 205–206, and plate facing p. 204.

  67. Leeuwenhoek to the Elector Palatine, 18 September 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 145. See also Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 December 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 577. Leeuwenhoek wrote in 1700 that he had investigated so much semen from various animals that he could not decide which to investigate again. (Leeuwenhoek to Hans Sloane, 15 June 1700, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, p. 222.) F. J. Cole states that Leeuwenhoek examined the spermatozoa of thirty animal types, including eleven arthropods, two mollusks, seven fish, one amphibian, two birds, and seven mammals. (F. J. Cole, “Leeuwenhoek's Zoological Researches,” p. 8.)

  68. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 12–13.

  69. See Cole, “Leeuwenhoek's Zoological Researches,” pp. 29–33; “History of Micro-Dissection,” Proc. Roy. Soc. ser. B, 138 (1951), 169–174.

  70. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isaak Severinus, Boudewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), I, 85, 171, 346; II, 432, 707–708, 713.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Leeuwenhoek to Richard Waller, 14 September 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 4; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 702.

  72. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isaak Severinus, Boudewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), II, 432.

    Google Scholar 

  73. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 18 May 1695, in Vijfde Vervolg, pp. 61–62.

  74. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 22 September 1711, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L4.40, fols. 147r, 151v; Leeuwenhoek to Antoni Cink, 24 October 1713, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, pp. 88–89.

  75. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 726; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 18 May 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 73. Regarding Leeuwenhoek's general wonderment over the eye of insects and other arthropods, see also Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 2 June 1700, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, p. 205. See also, on the eye of a snail, Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure, I, 106.

  76. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 9 May 1698, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, pp. 47, 51. See also Leeuwenhoek to Pieter Rabus, 30 November 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 7; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 726.

  77. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, p. 213; Leeuwenhoek to Hans Sloane, 26 October 1700, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, p. 293.

  78. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 18 May 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 72.

  79. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 24 June 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, Derde Vervolg, p. 474; Leeuwenhoek to Nicolaas Witsen, 8 March 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, p. 233; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VIII, 324–325; Leeuwenhoek to Antonie Heinsius, 1 May 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, pp. 39–40.

  80. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 24 June 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, Derde Vervolg, p. 473; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 December 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 584.

  81. Marcello Malpighi, “Dissertatio epistolica de bombyce,” in Opera omnia (London: Robertus Littlebury, 1687), I, 12; Jan Swammerdam, Ephemeri vita (Amsterdam: Abraham Wolfgang, 1675), p. 80. Leeuwenhoek did indeed note the spiral taenidia of the tracheae and a consequent similarity to the windpipe of larger animals; nonetheless, he specifically denied that the tracheae were respiratory vessels. Leeuwenhoek to Robert Hooke, 12 November 1680, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., III, 308–313, 326–327; Leeuwenhoek to Christopher Wren, 22 January 1683, ibid., IV, 22–23; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 17 October 1687, ibid., VII, 106–107; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 21 August 1714, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 105.

    Google Scholar 

  82. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 16 September 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, Derde Vervolg, p. 531; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 24 June 1692, ibid., p. 466.

  83. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 September 1688, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VIII, 20–57.

  84. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 11 July 1687, ibid., VI, 322–325; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 24 June 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, Derde Vervolg, pp. 463–465; Leeuwenhoek to Karl, Landgrave of Hessen-Cassel, 20 April 1702, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, p. 442.

  85. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 December 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 602.

  86. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 14 May 1686, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VI, 64–65.

  87. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 17 October 1687, ibid., VII, 112–113.

  88. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 696.

  89. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isack Severinus, Bowdewyn, Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), II, 394, 713; René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes (Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1734–42), I, 30–31.

    Google Scholar 

  90. Jan Swammerdam, Bybel der Natuure (Leiden: Isack Severinus, Bowdewyn Vander Aa, and Pieter Vander Aa, 1737–38), II, 669; John Ray, Synopsis methodica animalium quadrupedum et serpentini generis (London: S. Smith & B. Walford, 1693), p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  91. Leeuwenhoek to Antonio Magliabechi, 18 September 1691, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VIII, 176–177, 184–185.

  92. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, pp. 213–214; Jonston, Historia naturalis de insectis, p. 92. Jonston's work was translated as Beschrijving van de Natuur der Viervoetige Dieren, trans. M. Grausius (Amsterdam: I. I. Schipper, 1660).

  93. Leeuwenhoek to Robert Hooke, 3 March 1682, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., III, 396–397; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 13 June 1687, ibid., VI, 306–307; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 18 May 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 62; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 August 1695, ibid., p. 132; Leeuwenhoek to Nicolaas Witsen, 8 March 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, p. 235; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 2 June 1700, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, p. 201. Further examples occur in the following years.

  94. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 34–35. See also Leeuwenhoek to Antonio Magliabechi, 18 September 1691, ibid., VIII, 176, 184–185; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., pp. 328–330; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 23 June 1699, in Leeuwenhoek, Sevende Vervolg, p. 107.

  95. Leeuwenhoek to Antoni Cink, 24 October 1713, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 88.

  96. Leeuwenhoek to Lambert van Velthuysen, 11 July 1679, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., III, 86–87.

  97. The earliest reference to this idea by Leeuwenhoek that I have been able to locate occurs in his letter to the Royal Society, 13 July 1685, ibid., V, 246–247.

  98. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 328–330; Leeuwenhoek to the Elector Palatine, 18 September 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 154.

  99. Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 22 April 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 30. Filippo Buonanni had come to the defense of spontaneous generation in his Observationes circa viventia, quae in rebus non viventibus reperiuntur (Rome: Typis Dominici Antonij Herculis, 1691). Leeuwenhoek had apparently received a sketch of the contents from a correspondent. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 2 March 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, pp. 651–652; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, ibid., p. 693.

  100. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 4–9, 34–35. See also Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., VIII, 306–311.

  101. Leeuwenhoek to Antonio Magliabechi, 18 September 1691, ibid., VIII, 176–177, 184–185; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 7 March 1692, ibid., pp. 322–329; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 30 April 1694, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 729; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 22 April 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 28; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 22 September 1711, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L4.40, fols, 151v, 153v.

  102. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 15 August 1673, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., I, 42–43.

  103. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 17 October 1687, ibid., VII, 98–101; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 16 September 1692, in Leeuwenhoek, Derde Vervolg, p. 514; Leeuwenhoek to the Elector Palatine, 18 September 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Vijfde Vervolg, p. 155.

  104. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 December 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, p. 587; Leeuwenhoek to Frederik Adriaan, Baron van Reede, 20 February 1696, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, pp. 214–215; Leeuwenhoek to Antoni Cink, 24 October 1713, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, pp. 87–88. Kircher's Mundus subterraneus was translated into Dutch in 1682 as D'onder-aardse Weereld (Amsterdam: Erfgenamen van Wylen J. Janssonius van Wassberge), and Leeuwenhoek cites it on at least two occasions. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 15 October 1693, in Leeuwenhoek, Vierde Vervolg, pp. 569, 571; Leeuwenhoek to Antoni Cink, 24 October 1713, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 87.

  105. See Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 34–35; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 22 September 1711, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L4.40, 153v. Recall as well Leeuwenhoek's belief that he was being taunted behind his back because of his failure to discover an alternative to the spontaneous generation of eels.

  106. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 4 December 1674, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., I, 202–203; Leeuwenhoek to Constantijn Huygens, 26 December 1674, ibid., pp. 206–207; Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 9 October 1676, ibid., II, 142–143; Leeuwenhoek to Lambert van Velthuysen, 14 November 1679, ibid., III, 136–139.

  107. Constantijn Huygens to Christiaan Huygens, 13 August 1680, in Christiaan Huygens, Oeuvres complètes, published by the Société Hollandaise des Sciences (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1888–1950), VIII, 296. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 10 July 1686, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VI, 128–129; Leeuwenhoek to Hendrik van Bleyswyk, 28 December 1695, in Leeuwenhoek, Sesde Vervolg, p. 186; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 November 1717, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 453; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 25 December 1702, Leeuwenhoek Letters, Royal Society Library, London, EL.L3.47, fol. 205r.

    Google Scholar 

  108. Leeuwenhoek to Antonie Heinsius, 17 December 1712, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 22.

  109. Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 6 August 1687, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., VII, 34–35.

  110. Leeuwenhoek to Henry Oldenburg, 7 September 1674, ibid., I, 144–145; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 15 June 1717, in Leeuwenhoek, Send-Brieven, p. 372; Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, 20 November 1717, ibid., p. 453.

  111. Leeuwenhoek to Nehemiah Grew, 18 March 1678, in Leeuwenhoek, A.d.B., II, 340–341; Leeuwenhoek to Nehemiah Grew, 27 September 1678, ibid., pp. 390–391; Leeuwenhoek to Constantijn Huygens, 20 May 1679, ibid., III, 54–55; Leeuwenhoek to Robert Hooke, 3 March 1682, ibid., pp. 396–397.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, University of Colorado, 80309, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Edward G. Ruestow

Authors
  1. Edward G. Ruestow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ruestow, E.G. Leeuwenhoek and the campaign against spontaneous generation. J Hist Biol 17, 225–248 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00143733

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00143733

Keywords

Search

Navigation