DEDICATION.

...more widely known; and that you might judge it worthy that a small place be given to it in the most well-equipped Library of the most serene and powerful Prince,

I shall strike the stars with my lofty head.

original: "Sublimi feriam sidera vertice." This is a famous line from the Roman poet Horace (Odes 1.1.36), used here to express the great honor Leeuwenhoek feels at having his work placed in the grand ducal library.

It will indeed be—it will be abundantly satisfying to me—if by chance I have achieved this through my labors: that some, being better instructed, might finally set aside that all-too-common and prejudiced opinion about the birth of animals from rot original: "ex putrore." This refers to "spontaneous generation," the then-popular belief that small creatures like maggots or microbes simply popped into existence from decaying matter. Leeuwenhoek was a primary figure in proving that all life comes from "seeds" or eggs. (than which nothing is more foolish, and nothing is less in harmony with Nature), and bid farewell to the delusions of old wives' tales.

Farewell, illustrious and magnificent Man.

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