Secrets of Nature Discovered

BY ANTONIE van LEEUWENHOEK.

...[transparent] bubble, and filled it with six other smaller ones, all of which, being very soft and flexible, we might roll down from a slanted board.

From these observations, I have no doubt that some physicians will feel that it is not necessary for the heart or the liver to produce these blood globules blood globules Leeuwenhoek's name for red blood cells, which he was the first to describe accurately. At this time, the origins of blood were still a subject of great debate. (for I do not believe those who speak of the making of blood mean anything other than that matter which makes the blood red, which is what these globules are); rather, they can be produced everywhere within the blood vessels. For I am certain that as soon as the most subtle particles of our food or drink are turned into a watery substance through the continuous grinding of the stomach and intestines, and some of these are sent or pushed into very small blood vessels, they immediately become blood. Some of these then coagulate there into the aforementioned small particles, which make up a sixth part of a blood globule, and these six, having coagulated again, constitute a blood globule.

Besides the observations regarding the yeast original: "faecis", referring here to the dregs or sediment in the beer globules, I also attempted to observe the primary cause of the air bubbles which rose up in great numbers from the lower part of this beer original: "cerevisiae" and settled on its surface; but no matter what diligence I applied, I could not grasp their cause. For at one and the same time, I saw a great number of air bubbles arising from a blackish particle, a thousand times smaller than a grain of sand, and the individual bubbles came out of it faster than the pulses of our arteries repeat. When I first saw them emerging, they were of incredible smallness, and they increased in size until they reached the surface of the beer. I also saw air bubbles emerging where the glass was rough in some way, as well as from the middle of the liquid itself.

But what shall we say of the various air bubbles produced by "crab's eyes" crab's eyes These are actually "gastroliths," calcium-rich stones found in the stomachs of crayfish. In the 17th century, they were ground up and used in medicine to treat stomach acid, much like modern antacids. when they are placed in vinegar? In the same way, I recently saw with the help of the microscope, from a particle of a crab's eye, which was very...