Experiments & Contemplations

I believe, however, that when that Gentleman calls them "living things brought back to life," he means nothing other than the worms or mites that are commonly seen in spoiled meat, which come from the eggs of flies, and which are large enough that a very good microscope is not needed to see them.

To the most Illustrious and Learned Gentleman, Robert Hooke.

ANTONIE van LEEUWENHOEK sends fondest greetings. original: "S. P. D.," an abbreviation for "Salutem Plurimam Dicit," a formal Latin greeting.

MOST LEARNED SIR,

After my observations of the dregs of beer yeast original: "cerevisiæ fæcem" and my considerations of the globules of blood, I also turned my attention to the dregs of wine (Wine-mother) Leeuwenhoek uses the Dutch term "Wijn-moer," referring to the sediment or lees found in wine barrels. which is brought in large quantities in barrels from Germany. I saw that it also consists of globules, and these in turn consist of joined globules. Since this observation could not be properly made unless the wine dregs were placed in water so that the particles might be separated from one another, I discovered that the globules of which wine dregs consist are very irregular; some consisted of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, and many of 6 globules, while others consisted of almost countless globules. Seeing this, I imagined that every "perfect" particle of wine dregs must necessarily consist of six globules; for if we prepare six globules for ourselves and join them together, as we described in the previous letter in Figure 1, and present one of these six globules to the eye...