Wrote letter of 1711-09-22 (AB 288) to Members of the Royal Society

Date:

September 22, 1711

Standard reference information

Leeuwenhoek's number:

187

Collected Letters number:

288

Collected Letters volume:

The original manuscript on fifteen quarto pages, written in another hand but signed by Leeuwenhoek, is preserved in London at the Royal Society (MS. 2091. L 4. 40).

Leeuwenhoek's summary

Leeuwenhoek's self-publications are the source for the summaries of his 165 letters self-published and thus self-numbered letters. This letter was not among them.

Of the letters from April 4, 1702 (AB 237) through June 10, 1712 (AB 294), those letters with scientific observations, including this one, were all addressed to members of the Royal Society and almost all of them were excerpted in Philosophical Transactions.

Reception in London

The letter was read in the meeting of the Royal Society of 8 November I7II O .S. (Royal Society, ]ournal Book Original, vol. II, p. 24 7).

A practically complete English translation of the letter was published in no. 333 of Philosophical Transactions, dated January, February and March 1712, pp. 398-415, with 5 figures.

The manuscript of the English translation on twenty-two folio pages, is preserved in London at the Royal Society (MS 2092, L.4-41).

Specimens and methods

Observations on various kinds of mites. On their reproduction, eggs, the hatching of larvae and the larvae themselves. Calculation of the size of an egg.

Hair of a honey-bee.

On larvae from dried fish, their hairs, and their metamorphosis into a full-grown animal.

Figures

5 figures in red chalk on a separate sheet.

Publication history

Related sources, especially Philosophical Transactions, and first editions only of Leeuwenhoek's volumes of letters. For later editions see Related events under Learn more.

Year	Author	Title
1665	various	Philosophical Transactions
1710	Leeuwenhoek, A. van	Additional Observations upon the Production of Mites, &c. In a Letter from Mr. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, F. R. S.
2014	Leeuwenhoek, A. van	Alle de Brieven. The Collected Letters. Volume 16

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Spontaneous generation

Related people:

Members of the Royal Society

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in the 1600's

Wrote letter of 1711-09-22 (AB 288) to Members of the Royal Society

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