Saturday, January 11, 2025

My favorite of van Leeuwenhoek's letters, with a surprise ending

"Concerning the Worms in Sheeps Livers, Gnats, and Animalcula in the Excrements of Frogs" (van Leeuwenhoek, 1700)

In this letter, he describes finding microscopic life in frog poop. I especially like the surprise ending in the last 3 paragraphs – starting, "On the fifth day the Frog had dung'd again...." Scientific papers never end the way this one did.

Google Doodle from van Leeuwenhoek's 384th birthday