Vessels in male sperm
Date
31 May 1678
Creator
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p9a
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 153mm
width (page): 196mm
width (page): 196mm
Subject
Description
In a letter from Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to Nehemiah Grew.
Observations of vessels in the male sperm of a dog. Drawn by Van Leeuwenhoek himself.
Observations of vessels in the male sperm of a dog. Drawn by Van Leeuwenhoek himself.
Transcription
en nademael ick de teeckenkonst niet en versta, soo wil ik echter hoopen, dat Uedele sal connen sien, hoe de vaaten, over en door malcanderen loppen.
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
'For the benefit of the Royal Society I have made several drawings of the vessels in male sperm, four of which I am sending+ to you [...]. As I am not an expert at drawing, I hope you will be able+ to see how these vessels cross each other.' (Alle de brieven van Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, ed. by a committee of Dutch scientists, 17 vols [ongoing] (Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1939- ), II (1941), 354-79 (letter 39) (p. 365).)
According to the text there should be eight figures. Only three figures (figs. 1, 3 and 4), ink-drawings sent by Leeuwenhoeck, have been preserved in the original. Figs. 1-4 give the vessels in the male semen; fig. 2 is printed in Phil. Trans. vol. 12, no. 142 (1678), opposite p. 1035. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are fragments of bone. Two of these were printed in Phil. Trans. vol. 12, no. 140 (1678), p. 1002, viz. figs. 5 and 6 or 7. Which of the latter was represented cannot now be made out. Fig. 8 (a hair) is on p. 1004.
Figs. A-D: woodcut figure of seminal vessels, in A. Leeuwenhoek, ‘De natis e semine genitali animalculis’, Phil. Trans. vol. 12, no. 142 (December 1678, January and February 1679), pp. 1040-46.
According to the text there should be eight figures. Only three figures (figs. 1, 3 and 4), ink-drawings sent by Leeuwenhoeck, have been preserved in the original. Figs. 1-4 give the vessels in the male semen; fig. 2 is printed in Phil. Trans. vol. 12, no. 142 (1678), opposite p. 1035. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are fragments of bone. Two of these were printed in Phil. Trans. vol. 12, no. 140 (1678), p. 1002, viz. figs. 5 and 6 or 7. Which of the latter was represented cannot now be made out. Fig. 8 (a hair) is on p. 1004.
Figs. A-D: woodcut figure of seminal vessels, in A. Leeuwenhoek, ‘De natis e semine genitali animalculis’, Phil. Trans. vol. 12, no. 142 (December 1678, January and February 1679), pp. 1040-46.
Related fellows
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Nehemiah Grew (1641 - 1712, British) , Plant physiologist
Nehemiah Grew (1641 - 1712, British) , Plant physiologist
Associated place