Vessels in male sperm
Date
31 May 1678
Creator
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p9b
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 152mm
width (page): 192mm
width (page): 192mm
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.
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