Two unborn shrimp
Date
10 June 1686
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p14d
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 121mm
width (page): 88mm
width (page): 88mm
Subject
Description
Small piece of paper with two figures stuck to a letter by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society, containing 23 figures in total.
Fig. 22: unborn shrimp taken from egg.
Fig. 23: unborn shrimp. NB: Leeuwenhoek mentions that he 'got [it] drawn' ('hebbe laten teijkenen') solely for the purpose of distinguishing the fins.
Fig. 22: unborn shrimp taken from egg.
Fig. 23: unborn shrimp. NB: Leeuwenhoek mentions that he 'got [it] drawn' ('hebbe laten teijkenen') solely for the purpose of distinguishing the fins.
Transcription
"In order to place before Your Honours' eyes the makings of an unborn shrimp, I have taken several of the same from the eggs, and placed four of these before my microscope, and had a draughtsman come to my house, and instructed the same to follow the figure, as it appeared to him, as closely as possible, without my wanting to tell him what it was that he was drawing; the same said many a time, while he was drawing: I don't know what I am drawing, but it seems to me that it is a shrimp." (Alle de brieven, p. 111)
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Transcribed by the Making Visible project
Object history
30 June 1686, ‘Part of a letter of Mr. Leewenhoeck was read, containing his microscopical observations upon the seeds of several Indian plants, shewing how the leaves and the part designed for the root and stem are wrapped up within the said seeds’ (Birch 4:492).
The letter and images were also published in Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Ontledingen en ontdekkingen. Van de cinnaber naturalis, en bus-poeder; van het maaksel van been en huyd; van de galnoot, kastanie en okkernoot; van de voortteelinge van eenige zaden, vergeleken by de Voortteelinge van Garnaad, krabbe, en kreeft; waar in de deugdsaamheid van het eyken-hout bestaat, en hoe het te kennen is (Leiden: Cornelis Boutesteyn, 1686), pp. 66-86.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimatarum, Ope & beneficio [sic] exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta, variisque experimentis demonstrata [etc.] (Leiden: C. Boutesteyn, 1687), pp. 227-40.
The letter and images were also published in Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Ontledingen en ontdekkingen. Van de cinnaber naturalis, en bus-poeder; van het maaksel van been en huyd; van de galnoot, kastanie en okkernoot; van de voortteelinge van eenige zaden, vergeleken by de Voortteelinge van Garnaad, krabbe, en kreeft; waar in de deugdsaamheid van het eyken-hout bestaat, en hoe het te kennen is (Leiden: Cornelis Boutesteyn, 1686), pp. 66-86.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Anatomia Seu interiora Rerum, Cum Animatarum tum Inanimatarum, Ope & beneficio [sic] exquisitissimorum Microscopiorum Detecta, variisque experimentis demonstrata [etc.] (Leiden: C. Boutesteyn, 1687), pp. 227-40.
Related fellows
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Associated place