Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.15814

    Microscopic images of the spleen of a lamb and a flea's sting

    Date
    1 June 1706
    Creator
    Unknown, Artist
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Manuscript page number
    p13
    Material
    Dimensions
    height (page): 227mm
    width (page): 226mm
    Subject
    Description
    Four figures. Images were made by a draftsman.

    Letter from Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society. It was read to the Royal Society on 20 November 1706.

    Fig. 1: a small part of the membrane of the spleen of a lamb
    Fig. 2: a sinewy part of the same membrane of a spleen
    Fig. 3: a small part of the spleen which is, when not magnified, no larger than a large grain of salt
    Fig. 4: the sting and its sheath of a flea.
    Object history
    20 November 1706, 'A letter was read from Mr Leewenhoeck concerning the spleen & the sting of a flea. He was ordered to be thanked' (JBO/11/102).

    Printed in A. Leeuwenhoek, ‘Microscopical observations on the structure of the spleen and the proboscis of fleas’, Phil. Trans., vol. 25, no. 307 (July, August and September 1706), pp. 2305-12, tab. 2, fig. 1, slice of a spleen of a lamb; fig. 2, membrane of spleen; fig. 3, piece of spleen; fig. 4, sting of flea.
    Related fellows
    Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > Netherlands
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