Cornelis Bontekoe

Other name:

born Cornelis Dekker

Antony's:

visitor

Baptism:

1647

Death or Burial date:

January 13, 1685

Cornelis Bontekoe was a physician from Alkmaar who was educated in Leiden. He left the Republic in 1682 for Germany, where he became personal physician to the Brandenburg elector Friedrich Wilhelm III (1620-1688). Bontekoe was an ardent advocate of the use of tea as a medicine. According to him, drinking tea, as much as 50 cups per day, total abstention from alcohol, and complete frugality could considerably lengthen a person's life. Bontekoe died at age 38 after an accident involving drinking too much tea [needs source].

For Leeuwenhoek's contacts with Bontekoe, see Related letters below.

What happened?

Date	Event
January 1, 1682	Visited by Cornelis Bontekoe

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Related letters:

What Leeuwenhoek wrote ...
Wrote Letter L-095 of 1679-11-14 to Lambert van Velthuysen about gout, salt, and drinking tea
Wrote Letter L-122 of 1683-01-22 to Christopher Wren about the function of the ovary, muscles of insects, drinking tea and mild beer, erythrocytes, and a theory on the formation of blood
Wrote Letter L-157 of 1685-03-30 to Members of the Royal Society about sperm, the uterus of a bitch, sheep embryos, ovaries in young animals and apples, and his claims that sperm are the life-carriers and that there are male and female sperm
Wrote Letter L-214 of 1692-02-01 to the members of the Royal Society about various peppers and their taste, tea and its effects of tea on digestion, and Spanish fly
Wrote Letter L-239 of 1694-03-02 to the members of the Royal Society about ear wax and hair, body hair, the amount of sweat secreted from the human body, and the possibility that sperm might penetrate the ovum
Wrote Letter L-304 of 1696-09-12 to Anthonie Heinsius about rennet and curd, chalk and crab's-eyes in vinegar, smoking tobacco to cure toothache, the gall-bladder and omasum of a calf, milk-clotting, and his contradiction of a physician
Wrote Letter L-362 of sometime in October 1699 to Ehrenfried von Tschirnhaus about medicines, his aversion to bleeding and purging, and his preference for tea and coffee as medicine; credulity of people who trust impostors and poorly trained physicians

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Life in Holland

in the 1600's

Work in Holland

in the 1600's

Cornelis Bontekoe

Life in Holland

in the 1600's