Wrote Letter L-367 of 1700-05-20 to Anthonie Heinsius about peat, its composition and origin, how much soil washed into the sea by rivers and effect on sea level compared to amount of soil lost through peat cutting

Date: 
May 20, 1700
Standard reference information
L-number: 
L-367
Leeuwenhoek's number: 
126
Collected Letters number: 
210
Collected Letters volume: 
13

Text of the letter in the original Dutch and in English translation from Alle de Brieven. The Collected Letters at the DBNL - De Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren

Leeuwenhoek wrote this letter about …

Peat, its composition and origin. The part played by alluvial deposition in the formation of peat and dunes. Calculation of the amount of soil washed into the sea by rivers, its consequences with regard to the height of the sea level, and a comparison of this with the amount of soil lost through peat cutting.

Note

Collected Letters numbers Letter L-367 through Letter L-378 chronologically. However, in Sevende Vervolg, Leeuwenhoek numbered them out of chronological order, without explanation. His numbering:

124 of 20 May 1700 L-366
125 of 2 June 1700 L-368
126 of 20 May 1700 L-367
127 of 15 June 1700 L-370
128 of 9 July 1700 L-372
129 of 10 July 1700 L-373
130 of 27 June 1700 L-375
131 of ... 1700 L-376
132 of 7 Sept 1700 L-377
133 of 16 June 1700 L-371
134 of 26 Oct 1700 L-378

The letter dated only "1700" comes between Letter 130 and Letter 132 in Collected Letters because that is where Leeuwenhoek put it in his achonological numbering.

Leeuwenhoek's letter 127 L-370 to Hans Sloane is the shortest of all of his 165 numbered letters and the only one for which there is no summary at the beginning.