Send-Brieven

Author:

Leeuwenhoek, A. van

Publisher:

Delft: Beman

Year:

1718

Full title:

Send-Brieven, zoo aan de Hoog-edele Heeren van de Koninklijke Societeit te Londen, als aan andere Aansienelyke en Geleerde Lieden

Epistles, to the High-honored Gentlemen of the Royal Society in London, and to the other Distinguished and Learned People

The subtitle reads: "As to the high noble lords of the Royal Society of London, so to other distinguished and learned people about the various secrets of Nature, namely over the wonderful configuration of ..."

Dobell #19, containing 46 letters: AvL # I - XLVI

Pagination: xiv + 1-460 + xxviii

Front matter: pp. xiv

Title page (placed differently in Dobell #20)
Wilt poem
Goeree print
Dedication (opdragt)
Hoogvliet poem
Poot poem
Engraved title with portrait inset (right; click to enlarge)

Back matter: pp. xxviii

Index and errata (Register & Druk-fouten)
Register van woorden en zaaken (Index of words and topics) - 28 unnumbered pages

Between 1712 and 1717, Leeuwenhoek wrote these 46 letters to a variety of people, many of them public figures, politicians and academics. He addressed about a fifth of them to the Royal Society in spite of the fact that editor Edmond Halley was showing not the slightest interest in publishing them.

In 1718, Leeuwenhoek collected the 46, numbered them in Latin (second column in table below), and published them himself in Dutch as the fourth and final volume of his collected letters. In some bound collections, it is the fifth volume. As with the other volumes of his Brieven, a total of 165 letters, he had Hendrick van Rijn translate them into Latin and published in a separate and mostly parallel volume the following year.

Half of the letters had figures, copperplate made from drawings, probably of red chalk. These images are viewable as Leeuwenhoek's Cabinet of Wonders.

In the table below, the Dutch title is the first substantive phrase from van Leeuwenhoek's inhoudsopgave. The figure numbers are his but the titles are mine, taken from his text.

In 2017, the letters in Send-Brieven will be published for the first time in an English translation in volume XVII of Alle de Brieven / Collected Letters.

**Send-Brieven**
Date	L-#	AvL #	Addressee	Dutch Title	English Title	# fig
1712
Nov 8	L-489	I	Antoni Heinsius	Vlees van den walvis	Whale flesh	7
Dec 17	L-490	II	Antoni Heinsius	Visdeelen van de garnaat	Parts of a gurnet	6
1713
Feb 28	L-492	III	Jan Meerman	Hoe kleyn de vleesfibertjens zyn	How small muscle fibers are	11
Mar 14	L-493	IV	Jan Meerman	Het oog van een walvis	The eye of a whale
Mar 25	L-494	V	Adriaen van Assendelft	Hairtjes van een muys	Little hairs of a mouse	6
Mar 29	L-495	VI	Antoni Heinsius	Vleeschdeelen van een koe	Flesh of a cow
June 28	L-496	VII	Royal Society	Wonderlyk maakzel van zekere Dierkens	Wonderful shape of certain animalcules
June 30	L-497	VIII	Antoni Heinsius	De werking van kreeften oogen	The working of lobster eyes
Oct 24	L-501	IX	Antoni Cink	De saly beschouwd	Sage considered
1714
June 22	L-504	X	Royal Society	Het vleesch van een os, hoen en muys	The flesh of an ox, hen, and mouse
Aug 21	L-507	XI	Royal Society	Vleesch van een achtjarige koe	Flesh of an 8-year-old cow	13
Oct 26	L-509	XII	Royal Society	Drie soorten van muggen	Three types of gnats	6
Nov 4	L-510	XIII	Adriaen van Assendelft	Uytspanningen van een treklyn	Stretching of a trek line
Nov 9	L-512	XIV	Royal Society	Den trekker overdwars doorsneeden	The puller cut transversely
Nov 20	L-513	XV	Royal Society	Vleesdeelen in een kleyn diertje	Flesh of small animals	4
1715
Mar 26	L-516	XVI	Antoni Cink	Vleeschfibertjes ook trekker genoemt	Flesh fibers also called pullers	3
July 7	L-518	XVII	Antoni Cink	Muscul uytrekkende en inkrimpende	Muscle stretched out and relaxed
Sep 28	L-521	XVIII	G W Leibniz	Diertjens in de zaaden van de dieren	Animalcules in the seed of animals
Nov 18	L-524	XIX	G W Leibniz	Doorgesneede zuyker-peer	Cross-section of sugar pear	4
1716
Mar 13	L-527	XX	G W Leibniz	Eenige zwaarigheden rakende de voortteelinge	Some difficult problems of fertility
May 10	L-530	XXI	Hubert Poot	Zaadhuysjes aan de maagde-palm	Seed cases of the virgin palm
May 16	L-531	XXII	Gerard van Loon	De Luyksche hop beeter als de onze	Hops from Leige better than ours
May 19	L-532	XXIII	G W Leibniz	Van de membranen die in de trekkers leggen	The membranes that lie in pullers
May 22	L-533	XXIV	Cornelis Spiering	De schobben van eenen karper	Scrapings from a carp	4
June 12	L-535	XXV	Cinck, Narez, Rega	Stroo-halmen uyt een greyntje van gerst	Straw stalks from a grain of barley	9
June 22	L-537	XXVI	J G Kerkherdere	De stoffe in de Tarwe, Gerst, enz	The stuff in wheat, barley, etc.	14
Sep 17	L-538	XXVII	Abraham van Bleys-Wyk	Sterke braaking door het inneemen van warm water	Violent vomiting from ingestion of warm water
Sep 28	L-540	XXVIII	Herman Boerhaave	Waarneemingen op den cocos-boom	Observations on a coco tree	18
Nov 5	L-544	XXIX	Herman Boerhaave	De diertjes van ’t mannelyk zaad	The animalcues in male seed
Nov 17	L-545	XXX	G W Leibniz	Het schrift van de heer Pauli wederlegt	Writing of Mr. Pauli refuted	3
Nov 21	L-546	XXXI	Herman Boerhaave	Het zaad van eens rams bal gedrukt was	Seed pressed from a ram's ball
1717
Mar 2	L-547	XXXII	Abraham van Bleys-Wyk	De zenuwen uyt het ruggemerg van koeyen en schapen	The nerves in the backbone of cows and sheep	5
Mar 6	L-548	XXXIII	Hoog-Edele Heeren	Parken in de trekkers	Beds in pullers	3
Mar 6	L-549	XXXIV	Hoog-Edele Heeren	Hersenen van een varken	Brains of a pig	11
May 6	L-550	XXXV	Ewout van Bleswyk	Het vlees van het vliegend diertje Rombout	Flesh of the little flying animal Rombout
May 26	L-551	XXXVI	Abraham van Bleys-Wyk	De zenuwen	The nerves	2
June 15	L-552	XXXVII	Royal Society	Het vleesch van een vetten os	Flesh of a fat ox	2
July 06	L-553	XXXVIII	Cinck, Narez, Rega	Sout van salpeter ingenomen	Salt of salpeter ingested
July 13	L-554	XXXIX	J G Kerkherdere	Het eeten van vet vleesch veroorzaakt afgangen	Eating fat flesh causes diarrhea
Aug 19	L-556	XL	Adriaan Swalmius	De eyeren en eyerschalen	The eyes and eye sockets
Aug 26	L-557	XLI	Herman Boerhaave	Zaadballen van een ram	Seed balls of a ram	5
Sep 10	L-558	XLII	Frederik Adriaan van Rhede	Menigte van schelvissen	A multitude of shell fishes
Sep 17	L-559	XLIII	Royal Society	De uytwazemingen uyt onze lichamen	Transpiration from our bodies	5
Oct 8	L-560	XLIV	Royal Society	De wortel Pareira Brava	The root Pareira Brava	3
Oct 22	L-661	XLV	Royal Society	Hersenen van een kabeljauw	Brains of a cod
Nov 20	L-562	XLVI	Royal Society	De trekker van een schaap	The puller of a sheep

The links below will display more information about each of these letters. For those marked above as having figures (right-hand column), I translated that letter's summary and included the plates with a caption for each figure. The captions are mine, taken from the text. The plates can also be viewed in larger original sizes.

Learn more

Related sources:

Year	Author	Title
1719	Leeuwenhoek, A. van	Epistolae Physiologicae
1720	Heussen, H. van	Oudheden en gestichten van Delft en Delfland
1725	Heussen, H. van	Oudheden en Gestichten van het Rechte Zuid-Holland en van Schieland

Related events:

Date	Event
January 1, 1718	Published Send-Brieven (Epistles), Letters I - XLVI

Learn more about ...
Leeuwenhoek's Cabinet of Wonders

Related letters:

What Leeuwenhoek wrote ...
Wrote Letter L-489 of 1712-11-08 to Anthonie Heinsius about the muscle fibres of a whale
Wrote Letter L-490 of 1712-12-17 to Anthonie Heinsius about salts in the blood of a shrimp and the muscle fibres and enveloping membranes of cod, shrimp, flounder, and perch
Wrote Letter L-492 of 1713-02-28 to Jan Meerman about wheat and barley grains, beans, peas, and chestnuts, vessels and membranes in coconut rind, and the embryo in an apple pip and in a coconut
Wrote Letter L-493 of 1713-03-14 to Jan Meerman about the eye of a whale, the lens, and the cornea and calculations of the pressure on a whale's eye at great depth
Wrote Letter L-494 of 1713-03-25 to Adriaen van Assendelft about little hairs of a mouse, mole, cat, and rabbit all have the same shape; thick, dark bear hair, composition and color of hair, hair of deer and elk
Wrote Letter L-495 of 1713-03-29 to Anthonie Heinsius about the muscles of cows, muscle fibers of mice thinner than whales, fat particles, muscle fibers of sheep same size as of mice and oxen, though the animals differ greatly in size
Wrote Letter L-496 of 1713-06-28 to the members of the Royal Society about little animals on duckweed, muscle fiber membranes, and a list of unanswered letters; little animals in his mouth come from rinsing glasses with pond water
Wrote Letter L-497 of 1713-06-30 to Anthonie Heinsius about the composition of crabs’ eyes and lobster and crab shells, ring-shaped structures in lobster pincer shell, compared to annual rings of woody vegetation, and the lobster's muscle fiber membrane
Wrote Letter L-501 of 1713-10-24 to Antony Cinck refuting, as requested, Kircher's ideas about poisonous little animals on sage leaves and spontaneous generation
Wrote Letter L-504 of 1714-06-22 to the members of the Royal Society to acknowledge Letter L-503 and numbers of Philosophical Transactions and to query why figures of the muscle fibres of whales were not published
Wrote Letter L-507 of 1714-08-21 to the members of the Royal Society about the muscle fibres of cow, chicken, mouse, honeybee, flea, ant, and whale and the blood vessels in the leg of a fly; thanks for recent numbers of Philosophical Transactions
Wrote Letter L-509 of 1714-10-26 to the members of the Royal Society about muscle fibres and enclosing membranes in the legs of a mosquito, rose chafer, fly, crane fly, honeybee and cow; rectifying earlier opinion, the contractions in a muscle are spiral
Wrote Letter L-510 of 1714-11-04 to Adriaen van Assendelft, comparison between muscle fibres and a tightened rope; the shorter the rope, the quicker it can shrink; application of this comparison on the size of muscle fibres of a cow and of a mouse
Wrote Letter L-512 of 1714-11-09 to the members of the Royal Society about the muscles of an ox, sheep, chicken, mouse, and hare
Wrote Letter L-513 of 1714-11-20 to the members of the Royal Society about muscle fibres and tendons from a mouse leg, a duck wing, a honeybee, a polecat leg, and between the ribs of a mouse; a theory about the structure and action of tendons
Wrote Letter L-516 of 1715-03-26 to Antony Cinck about the structure and action of muscle fibres and tendons from the leg of a mouse and the head of cod and a wire model of spiral contraction
Wrote Letter L-518 of 1715-07-07 to Antony Cinck about contracting and stretching of muscle fibres and tendons; their connection in lobster and crab; no observed nerves between muscle fibres and membranes; cannot confirm that nerves are hollow
Wrote Letter L-521 of 1715-09-28 to Gottfried Leibniz about scholars who do not agree with Leeuwenhoek; sperm the same size in different animals; the pulse; posthumous letters; muscle fibers, tendons, and nerves; Hartsoeker; why he won't train students
Wrote Letter L-524 of 1715-11-18 to Gottfried Leibniz about vessels in the flesh of fruit and in the seeds of various strains of pears, a pear's embryo and the structure of a pear's skin, and spiral vessels in tea-leaves
Wrote Letter L-527 of 1716-03-13 to Gottfried Leibniz about human twins, trees, birds, size of sperm, number of eggs in fishes' hard roe, structure of tendons and muscle fibres, the heart; does not want to be paid for research or to teach students
Wrote Letter L-530 of 1716-05-10 to Hubert Kornelis Poot to thank him for two published panegyrics; the size and origin of little animals; wonder at the smallness of little animals and the largeness of the universe; periwinkle seeds
Wrote Letter L-531 of 1716-05-16 to Gerard van Loon about hops from Liege, the structure of hops, its bitter oil, and salt particles from the oil, a comparison with sugar candy, and hop embryos; Leeuwenhoek descended from a family of beer brewers
Wrote Letter L-532 of 1716-05-19 to Gottfried Leibniz about muscle and tendon fibers, mammal teats, sperm; did not find eggs in ovaries, Fallopian tube, or womb; cannot imagine how the Fallopian tube could suck sperm; does not know the ovary's function
Wrote Letter L-533 of 1716-05-22 to Cornelis Spiering about the scales of a carp that Spiering sent him, using scales to age a fish, eggs in hard roe and sperm in soft roe food for other fishes, shrimp eggs, and the life span of whales and fish
Wrote Letter L-536 of 1716-06-12 to thank professors Cink, Narez, and Rega for the honorary medal; barley germination and nutrients; again rejects spontaneous generation
Wrote Letter L-537 of 1716-06-22 to Jan Gerard Kerkherdere about how wheat, barley, beans, peas, rice, buckwheat, and maize become food for animals and discusses Leeuwenhoek's techniques for preparing samples
Wrote Letter L-538 of 1716-09-17 to Abraham Cornelis van Bleyswyck about his own intestinal ailment and the roles of chyle, gall (bile), and the diaphragm in the digestive process
Wrote Letter L-540 of 1716-09-28 to Herman Boerhaave about how trees grow and withstand wind; coconut palm wood and nut; he acknowledges previous errors in his observations of coconut tree trunks
Wrote Letter L-544 of 1716-11-05 to Herman Boerhaave about the size of sperm from rams, cod, and ling, little animals from rain water and soil, and blood in arteries and veins
Wrote Letter L-545 of 1716-11-17 to Gottfried Leibniz about reproduction, numbers of sperm and seeds, reproductive organs of sheep and ram, fallopian tube too small to let eggs through
Wrote Letter L-546 of 1716-11-21 to Herman Boerhaave about ram sperm and details of his experimental methods
Wrote Letter L-547 of 1717-03-02 to Abraham van Bleyswyck about the structure of nerves and the associated fat in the spinal cords of cows and sheep
Wrote Letter L-548 of 1717-03-06 to the members of the Royal Society tendons and muscle fibres in sheep, flea, ox, honeybee, oyster, and mussel
Wrote Letter L-549 of 1717-03-06 to the members of the Royal Society about pig brains, apples, and coconuts; blood circulation nourishes; new technique to examine brains; tea and coffee keep the blood thin
Wrote Letter L-550 of 1717-05-06 to Ewout van Bleiswijk about dragonflies' muscle fibres, compound eyes, and corneal facets, flies, lobster, and crab
Wrote Letter L-551 of 1717-05-26 to Abraham van Bleyswyck about the structure of nerves and associated blood vessels and membranes, the structure of the spinal cord and brains of a pig, cow, and mouse, and the nerves of a calf, bream, and lamb
Wrote Letter L-552 of 1717-06-15 to the members of the Royal Society about the muscle fibres of an ox and a flea and the reproduction of fleas
Wrote Letter L-553 of 1717-07-06 to Antony Cink about how two doctors treated his recent illnesses with saltpeter and opium; saltpeter’s effects on the blood and its efficacy as a drug
Wrote Letter L-554 of 1717-07-13 to Jan Gerard Kerkherdere about one of his personal ailments, the consequences for the digestion of eating fatty meat, the particles in his own excrement, and the role of chyle and gall during digestion
Wrote Letter L-556 of 1717-08-19 to Adriaan Swalmius about membranes inside an eggshell, salt crystals from an eggshell, and how birds and oysters produce shells
Wrote Letter L-557 of 1717-08-26 to Herman Boerhaave, following up on Letter L-546, about a ram's seed balls, vas deferens, and epididymis, millet grains or mustard seeds as units of measurement, sperm compared smaller little animals, and a sperm’s tail
Wrote Letter L-558 of 1717-09-10 to Frederik Adriaan van Reede about haddock intestines, roach and cod, and how scales determine the age of herring, perch, bream, and cod
Wrote Letter L-559 of 1717-09-17 to the members of the Royal Society about his own skin's fat globules and sweat ducts, holes in his finger nails, sweat ducts in humans and in cow teats, and how lice and fleas use sweat ducts to obtain their food
Wrote Letter L-560 of 1717-10-08 to the members of the Royal Society about Pareira Brava root and the effect of salt particles from it upon blood, starch grains from the membranes of the root, and the roots of “China” and “Irias"
Wrote Letter L-561 of 1717-10-22 to the members of the Royal Society about the brain of a cod, the nerves of cod and haddock, and the spinal cord of haddock
Wrote Letter L-562 of 1717-11-20 to the members of the Royal Society about tendons and nerves of sheep, lamb, cow, and ox; his last letter to the Royal Society; expresses his gratitude for being elected a fellow and for Philosophical Transactions
Wrote Letter L-563 of 1717-12-08 to Charles VI, Holy Roman emperor, as the dedication for Send-Brieven

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