Wrote Letter L-271 of 1695-09-18 to Johann Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg about swan mussel sperm, eggs, embryos, and locomotion, small animals as food for larger ones and oysters and their larvae; he again refutes spontaneous generation

Date: 
September 18, 1695
Standard reference information
L-number: 
L-271
Leeuwenhoek's number: 
95
Collected Letters number: 
157
Collected Letters volume: 
11

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 …

Embryos of shell from the sea and the gills of the cut-trough shell. Spermatozoa and eggs from swan mussels. Small animals from the water (plankton) serve as food for larger ones. Locomotion of swan mussels by means of their foot, and their embryos, which are incubated in their gills. Comparison with oysters. On oyster larvae. Organisms do not originate from mud or exhalations.