CHAPTER IV

The Introduction of the Microscope and the Progress of Independent Observation, 54

The pioneer microscopists: Hooke and Grew in England; Malpighi in Italy and Swammerdam and Leeuwenhoek in Holland, 54. Robert Hooke, 55. His microscope and the micrographia (1665), 56. Grew one of the founders of vegetable histology, 56. Malpighi, 1628-1694, 58. Personal qualities, 58. Education, 60. University positions, 60, 61. Honors at home and abroad, 61. Activity in research, 62. His principal writings: Monograph on the silkworm, 63; anatomy of plants, 66; work in embryology, 66. Jan Swammerdam, 1637-1680, 67. His temperament, 67. Early interest in natural history, 68. Studies medicine, 68. Important observations, 68. Devotes himself to minute anatomy, 70. Method of working, 71. Great intensity, 70. High quality of his work, 72. The _Biblia Naturæ_, 73. Its publication delayed until fifty-seven years after his death, 73. Illustrations of his anatomical work, 74-76. Antony van Leeuwenhoek, 1632-1723, 77. A composed and better-balanced man, 77. Self-taught in science, the effect of this showing in the desultory character of his observations, 77, 87. Physiognomy, 78. New biographical facts, 78. His love of microscopic observation, 80. His microscopes, 81. His scientific letters, 83. Observes the capillary circulation in 1686, 84. His other discoveries, 86. Comparison of the three men: the two university-trained men left coherent pieces of work, that of Leeuwenhoek was discursive, 87. The combined force of their labors marks an epoch, 88. The new intellectual movement now well under way, 88.