The Collected Letters of Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek - Volume 17

Every volume in this series contains tthe original Dutch and an English translation of the letters of Van Leeuwenhoek. The great range of subjects studied by Van Leeuwenhoek is reflected in these letters: instruments to measure water, pulmonary diseases; experiments relating to the solution of gold and silver; salt crystals and grains of sand; botanical work, such as duckweed and germination of orange pips; descriptions of protozoa, blood, spermatozoa, and health and hygiene; the harmfulness of tea and coffee; and the benefits of cleaning teeth.

Lodewijk Palm was, until his retirement, assistant professor and senior researcher at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. He is editor of previous volumes of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek letters, as well as a range of other books and publications about science and scientists in the Netherlands. Huib Zuidervaart is senior researcher at the Huygens Institute of Netherlands History, KNAW, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has specialized in the history of scientific instruments in the Early Modern Period. Together with Douglas Anderson he has published on Leeuwenhoek's microscopes and other scientific instruments. Douglas Anderson is professor of English and digital literacies in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Medaille College, Buffalo, NY, USA and guest researcher at the Huygens Institute of Netherlands History, KNAW, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Elisabeth Entjes has worked as assistant of the Leeuwenhoek Commission at the Huygens Institute of Netherlands History, KNAW, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Preface and Introduction Committees The Collected Letters 295-323