“I have divers times examined the same matter (human semen) from a healthy man... not from a sick man... nor spoiled by keeping... for a long time and not liquefied after the lapse of some time... but immediately after ejaculation before six beats of the pulse had intervened; and I have seen so great a number of living animalcules... in it, that sometimes more than a thousand were moving about in an amount of material the size of a grain of sand... I saw this vast number of animalcules not all through the semen, but only in the liquid matter adhering to the thicker part.” MenHumansLongSometimesMatterMovingScienceNumbersSawsMaterialsAmountHealthyThousandSixLong TimeBeatsSickSizeSandGrainPulseLiquidSpoiledMicroscopesLapsesGrains Of SandSick ManEjaculation Author:Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
“[M]y work, which I've done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a craving after knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therewithal, whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof.” PeopleMenLongDoneWisdomMightScienceOrderFoundEnjoyKnowledgeDutyHard WorkPaperLong TimeDiscoveryGainsPraiseRemarkableCravingPursuedIngenious Author:Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
“The 4th sort of creatures... which moved through the 3 former sorts, were incredibly small, and so small in my eye that I judged, that if 100 of them lay [stretched out] one by another, they would not equal the length of a grain of course Sand; and according to this estimate, ten hundred thousand of them could not equal the dimensions of a grain of such course Sand. There was discover'd by me a fifth sort, which had near the thickness of the former, but they were almost twice as long. The first time bacteria were observed.” IfsFirstsLongEyeScienceCoursesThousandTenCreaturesEqualHundredFirst TimeMovedLaysFormerDimensionsSandLengthJudgedGrainFifthBacteriaThickness Author:Antonie van Leeuwenhoek