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SWAMMERDAM,John (1637-1680), may be rankedalmost with Leeuwenhoek as one of the most eminentDutch naturalists of the 17th century. Born at Amsterdamin 1637, the son of an apothecary and naturalist, hewas destined for the church; but he insisted on passingover to the profession of medicine, meanwhile passionatelydevoting himself to the study of insects. Havingnecessarily to interest himself in human anatomy, hedevoted much attention to the preservation and betterdemonstration of the various structures, and he devisedthe method of studying the circulatory system by meansof injections, so doing the greatest service to practicalanatomy. The fame of his collection soon became European;thus the grand-duke of Tuscany offered him 12,000florins for his collection, on condition of his coming toFlorence to continue it. HisGeneral History of Insectsand other kindred works lie at the foundation of modernentomology, and include many important discoveries.Thus he cleared up the subject of the metamorphosis ofinsects, and in this and other ways laid the beginningsof their natural classification, while his researches on theanatomy of mayflies and bees were also of fundamentalimportance. His devotion to science led to his neglect ofpractice; his father greatly resented this, and stopped allsupplies; and thus Swammerdam experienced a period ofconsiderable privation, which had the most unfortunateconsequences to his health, both bodily and mental. In1675 he published hisHistory of the Ephemera, and inthe same year his father died, leaving him an adequatefortune, but the mischief was irreparable. He becamea hypochondriac and mystic, joined the followers ofAntoinette Bourignon, and died at Amsterdam in 1680.
