1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Hello, and Happy Saturday. In our Unearthed episodes, this week 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: we talked about Anthony von Levin Hook's microscopes and lenses. 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: It's been a bit since our episode on him came out. 4 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 1: That was back on March twelve, and it's a fun one, 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: I think, so I thought let's have it as a 6 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: Saturday classic. Yep still features one of my favorite words 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: of all times, animal fuels. Uh. And after this episode 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: came out, we got several emails about Tracy's recollection of 9 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,519 Speaker 1: having a book as a child that used Barnacle Geese 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: as an illustration of the idea of spontaneous generation, and 11 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: some folks mentioned that this shows up in Susan Cooper's 12 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: The Darkest Rising series. Others mentioned the seventeenth century The 13 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: herbal Or General History of Plants by John Gerard. Neither 14 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: of these was the book Tracy had as a kid, 15 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: but we did think we'd mentioned them just the same. Yeah, 16 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: I haven't managed to track down with that book actually was. 17 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,279 Speaker 1: I also forgot about it in the years that have 18 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: passed since then. So enjoy everyone. Welcome to Stuff You 19 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of I Heart Radio. 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frying and 21 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and the subject of our show 22 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: today is fascinating because it's Antony van Levin Hook and 23 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: he wasn't really a scientist, but he made dozens of 24 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: important scientific discoveries. He is credited with discovering microscopic life 25 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: in a variety of forms. And I just want to 26 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: give a quick heads up to listeners. This episode does 27 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,279 Speaker 1: discuss reproductive science. So if you listen with younger history 28 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: buffs and you maybe haven't covered that territory yet, you 29 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: might want to just give it a quick listen before sharing. 30 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: But other than that, we're just going to jump right 31 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: into his life because he did some pretty impressive and 32 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: also intriguing things. Yes, and we're going to talk about 33 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: what we mean by not really a scientist later on. So, 34 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: Anthony von Levin Hook was born on October thirty two 35 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: in Delft, Netherlands. This was a pretty interesting year. A 36 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: lot of fascinating people were all born that same year, 37 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: including John Locke, Baruch de Spinoza, Christopher Wren, and Jan Vermeer, 38 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: all of them born that same year. Yeah, it was 39 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: a wild time for important people. And his father Phillips 40 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: von Levin Hook was a craftsman. His mother, Margarita Bell 41 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: vanden Burch, who married Phillips ten years before Anthony was born, 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: was from a family of brewers, so they were certainly 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: a respectable family, but they weren't really aristocratic, and according 44 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: to a book on Leavin Hook and his work that 45 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: was written in nineteen thirty two by Clifford Dobell, it 46 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: was tradition in their family to alternate naming firstborn sons 47 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: either Phillips or Anthony. While Anthony was the first son, 48 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: he was their fifth child. We grew up with four 49 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: older sisters. Phillips died when Anthony was only five years old, 50 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: and a few years after losing her first husband, Margaret's remarried. 51 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: This time it was to a painter, Jacob Yon's Mullen. 52 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: Margaretta and Yaca were married in December sixteen forty and 53 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: around this time the young Anthony started attending school in 54 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: a village in the Netherlands called Varmond. Later he was 55 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: sent to live with his uncle in the South Holland 56 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: province of Benthausen. Yacob died eight years into his marriage 57 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: to Margaretta, and Anthony who was sixteen when his stepfather 58 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: passed away, was then sent to Amsterdam. There he started 59 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: learning about textiles, haberdashery, and linen draping through an apprenticeship, 60 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: and this is likely the point in his life where 61 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: he first discovered lenses used for magnification, because in the 62 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: textile industry they were used and sometimes still are, to 63 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: examine fibers and thread counts up close. But magnification eventually, 64 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: of course, took on a far greater role in leaven 65 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: Hook's life. Several years later, when he was twenty, he 66 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: went back home to his hometown and he set up 67 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: shop as a haberdasher. In sixteen fifty four, Anthony married 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: Barbara de May, a young woman three years older than 69 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: he was who was the daughter of one of his 70 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: colleagues in the clothing trade, and that couple had five 71 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: children together, three sons and two daughters over the course 72 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: of twelve years, but four of those children died quite young. 73 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: Only one of their daughters, named Maria, who was their 74 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: second child, lived to adulthood. In sixteen sixty, leaven Hook 75 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: became the chamberlain to the Sheriffs of Delft, securing a 76 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,919 Speaker 1: regular income for this position, he held the post for 77 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: thirty nine years, and he kept receiving income from it 78 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: after he had retired, all the way up until his death. 79 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: If you're not clear on what a chamberlain does, here's 80 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: the description of the job as it was laid out 81 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: by his employers. There Worships the Burgomasters and Magistrates of 82 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: the Hound of Delft has appointed and do hereby charge 83 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: Anthony Leavin Hook to look after the chamber, wherein the 84 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: Chief Judge, the Sheriffs, and the law officers of this 85 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:12,280 Speaker 1: town do assemble to open and shut the foresaid chamber 86 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: at both ordinary and extraordinary assemblies of the foresaid gentleman, 87 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: in such wise as shall be required and needful item 88 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: to show towards these gentlemen, all respect, honor, and reverence, 89 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: and diligently to perform and faithfully to execute all charges 90 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: which may be laid upon him, and to keep to 91 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: himself whatever he may overhear in the chamber, To clean 92 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: the foresaid chamber properly and to keep it needed tidy, 93 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: To lay the fire at such times as it may 94 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: be required and at his own convenience, and carefully to 95 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: preserve for his own profit what coals may remain unconsumed, 96 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: and see to it that no mischance befall thereby, nor 97 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: from the light of the candles. And he shall furthermore 98 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: do all that is required and that pertaineth to a 99 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: and trusty chamberlain. So it's a lot of words that 100 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: basically sums up to keep these offices open when we 101 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: need them, comfortable, warm and lit, and keep your mouth 102 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: shut and don't burn the place down, right, which I 103 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: sort of love. I also like that there's a stipulation 104 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,160 Speaker 1: that he can keep leftover cold at the end of 105 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: the day. Uh. But the this stable income that he 106 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: got from being chamberlain was significant in that it meant 107 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: that he could devote his free time to science instead 108 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: of having to hustle to make ends meet, and specifically 109 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: to the science of grinding lenses, which was a hobby 110 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: that leaven Hook had enjoyed for some time, most likely, 111 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: as we said, piqued by his work in the textile trade. 112 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: It's also believed that he had at some point seen 113 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,599 Speaker 1: a copy of Robert Hook's book Micrographia, which featured illustrations 114 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 1: and writings about Hook's work in observational science. The lenses 115 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: he was making were specifically microscope lenses, and they weren't 116 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: like modern compound microscopes. They were very simple, consisting of 117 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: a single lens, and leaven Hook used them to look 118 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: at all kinds of things. While he went on to 119 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: share a great many discoveries, he did not share information 120 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: about precisely how he was making these observations. And some 121 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: of his lenses were incredibly minuscule, less than two millimeters 122 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: in diameter, so tiny like I would drop it on 123 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: the floor and never find it again. Uh. And of 124 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: the five hundred lenses that he has estimated to have 125 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: made in his life, several samples, which were given to 126 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: the Royal Society of England after his death at his request, 127 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: could magnify anywhere from fifty to three hundred times actual size. 128 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: So they were tiny and mighty. But even though the 129 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: lenses themselves were examined by other scientists, the manner in 130 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: which leaven Hook used them to observe things like fleas 131 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: and bacteria still eluded them. His technique actually remains a 132 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: matter of some debate. In a moment, we will talk 133 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: about the opinion of an abs irv who visited leaven 134 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: Hook and offered up what he thought about all these lenses. 135 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: But first we will take a moment for a quick 136 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: word from a sponsor. As we said before the break, 137 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: we don't know exactly how leven Hook made all of 138 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: his observations, but we're not entirely without insight into how 139 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: he worked with his lenses. In February he was visited 140 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: by Irish physician Thomas Mologna, who wrote to the Royal 141 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 1: Society about what he saw in leven Hook's lab. And 142 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: he wrote this as to his microscopes themselves, those which 143 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: he showed me, in number at least a dozen, were 144 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: all of one sort, consisting only of one small glass ground. 145 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: This I mentioned because TIS generally thought his microscopes are 146 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: blown at a lamp. Those I saw, I am sure 147 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: are not placed between two thin flat plates of brass 148 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,319 Speaker 1: about an inch broad and an inch and a half long. 149 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: In these two plates there were two apertures, one before 150 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 1: the other, behind the glass, which were larger or smaller 151 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: as the glass was more or less convex, or as 152 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: it magnified. Just opposite to these apertures on one side 153 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: was placed sometimes a needle, sometimes a slender flat body 154 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: of glass or opaque matter. As the occasion required, upon 155 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: which or to its apex, he fixes whatever object he 156 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,599 Speaker 1: has to look upon. Then, holding it up against the 157 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: light by help of two small screws, he places it 158 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: just in the focus of his glass, and then makes 159 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: his observations. But apparently Leavin Hook did not show him everything. 160 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,439 Speaker 1: This letter continues, quote, such were the microscopes that I saw, 161 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: And these are they he shows to the curious that 162 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,440 Speaker 1: come and visit him. But besides these, he told me 163 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: he had another sort which no man living had looked through. 164 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 1: Setting aside himself, these he reserves for his own private observations. 165 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: Holy and he assured me they performed far beyond any 166 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: that he had showed me yet, but would not allow 167 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: me a sight of them. So all I can do 168 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:12,680 Speaker 1: is barely to believe, for I complete no experience in 169 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: the matter. So I know we read his little description, 170 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: but I want to put it in plainer language. Um, 171 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: And so you get a sense of Leavin Hook's known 172 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: microscope set up in more detail. It sort of resembles 173 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: a small paddle if you just look at the outline 174 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: of it. So the main body of this paddle was 175 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: made up of two identically shaped brass plates and on 176 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: each plate there was a small hole about two thirds 177 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: of the way up the body. This is the thing 178 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: that Molgna describes, uh, these these holes having apertures, so 179 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,559 Speaker 1: they can be altered in in terms of their size. 180 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: And that lens was placed between the two plates at 181 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 1: that point of the hole, so you can see through 182 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: the first hole through the lens and then through the 183 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: hole on the other side. And on the back of 184 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: the paddle was this pin that was held in place 185 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: by focusing screws, and so a specimen could be based 186 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: on that pin and then adjusted via the focusing screw 187 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: so up or down her side to side a little 188 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: bit until the object of observation came into focus through 189 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: the lens. For the other secret microscope that he showed 190 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: to no one else, that remains a mystery. Yeah, And 191 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: some of his observations were so astonishing in their detail 192 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: that we know he was using something else, we just 193 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: don't know what. And even as the haberdasher turned scientists, 194 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: reputation grew and he was visited by the likes of 195 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: Peter the Great of Russia, James the Second of England, 196 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: and Frederick the Second of Prussia. He would not reveal 197 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: even to these monarchs his methods, and that was something 198 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,359 Speaker 1: of a disappointment in some cases, because visiting dignitaries expected 199 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: that they would have this curtain pulled back on Leven 200 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 1: Hook's secrets, and they always had to leave without such knowledge. 201 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: Laven Hook's wife, Barbara, died in sixteen sixty six, and 202 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: five years later, in sixteen seventy one, laven Hook married again, 203 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: that's time to a woman named Cornelia swam Us. The 204 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: two of them remained together for twenty three years until 205 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: she died in sixteen ninety four. In sixteen seventy three, 206 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: through a connection made by a friend, Leavin Hook began 207 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 1: corresponding with the Royal Society of England and from that 208 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: point on he corresponded with the group about all of 209 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,080 Speaker 1: the various things that he saw through his simple microscope. 210 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: He made a lot of discoveries, but he wasn't entirely 211 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:28,559 Speaker 1: methodical about the process. He didn't do formal scientific work. Yeah, 212 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: and that's really what we mean when we talk about 213 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: not a real scientist. That he he wasn't systematically approaching 214 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: a field of study. He was just kind of looking 215 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: at stuff nat and then drawing it or having it 216 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: drawn for himself usually. They actually wrote a letter to 217 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: the Royal Society describing his misgivings about sharing his findings, 218 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: and in it he said, quote, I have oft times 219 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: been besought by diverse genttleman to set down on paper 220 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: what I have beheld through my newly invented microscopia. But 221 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: I have generally declined, first because I have no style 222 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,680 Speaker 1: or pen wherewith to express my thoughts properly, secondly because 223 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: I have not been brought up to languages or arts, 224 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: but only to business. And in the third place, because 225 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: I do not gladly suffer contradiction or sensure from others. 226 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 1: This resolve of mine, however, I have now set aside 227 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: as I can't draw. I have got them drawn for me, 228 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: but the proportions have not come out as well as 229 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: I had hoped to see them, and each figure that 230 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 1: I send you here with was seen and drawn through 231 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: a different magnifying glass. I beg you, therefore, and those 232 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: gentlemen to whose notice these may come, please to bear 233 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: in mind that my observations and thoughts are the outcome 234 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: of my own unaided impulse and curiosity alone. For besides 235 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,680 Speaker 1: myself in our town there be no philosophers who practice 236 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: this art to pray, take not amiss my poor pen 237 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: and the liberty I here take in setting down my 238 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: random notions. Yeah, he acknowledged, like, I'm not formally trained 239 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,319 Speaker 1: in any of this, please still send me a lot 240 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: of critiques. Also, I can't draw, which I found really 241 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 1: quite lovely that he was very upfront and said, I 242 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: don't like being criticized. I don't really know what I'm doing, 243 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 1: but I kind of do want to share this stuff. 244 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: As another person who can't draw, I I empathize. I'm 245 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: not very good either. I have a few tricks and 246 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: then I'm out. But just the same. Despite all of 247 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: these sort of caveats that he gave, the Royal Society, 248 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: the Royal Society of England welcomed his findings, and it 249 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: was through the Society that most of his work became 250 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: public knowledge. They published many of his discoveries through the 251 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: years in their periodical philosophical transactions, and over the course 252 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: of Laven Hook's life, three hundred seventy five different pieces 253 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: of content attributed to him appeared in philosophical transactions. Those 254 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: first letters and subsequent publications describe as mentioned in the letter, 255 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: we just read from Uh. There's a later part where 256 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: he talks about them be mouths, be eyes, and the 257 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: stingers of bees. He also describes a fungus and a lout. 258 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: I love this part because I am very fond of insects, 259 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: weird mouth parts. You are a kindred spirit. With Antony 260 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: van leven Hook, he wrote a lot about them. Yep. 261 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: So in the mid sixteen seventies, Leavin Hook, using his 262 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: microscopic lembs is to look at water, started as observing 263 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: things that he referred to as very little animal cules. 264 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: It's possibly the most adorable portmanteau of all time. He 265 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: was looking at protozoa, but the scientists of the sixteen 266 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: seventies didn't really know what he was seeing. They did 267 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: not have a concept to match these animal cueles. The 268 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: samples that he used for observation came from everywhere. That 269 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: came from pond and rainwater, from human saliva, and even 270 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: from human intestines. His reputation came under fire for all 271 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: of this animal cules talk. So when leaven Hook was 272 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: describing highly magnified space simmons of known things like insects 273 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: and fungus, his work was accepted by the Royal Society 274 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: and even lauded. But then talking about microscopic living things 275 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: was another matter entirely. It sounded completely preposterous to a 276 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: lot of people at the time. It was such a 277 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: sea change in the scientific world that a number of 278 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: members of the Royal Society dismissed the work outright. Eventually, 279 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: the year after publication, and after several people had observed 280 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: leaven Hook's work and yet others had managed to duplicate 281 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: his findings, his discovery was actually recognized. Next up, we 282 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: will talk about an area of discovery that leaven Hook 283 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: was initially reluctant to even consider. But first we will 284 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: take another quick sponsor break. In sixteen seven, Anthony Van 285 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: Levin Hook began studying superman, a zoa from a variety 286 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: of species. Other scientists had already encouraged him to turn 287 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: his microscope to the examination of semen, but he had 288 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: been really pretty apprehensive because he thought writing about such 289 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 1: things might be perceived as crude and impolite. Finally, though, 290 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: Leavin Hook found the courage to do some observational work 291 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: in this area. When he finally wrote to the Royal 292 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 1: Society about what he had seen through his lenses. The 293 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,879 Speaker 1: letter was awkward and nervous, and it left the matter 294 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: of what to do with this information up to the recipient. 295 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,719 Speaker 1: He wrote, quote, what I investigate is only what, without 296 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:35,639 Speaker 1: sinfully defiling myself, remains as a residue after conjugal coitus. 297 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: And if your Lordship should consider that these observations may 298 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:44,400 Speaker 1: discuss or scandalized the learned, I earnestly beg your lordship 299 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,639 Speaker 1: to regard them as private and to publish or destroy 300 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:55,120 Speaker 1: them as your lordship thinks fit so nervous so, this 301 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,359 Speaker 1: entire branch of science at the time was loaded with 302 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: varying ideas and cons ups to explain exactly how reproduction 303 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,639 Speaker 1: played out. There were theories that some sort of vapor 304 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: was involved in male ejaculate that catalyzed the production of 305 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: new life on the part of women. And another idea 306 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:15,960 Speaker 1: was that all the material to make a new human 307 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: was contained in the sperm and that it merely needed 308 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,400 Speaker 1: to be implanted in a uterus for gestation. And all 309 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,400 Speaker 1: of these varying theories there were many others, were categorized 310 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: into two basic schools of thought. Epigenesists, who believed that 311 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,199 Speaker 1: some sort of combining of materials from a man and 312 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: a woman created life and preformationists who thought that the 313 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 1: complete makeup of a human was contained in one or 314 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: the other, the sperm or the egg, and that sexual 315 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: intercourse served as some sort of catalyst for the process 316 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: of development. Laven Tech's work in this area was really controversial. 317 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,160 Speaker 1: I mean it should be obvious from what he felt 318 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: compelled to point out about it in that letter that 319 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 1: he wrote. There were some members of the Royal Society 320 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: who thought he had actually misidentified parasites, and there was 321 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: a lot of stigma around this kind of research once 322 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: he had started, though he continued on with it, eventually 323 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: examining spermatozoa from lots of other animals, mostly mammals, but 324 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,159 Speaker 1: also birds, fish, mollusks, and amphibians. Yeah, he did a 325 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: lot of like frog research, but spermatozoa is certainly not 326 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: the only thing. But Leavin Hook on the Scientific Map 327 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: we talked about some of his insect observations earlier, but 328 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: he noted, for example, pertheno genesis in aphids, and he 329 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,879 Speaker 1: studied and described like we mentioned, the tiniest parts of 330 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: insects and plants and offered insights that previously had not 331 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:41,959 Speaker 1: been known into both of those. In sixteen eighty he 332 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:46,399 Speaker 1: made observations that significantly advanced human knowledge of yeast, and 333 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: his work really led to great strides in the understanding 334 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 1: of plant life and how it grows. He also described 335 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: red blood cells for the first time known about in 336 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: human history in sight, and he was elected a Fellow 337 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,840 Speaker 1: of the Royal Society of England that year. In three 338 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:08,439 Speaker 1: Philosophical Transactions published a drawing by leaven Hook that's believed 339 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: to be the first graphical depiction of bacteria. He made 340 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: this discovery while looking at examples of plaque from the 341 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: mouths of himself and several other people. Quote, I then 342 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: most always saw with great wonder that in said matter 343 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: there were many very little living animal fueles, very prettily 344 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: a moving That's a nice way to describe bacteria in 345 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: your mouth. Oh they're so cute, They're just pretty. One 346 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,120 Speaker 1: of the most important contributions made to science by leaven 347 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,120 Speaker 1: Hook was the work he did to disprove the concept 348 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: of spontaneous generation. So, just in case you need a 349 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: refresher on that one. Spontaneous generation was a theory that 350 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: life forms could generate spontaneously from non living matter. The 351 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:58,640 Speaker 1: common example is the once widely believed idea that maggots 352 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 1: spontaneously general rated from rotting meat. I had a book 353 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: as a child that included the example of barnacles that 354 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 1: looked like geese becoming geese, and I was at the 355 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: age of five, like, are you kidding me? That's fantastic. 356 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: I wish I still had that book somewhere. It was bizarre. 357 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 1: So laban Hook and his study of little tiny organisms 358 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: started examining the life cycles of small creatures and studying weevils, 359 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 1: he observed that they were grubs that hatched from eggs 360 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 1: and not as was commonly accepted, just sprouting forth from wheat. Similarly, 361 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: his examination of fleas resulted in a detailed description of 362 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: their life cycle, including hatching from eggs, which was in 363 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 1: opposition to a popular belief that they were generated spontaneously 364 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: from sand, dust or other particulate non living matter. For 365 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 1: a long time, what we now know our aunt's pupae 366 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: were believed to be their eggs, and it was laban 367 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: Hook who set the record straight on that, establishing that 368 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: their eggs are in fact much tinier than that, and 369 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,919 Speaker 1: that the insects passed through a larval stage before the 370 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: pupil was formed. His observations were not exclusively focused on 371 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,439 Speaker 1: tiny creatures, though. He also studied sea creatures such as 372 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: muscles and eels, both of which had been at one 373 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: point believed to be the product of spontaneous generation, and 374 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: seventeen o two he wrote extensively on the microscopic aquatic 375 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: invertebrates known as Radifer's So while the subjects of his 376 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: work were at times quite small, these were really huge 377 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,399 Speaker 1: developments in the scientific community. He died where he was 378 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: born on the twenty six of August seventeen twenty three. 379 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,360 Speaker 1: And we're going to revisit that letter that Thomas Molna 380 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: wrote to the Royal Society while visiting laven Hook, because 381 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: in addition to the sections that we read earlier in 382 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: the show, he also included this description, which became a 383 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: little bit famous. I found him a very little complacent man, 384 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: and doubtless of great natural abilities, but contrary to my expectations, 385 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: quite a stranger to letters master, neither of Latin, French 386 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: or English, or any of the modern tongues besides his own, 387 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: which is a great hindrance to him and his reasonings. 388 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: Upon his observations for being ignorant of all other men's thoughts. 389 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,880 Speaker 1: He is wholly trusting to his own, which I observe now, 390 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: and then lead him into extravagancies and suggest very odd 391 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: accounts of things. Nay, sometimes such as are wholly irreconcilable 392 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: with all truth. You see, sir, how freely I give 393 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: you my thoughts on him, because you desired it. But 394 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,359 Speaker 1: in some ways it seems as though part of the 395 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: reason that Antony von Levin Hook was so prolific in 396 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: his observations was because he was an outsider, without pre 397 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,679 Speaker 1: existing scientific ideas informing his work. He just saw what 398 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 1: he saw and then he recorded it, and he didn't 399 00:23:55,080 --> 00:24:00,200 Speaker 1: feel constrained by what was expected of a scientist. Yeah, 400 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: even though Leavin Hook made his observations beginning in sixteen 401 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: seventy three, it wasn't even until the eighteen hundreds that 402 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: people started to comprehend that, for example, the bacteria that 403 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,880 Speaker 1: he described were linked to disease. So he was so 404 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: far ahead that science could not had to have a 405 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: little time to catch up to what he had discovered. 406 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: And while his letters to colleagues and to the Royal 407 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 1: Society were collected into books, He never formally penned a 408 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,199 Speaker 1: book or wrote a scientific paper. In an interview with 409 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,719 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian in Marvin Bolt, he was curator of Science 410 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: and Technology at the Corning Museum of Glass, which is 411 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,919 Speaker 1: a fascinating place if you ever get the opportunity to 412 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,879 Speaker 1: go there. Quote Robert Hook was looking at parts of 413 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: animals that were already known, then von Levin Hook went 414 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: deeper to see on a cellular level things no one 415 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 1: had ever seen before, such as muscle fibers, sperm, and bacteria. 416 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: He really blazed the trail. So that's Anthony von Levin 417 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,199 Speaker 1: Hook and his teeny tiny SI and I love I 418 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: love it so much. By so much for joining us 419 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. Since this episode is out of the archive, 420 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: if you heard an email address or Facebook U r 421 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: L or something similar over the course of the show, 422 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: that could be obsolete now. Our current email address is 423 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 1: History Podcast at I heart radio dot com. Our old 424 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,879 Speaker 1: how stuff works email address no longer works, and you 425 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: can find us all over social media at missed in History. 426 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: And you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, 427 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,680 Speaker 1: Google podcast, the I heart Radio app, and wherever else 428 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts. 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