dam, for the more convenient prosecution of his business, which was that of a timber merchant, he obtained the surname of Swammerdam from his native place, according to a practice which was very prevalent in Holland about that period. His only son, John James Swammerdam, the father of the subject of this memoir, was born at Amsterdam in the year 1606, and was brought up to the profession of an apothecary. This he seems to have exercised with sufficient success to enable him to devote a considerable portion, both of time and money, to the study of natural history, for which he had a strong partiality. This propensity led him to collect natural objects from all quarters, and the extensive commerce of the Dutch afforded great facilities, at that time, for accomplishing such a purpose. He amassed an extensive assortment of different animals, among which insects occupied the most prominent place, and likewise many plants and fossils, all which he arranged with great care, according to the crude notions which then prevailed respecting their differences or relations to each other. This collection, which likewise contained a great variety of miscellaneous curiosities, Chinese porcelain, articles of vertù, &c., became so celebrated, that strangers visiting the city were accustomed to resort to it, as one of the spectacles deserving of their attention. Such was the owner's estimate of its value, that he considered it worth sixty thousand florins.
The distinguished physiologist, of whom it is our purpose more particularly to speak, was the son of
