latter operation, having the effect of urging the body forward. Notwithstanding these circumstances, most of his observations, and nearly all his figures, are extremely accurate, and were of great value at a period when many knew no more about the subject than Mouffet, who affirms that Dragon-flies are produced from rotten bulrushes! In contrasting the splendour, and what he calls the noble life of the Dragon-fly, with the larva from which it is produced, he says, that the latter, creeping and swimming slowly, is obliged to live a life of misery; an expression probably used in a different sense from that which would most obviously attach to it.
After leaving the abode of his hospitable friend at Saumur, Swammerdam visited Paris, where he took up his residence with Nicholas Steno. It was here that he first became acquainted with Melchesedec Thevenot, with whom he formed an intimate friendship, and whose patronage and encouragement, owing both to his attachment to physical pursuits, and the influence attached to his rank, afterwards proved of the highest advantage and comfort to him. In company with Steno, he paid a visit to this gentleman's country seat at Yssi, a few miles distant from the French capital, where he not only had an opportunity of prosecuting his researches into the history of natural objects, but of being introduced to the society of all the individuals of any eminence, whose habits and inclinations were at all congenial with his own. During the discussions which they were accustomed to hold on various subjects in art and
