task, which he afterwards regretted that he had undertaken.
During the years 1671 and 1672, his principal studies seem to have been more directly connected with his profession, for we find that he transmitted in that period to the Royal Society of London, a variety of plates representing the womb of a human subject, together with drawings of the spermatic vessels, tube of the womb, and ovaries. These were partly intended to illustrate his manner of making anatomical preparations, and filling both arteries and veins, even to their minutest ramifications, with a substance which preserved their primitive form and position. These were accompanied with a uterus prepared in the manner recommended. It was likewise his wish, by this communication, to vindicate his right, which had been disputed, to the discovery of certain facts regarding the spermatic vessels and the organs of generation. He was much engaged, also, at the period of which we now speak, in dissecting fishes, and making observations on their internal organs and their functions. The nature and properties of the pancreatic fluid, a subject which then excited much interest among physiologists, obtained a large share of his attention; and he made some important discoveries regarding the nature and cause of hernia. In 1673, he subjected to his powerful microscopes a variety of ferns in order to examine the fructification, which was then little understood. Two congenial spirits. Grew[1] and Malpighi,[2] entered upon this
