greater virulence than ever, accompanied with symptoms which he could not misinterpret. A slow and continued fever was gradually drying up the sources of life; his countenance became cadaverous, his legs, feet, and belly swollen, and his whole body was racked with continual pains. On becoming acquainted with his condition, Thevenot sent him the Jesuits' bark, then supposed to be of great efficacy in curing fevers; Swammerdam desired him also to send some specific against the dropsy, if he knew of any such. Finding himself grow gradually worse, he ceased entirely to speak of worldly concerns, and was unremitting in his preparations for the great change that was rapidly approaching. It took place on the 17th February, 1680.
On the 25th January of the same year, when he found himself in such a condition as to leave no hopes of recovery, he had made his will, by which he bequeathed to Thevenot, the friend so often mentioned in the course of this sketch, all his original manuscripts relating to the history of bees, butterflies, &c. along with fifty-two plates which had been engraved from his drawings. He ordered, besides, a collection of valuable papers on scientific subjects, then deposited in the house of Herman Wingendorp, at Leyden, to be delivered to the same person within a year after his death. Madam Volckers, wife of a physician named Daniel de Hoest, was made his heiress; this lady was also appointed his executrix, jointly with Christopher Van Weyland, but the latter dying soon after, the trust devolved entirely into her hands.
