Hans Sloane wrote Letter L-466 of sometime before 28 August 1708 on behalf of the Royal Society that recent letters have been received with pleasure and read to the attentive members

This letter is known only by reference in Leeuwenhoek’s reply.

In this letter, the Royal Society told Leeuwenhoek that recent letters had been received with pleasure and read to the attentive members.

This letter was most likely written by Hans Sloane as second secretary of the Society and editor of Philosophical Transactions.

The previous letter from the Royal Society to Leeuwenhoek, also probably written by Sloane, was Letter L-460 of 4 November 1707.

Leeuwenhoek wrote three letters to the Society that were read aloud at meetings. See Sir Hans Sloane’s secretarial minute books of Royal Society meetings, 1707-1711, Royal Society Manuscripts General, MS 557.2.5.

• Letter 274 L-462 of 6 December 1707, about an ox’s and a hog’s tongue, was read on 4 and 11 February 1707/8 O.S.
• Letter 275 L-463 of December 1707 or early 1708, about his experiments with red coral, was read on 3 March 1707/8 O.S.
• Letter 276 L-464 of 29 June 1708, about the white substance on his own tongue, was read on 27 October 1708 O.S.

All three letters were published in Philosophical Transactions, vol. 26, nos. 315, 316, and 318. These numbers were delivered to Leeuwenhoek by Alexander Stuart on 2 January 1710. See Letter L-473 from Hans Sloane of late 1709.