Wrote Letter L-297 of 1696-07-23 to Pieter Rabus honey-dew on lime-trees; moisture from vine tendrils leads to a theory on the production of lacquer in tropical trees; his Delft friend has lost the capacity to handle the dowsing-rod

Date: 
July 23, 1696
Standard reference information
L-number: 
L-297
Leeuwenhoek's number: 
103a
Collected Letters number: 
171
Collected Letters volume: 
12

Text of the letter in the original Dutch and in English translation from Alle de Brieven. The Collected Letters at the DBNL - De Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren


Leeuwenhoek wrote this letter about …

Honey-dew, which according to L. comes from trees, is found to be a sweet, syrupy substance. On lime-trees L. finds a good deal of honey-dew, on other trees little or none. Moisture from vine tendrils induces L. to form a theory on the production of lacquer in tropical kinds of trees. L.'s Delft friend has lost the capacity to handle the dowsing-rod.