Wrote Letter L-449 of 1707-01-01 to Angelus van Wikhuysen about the use of cinchona bark as a remedy

Date: 
January 1, 1707
Standard reference information
L-number: 
L-449
Leeuwenhoek's number: 
177
Collected Letters number: 
266
Collected Letters volume: 
15

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


No manuscript is known. Not published. Known only by reference in another letter.

Leeuwenhoek wrote this letter about the use of cinchona bark as a remedy.

A few parts of this letter are quoted by Leeuwenhoek in Letter L-457 of 25 July 1707 to the Royal Society

I wrote as follows to Mr. van Wikhuijsen.

"I remember that some years ago I learned about the China Chinae, but that it should only be used with the greatest caution, because now and then it harmed the body in such a way that, although the fever did not arise, the trouble that followed was a greater evil than the fever itself.

"Since Your Honour has had much experience with China Chinae, you will no doubt know with sufficient certainty whether the said medicament entails any illness, which I shall be pleased to learn."

Published in Philosophical Transactions 25 (1706-1707), no. 312 (October, November, and December 1707), pp. 2446-2451).

Van Wikhuysen answered this letter with Letter L-456 of 15 July 1707.