A wealthy Scottish cloth merchant, William Davidson settled in Amsterdam and married a Dutch woman. Through espionage, he actively supported the exiled King Charles II. After being restored to the throne, Charles II knighted Davidson and appointed him Conservator of the Staple at Veere, to protect Scottish trading privileges. The Dutchman, Anton van Leeuwenhoek was apprenticed to him from age sixteen to age twenty-two.
Van Leeuwenhoek looked at drops of water with home-made lenses. He looked at hundreds of different things with hundreds of hand-made microscopes. He lived in an exciting time when much was underfoot. He even examined rabbit spermatozoa under magnification. He sold cloth to pay his bills and freely shared the fruits of his inquiries into our physical world via letters to the Royal Society. I'd wager that the men across the Channel got much mileage out of Anton's studies. He sent them information for close to half a century.
At first his reports weren't believed, but like it or not, he had proven the existence of one celled creatures and that they reproduced, rather than occurring spontaneously, as had been believed by the experts of his day. Much tweaking would henceforth have to be done so that the proper people got the proper credit for these brand new sciences that were opening up. Also, the Western spiritual guides would have to decide how to fit new knowledge into an old paradigm.
Constantijn Huygens wrote to Robert Hooke on August 8, 1673 and stated that van Leeuwenhoek was “... a modest man, unlearned both in sciences and languages, but of his own nature, exceedingly curious and industrious... always modestly submitting his experiences and conceits about them to the censure and correction of the learned.”
It was some years before Anton's initial letters and reports about his findings made their way into the Royal Society. When they did, he was recommended to a Mr. Heinrich Oldenburg, who was the first Secretary in Charge of Foreign Correspondence, along with John Wilkins. These two men maintained an extensive network of scientific contacts throughout Europe. Oldenburg was a German theologian, a natural philosopher and acted as a diplomat while he resided in England. His patron was Robert Boyle and he hung out with John Milton between tutoring Boyle's young nephew.
Oldenburg also became the founding editor of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. It was Oldenburg who began the practice of sending submitted manuscripts to experts who would judge their quality before publication. This was the beginning of the modern scientific journal and the practice of peer review. PTOTRS continues today and is the longest running scientific journal in the world.
Heinrich Oldenburg was briefly imprisoned as a suspected spy, in 1667, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, seven years after being made a Fellow of the Society. Oldenburg's correspondence was supported by the politician, Sir Joseph Williamson, whom Oldenburg supplied with intelligence. Oldenburg solicited Anton van Leeuwenhoek's submitted letters. Until his death in 1677, he encouraged Anton and suggested further topics for van Leeuwenhoek's microscopic investigation.
It was Francis Bacon who taught the radical philosophers of the Royal Society to insist upon the repeatability of experiments. Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was the Curator of Experiments when van Leeuwenhoek started sending his letters to the Royal Society. Hooke himself tried to repeat van Leeuwenhoek's experiment in front of the other Fellows of the Society in London. His first attempt did not meet their standards, so a week later on November 15, 1677, he tried again. Everyone was then able to see "great numbers of exceedingly small animals swimming to and fro."
The man who had brought Anton van Leeuwenhoek to the attention of Heinrich Oldenburg, was a man named De Graaf. De Graaf was a fellow Dutchman who had done his Doctoral thesis on the study of the pancreas. He moved to Angers, France, continued his studies and earned a Medical Degree. Later in Paris, he branched off into the study of male genitalia. He was inspired to invent the syringe and was the first person to describe the reproductive function of the Fallopian tubes. He was also the first person to describe female ejaculation, the G-Spot and the anatomy of the testicles.
At this point, we will pause to absorb the foregoing and consider it in light of what follows here below.
A mud-puddle is difficult to explore due to its opacity, when compared to a pool of clear water. A pool of clear water is difficult to explore due to its clarity and one is easily trapped into gazing at their reflection on the smooth surface. However, a single drop taken from the muddy water is easily diffused and may thus be examined. One’s findings may be, in some respects, applied to the mud puddle as a whole. To me, the entire history of our species is very much like a mud-puddle. The aforementioned facts about the Royal Society, etc. will serve as my sample drop of muddy water.
History is very difficult to perceive because we weren't there in person. We must rely on three components: What is spoken or written, what our own eyes see and finally, our own reasoning faculties. As regards the first component, let us now remember the motto of the Royal Society, “Nullius in verba” or “Take nobody's word for it.” As to the second component, remember that looks can be deceiving. As regards the third component, reasoning is best done passively, that is letting the mind process data at a natural rate without attempting to consciously force it. It is the same with food and digestion cannot be consciously hurried.
Let us explore the drop that lies on the digital slide before us. We will use the relatively low-power lens of Wikipedia to examine any “wigglers” that present themselves to our notice. Whew! That drop of the historical mud-puddle contains a lot of wigglers. We shall highlight some of them for closer scrutiny, examine them and make our notes.
Wiggler: The Royal Society
Wikipedia tells us:
"The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the Royal Society of London. The Society today acts as a scientific advisor to the British government, receiving a parliamentary grant-in-aid. The Society acts as the UK's Academy of Sciences and funds research fellowships and scientific start-up companies."
"The Society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Society's President according to a set of Statutes and Standing Orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the basic members of the Society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. There are currently 1,700 Fellows allowed to use the post-nominal title FRS (Fellow of the Royal Society) or ForMemRS (Foreign Member of the Royal Society), with 52 new Fellows appointed each year. There are 185 Foreign members with 8 elected each year. These include Nobel Laureates. There are also 6 Royal Fellows and there are 6 Honorary Fellows. The current Royal Society President is, Adrian Smith who took up the position on 30 November 2020. Since 1967, the Society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace."
Wiggler: Royal Charter
Wikipedia tells us:
"A Royal Charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as with municipal charters or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and letters of appointment, as they have perpetual effect. Typically, a Royal Charter is produced as a high-quality work of calligraphy on vellum. The British Monarchy has issued over 1000 Royal Charters. Of these about 750 remain in existence. The earliest was to the town of Tain in 1066, making it the oldest Royal Burgh in Scotland, followed by the University of Cambridge in 1231."
"Charters continue to be issued by the British Crown, a recent example being The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity which received its charter on 7 April 2011. Charters have been used in Europe since Medieval times to create cities (i. e., localities with recognized legal rights and privileges). The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was founded, regardless of when the locality originally began to be settled. At one time a Royal Charter was the sole means by which an incorporated body could be formed, but other means such as the registration process for limited companies are generally used nowadays instead."
"Among the past and present groups formed by Royal Charter are the British East India Company (1600), the Hudson's Bay Company, the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), the British South Africa Company, some of the former British colonies of the North American mainland, City Livery Companies, the Bank of England and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)"
Wiggler: Letters Patent
Wikipedia tells us:
"Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title or status to a person or a corporation. They are so named from the Latin verb, pateo; to lie open, exposed and accessible. They are called thus from their Latin name litterae patentes long used by medieval and later scribes when such documents were written in Latin. They are expressed in the plural, in the ancient sense of a collection of letters of the alphabet arranged to be read rather than in the modern sense of the word as an epistle or item of correspondence; thus no singular form exists."
"Letters patent can be used for the creation of corporations, government offices, the granting of city status or of coats of arms. A particular form of letters patent has evolved into the modern patent granting exclusive rights in an invention. In this case it is essential that the written grant should be in the form of a public document so other inventors can consult it to avoid infringement. The opposite of letters patent are letters close (Latin: litterae clausae), which are personal in nature and sealed so that only the recipient can read their contents. The opposite of letters patent are letters close (Latin: litterae clausae), which are personal in nature and sealed so that only the recipient can read their contents."
Wiggler: Monarch
Wikipedia tells us:
"A monarch is the person at the head of a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and rules for life or until abdication. Monarchs may be autocrats as in an absolute monarchy or ceremonial heads of state who exercise little or only reserve power with actual authority vested in a parliament or other body such as in a constitutional monarchy."
"Monarchs have various titles. King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Malik, Malikah, Emperor, Empress, Shah, Archduke, Duke or Grand Duke. Prince is sometimes used as a generic term to describe any monarch regardless of title, especially in older texts. Many monarchs are distinguished by titles and styles. They often take part in certain ceremonies, such as coronations".
"Monarchy is associated with political or socio-cultural hereditary rule. Most monarchs both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, whose rule over a period of time is referred to as a dynasty and trained for future duties. Different systems of succession have been used such as proximity of blood, primogeniture and agnatic seniority (Salic law). While traditionally most monarchs have been male, female monarchs have also ruled in history; the term queen regnant refers to a ruling monarch, as distinct from a queen consort or the wife of a reigning king."
"Some monarchies are non-hereditary. In an elective monarchy, the monarch is elected but otherwise serves as any other monarch. Historical examples of elective monarchy include the Holy Roman Emperors (chosen by prince-electors but often coming from the same dynasty) and the free election of kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Modern examples include the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia and the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church who serves as Sovereign of the Vatican City State and is elected to a life term by the College of Cardinals."
"Monarchies have existed throughout the world although in recent centuries many states have abolished the monarchy and have become republics. Advocacy of republics is called republicanism while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the immediate continuity of leadership with a usually short interregnum as illustrated in the classic phrase, "The (old) King is dead. Long live the (new) King!" A form of government may in fact be hereditary without being considered monarchy, such as family dictatorship or political families present in some nominally democratic countries".
Wiggler: Monarchy
Wikipedia tells us:
"A monarchy is a form of government in which sovereignty is actually or nominally embodied in a single individual, the monarch."
Wiggler: Sovereignty
Wikipedia tells us:
"Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and to make law that rests on a political fact for which no pure legal definition can be provided. In theoretical terms, the idea of sovereignty, historically, from Socrates to Thomas Hobbes has always necessitated a moral imperative on the entity exercising it."
"For centuries past, the idea that a state could be sovereign was always connected to its ability to guarantee the best interests of its own citizens. Thus, if a state could not act in the best interests of its own citizens, it could not be thought of as a sovereign state. The concept of sovereignty has been discussed throughout history from the time of the Romans through to the present day. It has changed in its definition, concept and application throughout, especially during the Age of Enlightenment.
"The current notion of state sovereignty contains four aspects:
Domestic Sovereignty -actual control over a state exercised by an authority organized within this state.
Interdependence Sovereignty -actual control of movement across a state's borders, assuming the borders exist.
International Legal Sovereignty -formal recognition by other sovereign states.
Westphalian Sovereignty -lack of any other authority over a state except the domestic authority."
"Other authorities could be a non-domestic church, a non-domestic political organization or any other external agent. Often these four aspects appear together but this is not necessarily the case. They are not affected by one another and there are historical examples of states that were non-sovereign in one aspect while at the same time being sovereign in another of these aspects."
“There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is an indisputable fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon.” — Lassa Oppenheim (30-03-1858 to 07-10-1919), an authority on international law.
Wiggler Plus+: Sovereignty (We increase the magnification to find out who or what generates or promotes such a theory.)
Wikipedia tells us:
"Jean Bodin was born in Angers in 1530 and died in 1596. He was a French jurist, political philosopher, a member of the Parliament of Paris and a professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty. He was also an influential writer on demonology."
"Bodin lived during the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and wrote against the background of religious conflict in France. He remained a nominal Catholic throughout his life but was critical of papal authority over governments, favouring the strong central control of a national monarchy as an antidote to factional strife. Toward the end of his life he wrote but did not publish a dialogue among different religions including representatives of Judaism, Islam and natural theology in which all agreed to coexist in concord."
"The Réponse de J. Bodin aux paradoxes de M. de Malestroit (1568) was a tract provoked by theories of Jean de Malestroit in which Bodin offered one of the earliest scholarly analyses of the phenomenon of inflation, unknown prior to the 16th century. The background to discussion in the 1560s was that by 1550 an increase in the money supply in Western Europe had brought general benefits. But there had also been appreciable inflation. Silver arriving via Spain from the South American mine of Potosí, together with other sources of silver and gold was causing monetary change."
"Matin de Azpilicueta had alluded to the issue in 1556. He was an early observer that the rise in prices was due in large part to the influx of precious metals. Analyzing the phenomenon, among other factors, he pointed to the relationship between the amount of goods and the amount of money in circulation. These debates laid the foundation for the quantity theory of money. Bodin mentioned some other factors: population increase, trade, the possibility of economic migration and the consumption that he saw as profligate."
Wiggler Plus Plus++: Sovereignty (We further increase the magnification to find out what possible logic underlies the notion.)
Wikipedia tells us:
"The divine right of kings or the divine right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority and derives the right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy or any other estate of the realm including the Church. According to this doctrine, only God can judge an unjust king. The doctrine implies that any attempt to depose the king or to restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act."
"The remote origins of the theory are rooted in the medieval idea that God had bestowed earthly power on the king, just as God had given spiritual power and authority to the Church which centred on the Pope. One author of this theory was Jean Bodin who based it on his interpretation of Roman law. With the rise of nation-states and the Protestant Reformation, the theory of divine right justified the king's absolute authority in both political and in spiritual matters. The theory came to the fore in England under the reign of James I of England (1603–1625, also known as James VI of Scotland 1567–1625). The Scots textbooks of the divine right of kings were written in 1597-98 by James VI of Scotland before his accession to the English throne. His book, Basilikon Doron was a manual on the powers of a king written to edify his four-year-old son Henry Frederick. Louis XIV of France (1643–1715) strongly promoted the theory as well."
We have now had a careful look at a drop of history and needs be we allow ourselves to move on to other pursuits. We will look in on Mr. Leeuwenhoek as we put away our tools. Through a crack in the door of time we see that Leeuwenhoek did not inherit wealth. He staunchly preserved his independence and autonomy by controlling access to his time and to his knowledge. Anton Van Leeuwenhoek had no known professional affiliations other than the Royal Society in England. He was never known to have visited their offices nor to have attended a single meeting. He took in all suggestions but allowed no supervision of his work.
Leibnitz wrote to Christiaan Huygens on 2 March 1691: "I prefer a Leeuwenhoek who tells me what he sees to a Cartesian who tells me what he thinks.”
To that late Seventeenth Century profundity, I will simply add, “I think I see.”
fin
Comments