ANTONI VAN LEEUWENHOEK, THE FOUNDER OF “SPERMATOLOGY”

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek— the founder of spermatology. In 1673, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was accepted as a correspondent of the Royal Society. The microscopes, which Van Leeuwenhoek used for his investigations, were all single microscopes. Although compound microscopes with two lenses already existed, Van Leeuwenhoek preferred the single microscope because it produced a very clear image. Van Leeuwenhoek ground the lenses himself and, during his life, constructed more than 500 microscopes, of which only nine are still in existence. The best specimen of Van Leeuwenhoek's microscopes, kept at Utrecht in the Netherlands, have a diameter magnification of 270μ and a resolving power of 1.4μ. The discovery of spermatozoa in the uterus by Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek was considered to be a very strong argument against the ovulists who had always pointed to the fact that seminal fluid had never been found in the uterus or in the tubes and therefore, only the volatile animal spirit from the semen in the vagina could reach the ovum.