Letter 0627

Chamberlayne perused Mr. Leeuwenhoek’s letter in the Philosophical Transactions, although he would have liked to read it in the original Dutch. The translator is either Dutch, ‘or else one that has almost forgot his own language’ and falls into Dutch idioms (e.g. ‘thumbs’ for ‘inches’). Chamberlayne discusses how smoke and heat affect the ‘little creatures’ in teeth and believes that Leeuwenhoek’s work affirms God’s role in the generation of all creatures. John Chamberlayne was a translator and editor specializing in modern languages which he studied at the University of Leiden. He translated works on many topics, was a fellow of the Royal Society, and published three works in the Philsophical Transactions (Reavley Gair, Chamberlayne, John (1668/91723), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5060, accessed 30 May 2011]).