Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/26

20 this individual, and of Barentje Corver, daughter of John Jansz Corver, and was born at Amsterdam, on the 12th February, 1637. He was from the first intended for one of the learned professions, and was early instructed in Latin and Greek with that view. As he grew up, his father formed the wish that he should study for the church, but from some cause or other he was himself disinclined to this step, and soon ceased to contemplate it. This probably arose from the high sense he entertained of the responsibility attached to the sacred office, and an apprehension that his talents and disposition might not fit him to discharge its duties in a manner commensurate with the idea he had formed of their importance. Under these circumstances, he obtained his father's consent to apply himself to medicine, a study well adapted to his inclinations, as attracting his attention to physical pursuits. Another strong incitement to such investigations was presented by the contents of his father's museum, which he was employed in arranging and keeping in a proper state of preservation. "This occupation," says the learned Boerhaave, to whom we are indebted for an interesting Life of Swammerdam, "led him to examine natural objects, even from his childhood, with the greatest attention. He soon ceased to be contented with what his father had purchased, and began to form a collection for himself. He devoted himself, in particular, to the examination of insects, pursued them in the fields, purchased them, exchanged other objects for them, and