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Animalcule
Animalcule (; ) is an archaic term for microscopic organisms that included bacteria, protozoans, and very small animals. The word was invented by 17th-century Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek to refer to the microorganisms he observed in rainwater. Some better-known types of animalcule include: * '' Actinophrys'', and other heliozoa, termed sun animalcules. * ''Amoeba'', termed ''Proteus'' animalcules. * '' Noctiluca scintillans'', commonly termed the sea sparkles. * ''Paramecium'', termed slipper animalcules. * ''Rotifers'', termed wheel animalcules. * '' Stentor'', termed trumpet animalcules. * '' Vorticella'', and other peritrichs, termed bell animalcules. The concept seems to have been proposed at least as early as about 30 BC, as evidenced by this translation from Marcus Varro's ''Rerum Rusticarum Libri Tres'': Note also if there be any swampy ground, both for the reasons given above, and because certain minute animals, invisible to the eye, breed there, and, bo ...
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Animalcules Observed By Anton Van Leeuwenhoek C1795 1228575
Animalcule (; ) is an archaic term for microscopic organisms that included bacteria, protozoans, and very small animals. The word was invented by 17th-century Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek to refer to the microorganisms he observed in rainwater. Some better-known types of animalcule include: * '' Actinophrys'', and other heliozoa, termed sun animalcules. * '' Amoeba'', termed ''Proteus'' animalcules. * '' Noctiluca scintillans'', commonly termed the sea sparkles. * '' Paramecium'', termed slipper animalcules. * ''Rotifers'', termed wheel animalcules. * '' Stentor'', termed trumpet animalcules. * '' Vorticella'', and other peritrichs, termed bell animalcules. The concept seems to have been proposed at least as early as about 30 BC, as evidenced by this translation from Marcus Varro's ''Rerum Rusticarum Libri Tres'': Note also if there be any swampy ground, both for the reasons given above, and because certain minute animals, invisible to the eye, breed there, an ...
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Rotifer
The rotifers (, from Latin 'wheel' and 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic Coelom#Pseudocoelomates, pseudocoelomate animals. They were first described by John Harris (writer), Rev. John Harris in 1696, and other forms were described by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1703. Most rotifers are around long (although their size can range from to over ), and are common in freshwater environments throughout the world with a few Seawater, saltwater species. Some rotifers are free swimming and truly planktonic, others move by inchworming along a substrate, and some are Sessility (zoology), sessile, living inside tubes or gelatinous holdfast (biology), holdfasts that are attached to a substrate. About 25 species are colonial (e.g., ''Sinantherina semibullata''), either sessile or planktonic. Rotifers are an important part of the freshwater zooplankton, being a major foodsource and with many specie ...
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Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek
Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch art, science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists. Van Leeuwenhoek is best known for his pioneering work in microscopy and for his contributions toward the establishment of microbiology as a scientific discipline. Raised in Delft, Dutch Republic, Van Leeuwenhoek worked as a draper in his youth and founded his own shop in 1654. He became well-recognized in municipal politics and developed an interest in lensmaking. In the 1670s, he started to explore microbial life with his microscope. Using single-lensed microscopes of his own design and make, Van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe and to experiment with microbes, which he originally referred to as , or . He was the first to relatively determine t ...
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Vorticella
''Vorticella'' is a genus of bell-shaped ciliates that have stalks to attach themselves to substrates. The stalks have contractile myonemes, allowing them to pull the cell body against substrates. The formation of the stalk happens after the free-swimming stage. Etymology The organism is named ''Vorticella'' due to the beating cilia creating whirlpools, or vortices. It is also known as the “Bell Animalcule” due to its bell-shaped body. History ''Vorticella'' was first described by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in a letter dated October 9, 1676. Leeuwenhoek thought that ''Vorticella'' had two horns moving like horse ears near the oral part, which turned out to be oral cilia beating to create water flow. In 1755, German miniature painter August Johann Rösel described ''Vorticella'', which was named ''Hydra convallaria'' by Linnaeus in 1758. However, in 1767, it was renamed ''Vorticella convallaria''. Otto Friedrich Müller listed 127 species of ''Vorticella'' in 1786, but many ...
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Infusoria
Infusoria is a word used to describe various freshwater microorganisms, including ciliates, copepods, Euglena, euglenoids, planktonic crustaceans, protozoa, unicellular algae and small invertebrates. Some authors (e.g., Otto Bütschli, Bütschli) have used the term as a synonym for Ciliophora. In modern, formal classifications, the term is considered obsolete; the microorganisms previously and colloquially referred to as Infusoria are mostly assigned to the clades Diaphoretickes (e.g. ciliates, most algae), Amorphea (e.g. crustaceans and other small animals) and Discoba (euglenids). In other contexts, the term is used to define various aquatic microorganisms found in decomposing matter. Aquarium use Certain microorganisms, including cyclops (copepod), cyclops and daphnia (among others), are sold as a supplemental fishkeeping, fish food. Some fish stores or pet shops may have these infusoria available for live purchase, but typically they are sold in frozen cubes—for example, by ...
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Paramecium
''Paramecium'' ( , , plural "paramecia" only when used as a Common name, vernacular name) is a genus of eukaryotic, unicellular ciliates, widespread in freshwater, brackish, and Ocean, marine environments. Paramecia are often abundant in stagnant basins and ponds. Because some species are readily cultivated and easily induced to sexual conjugation, conjugate and divide, they have been widely used in classrooms and laboratories to study biological processes. ''Paramecium'' species are commonly studied as model organisms of the ciliate group and have been characterized as the "laboratory rat, white rats" of the phylum Ciliophora. Historical background ''Paramecium'' were among the first ciliates to be observed by microscopy, microscopists, in the late 17th century. They were most likely known to the Dutch pioneer of protozoology, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, and were clearly described by his contemporary Christiaan Huygens in a letter from 1678. The earliest known illustration of a ...
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Philosophical Transactions
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journal in the world exclusively devoted to science, after the '' Journal des sçavans'', and therefore also the world's longest-running scientific journal. It became an official society publication in 1752. The use of the word ''philosophical'' in the title refers to natural philosophy, which was the equivalent of what would now be generally called ''science''. Current publication In 1887 the journal expanded and divided into two separate publications, one serving the physical sciences ('' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences'') and the other focusing on the life sciences ('' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences''). Both journals now publish theme ...
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Henry Oldenburg
Henry Oldenburg (also Henry Oldenbourg) (c. 1618 as Heinrich Oldenburg – 5 September 1677) was a German theologian, diplomat, and natural philosopher, known as one of the creators of modern scientific peer review. He was one of the foremost intelligencers of 17th-century Europe, with a network of correspondents to rival those of Fabri de Peiresc, Marin Mersenne, and Ismaël Boulliau. At the foundation of the Royal Society in London, he took on the task of foreign correspondence, as the first Secretary. Early life Born in Bremen, Germany, he was trained in theology and received his degree from the local ''Gymnasyum illustre'' on 2 November 1639. He had an initial very firm grasp of the German, Latin, and Greek languages. His movements during the 1640s are unclear, but he is thought to have worked as a tutor in England for much of the decade. In 1648 he left England and spent some time in Leiden and Utrecht in the Dutch Republic, where he became conversant in the Dutc ...
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Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, education and public engagement and fostering international and global co-operation. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by Charles II of England, King Charles II and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world. 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 about 1,700 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow ...
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Archaism
In language, an archaism is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a historical epoch beyond living memory, but that has survived in a few practical settings or affairs. lexicon, Lexical archaisms are single archaic words or expressions used regularly in an affair (e.g. religion or law) or freely; literature, literary archaism is the survival of archaic language in a traditional literary text such as a nursery rhyme or the deliberate use of a style (fiction), style characteristic of an earlier age—for example, in his 1960 novel ''The Sot-Weed Factor (1960 novel), The Sot-Weed Factor'', John Barth writes in an 18th-century style. Archaic words or expressions may have distinctive emotional connotations—some can be humorous (''forsooth''), some highly formal (''What say you?''), and some solemn (''With thee do I plight my troth''). The word ''archaism'' is from the , ''archaïkós'', 'old-fashioned, antiquated', ultimately , ''archaîos'', 'f ...
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The Pirates Of Penzance
''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where it was well received by both audiences and critics. Its London debut was on 3 April 1880, at the Opera Comique, where it ran for 363 performances. The story concerns Frederic, who, having completed his 21st year, is released from his apprenticeship to a band of tender-hearted pirates. He meets the daughters of the incompetent Major-General Stanley, including Mabel, and the two young people fall instantly in love. Frederic soon learns, however, that he was born on 29 February, and so, technically, he has a birthday only once each leap year. His indenture specifies that he remain apprenticed to the pirates until his "twenty-first birthday", meaning that he must serve for another 63 years. Bound by his own sense of duty ...
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Major-General's Song
"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" (often referred to as the "Major-General's Song" or "Modern Major-General's Song") is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera ''The Pirates of Penzance''. It has been called the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan patter song. Sung by Major-General Stanley at his first entrance, towards the end of Act I, the character introduces himself by presenting his résumé as a polymath but admitting to fundamental shortcomings. He claims a wide range of classical, historical and scientific knowledge but admits that he knows little of military tactics, weapons or jargon. The song thereby satirises the idea of the "modern" educated British Army officer of the latter 19th century. The song is replete with historical and cultural references, in which the Major-General describes his impressive and well-rounded education in non-military matters, but he says that his military knowledge has "only been brought down to the beginning ...
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