Interactive visualisation of Swammerdam’s microscopic drawings

In this visualization, the famous drawings on insect anatomy by Jan Swammerdam are presented in an accessible manner, allowing for easy comparison. Notwithstanding the individual plates' 'film'-like representation of a creature's development, in the light of 17th-century natural history the author's principal aim was to highlight the analogous development, in corresponding stages, of both the higher and the lower animal species. The drawings testify to the opening up of a previously hidden realm of animal development and complexity, and were instrumental in criticizing the notion of 'sponateous generation' of insects.