Animalcule
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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 ref
A 1795 illustration of van Leeuwenhoek's animalcules by an unknown artist
Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek. Natuurkundige te Delft Rijksmuseum SK A 957
Major-General's Song
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"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" 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 so
Animalcule
…Leeuwenhoek to describe microorganisms that he discovered. In Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, the word appears in adjectival form in the 'Major-General's Song', in which Major-General Stanley sings, 'I know the scientific names of beings animalculous...' The term continued to be current at least as late as…
Drawing from 1884 children's Pirates
1880 poster