Visited again by Alexander Stuart
In a letter to James Pettiver on August 18, 1711, Leeuwenhoek referred to a visit from Alexander Stuart, whom he described as a doctor of medicine. He also said that Stuart gave him a copy of the disputation for his graduation ceremony, by which Leeuwenhoek meant the dissertation that Stuart had defended when he received his doctor of medicine degree on June 11, 1711. These details suggest that Stuart visited between June 11 and August 18.
The letter of 18 August 1711 (AB 287) to Sir James Petiver begins,
I have received your missive of the 2nd of August 1711, in which you expressed your displeasure that you were not received at my house.
I would request you not to take it ill of me, since everyone who seeks to visit me is refused entrance unless he has a letter of recommendation.
I did properly receive Mr Alexander Stuart, doctor of medicine, who also presented me with a disputation for his graduation ceremony and to whom you had handed the Transactions and the letter of Mr Hans Sloane and who also brought them to me, along with two gentlemen accompanying him, and I showed them several of my observations.
