Expectation, prejudice and observation

Expectation, prejudice and observation 

Van Leeuwenhoek was no scientist; he was an amateur but apparently a highly skilled one in both modifying and using optical equipment. Through his skill and persistence he became a scientific celebrity. These facts are widely known. What many people may not know, through, is his initial goal in microscopic observation: to find the secret of pepper. At the time, spices were brought to Europe from Asia at great cost and with considerable trouble. If Europeans managed to unlock the secrets of spice flavours, they could reproduce them locally, without the expense and perils of foreign travel and commerce.

In accordance with the beliefs of the time, Van Leeuwenhoek expected to find the secret of pepper in the form of its microscopic structure. The taste was sharp, so he expected to see sharp edges and corners in the particles of the stuff. Instead, he was surprised by images of a wide variety of "little animals". The rest is history but what would have happened if he had ignored what he actually saw, if he dismissed the "little animals" as irrelevant noise and became fixated on sharp things, searching desperately for anything that could be presented as evidence? To his credit, he became fascinated by what he saw and did not try it to fit it to then fashionable notions.