Steven Blankaart

Steven Blankaart Latinized as Stephanus Blancardus (24 October 1650, Middelburg – 23 February 1704, Amsterdam) was a Dutch physician, iatrochemist, and entomologist, who worked on the same field as Jan Swammerdam.

[1] Blankaart proved the existence of a capillary system, as had been suggested by Leonardo da Vinci, by spouting up blood vessels, though he failed to realize the true significance of his findings.

In order to disprove the theory that insects originated spontaneously from filth and to demonstrate that they developed from eggs, Blankaart repeated the experiments carried out by Francesco Redi.

Blankaart used oil made from turpentine to save the insects from mites, and mentioned it in his book Schou-burg from 1688.

Blankaart was a follower of Franciscus Sylvius, who recommended drinking copious quantities of tea and coffee.