Finding Wonder
Y
ou’ve probably never heard of Antoni
van Leeuwenhoek. In the early 1670s in
Holland he ran a small fabric shop where
he became adept at grinding magnifying
lenses. When he looked through a pair of eyeglasses
he’d made that could magnify 270 times, what he saw
astounded him. In a single drop of water, he found
“little eels, or worms, lying all huddled up together
and wriggling … the whole water seemed to be alive
with the multifarious animalcules.” And so, a simple
button salesman discovered most of life on earth.
Van Leeuwenhoek’s story is described by Robert
Krulwich in his blog for National Geographic
published August 2, 2016. What Krulwich recognized
is similar to what we have found in publishing this
issue of Naturally Kiawah: if you look closely at our
world and remain open to what you see, you can
discover a world of wonder inside.
Here in our research issue, we have put Kiawah
Island “under the microscope” so to speak and
learned so much. This publication takes a close
look at the science behind our beautiful Island—
what we know about it, the how and why of that
knowledge, and what it all means for us today and
into the future. We hope you will keep this issue for
years to come and enjoy the discoveries contained
inside. The Kiawah Conservancy is grateful to the
Town of Kiawah Island, our partner is so many of
our endeavors, for the grant that made this special
edition possible. NK
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Photo by Pamela Cohen