178 



KARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Liqueurs preparees et dans celles qui ne sont pas/' 

 &c. 4to. pp. 267, plates 53. 



It is scarcely probable that two observers should 

 have detected the "Satyr." We may therefore 

 conclude that "A. Y." palmed off on Mr. Urban a 

 copy of M. Joblot's animalcule as his own, a trick 

 not unknown even to the editor of Science-Gossip. 



Dr. Lardner, in his work on the Microscope, 

 gives a figure of the Satyr, copied from a drawing 

 of Dr. Young, differing but little from Mr. Baker's, 

 and says it is the " amymone satyr of Miiller." 



In 1754 a small work made its appearance, which 

 promised to give an abridgment of all that had 

 been written by the best authors concerning the 

 more curious objects, with the precautions neces- 

 sary to be taken to make the observations success- 

 ful. This book was written in French, and called 

 "L'Exercise du Microscope." The author, how- 

 ever, was an English optician of the name of Wat- 

 kins, living at Charing Cross, London. 



The author describes the usual microscopic 

 objects, and, like most of the " microscopists" of the 

 period, he was opposed to the theory of spontaneous 

 generation. As a specimen of his style, we quote 

 the following passage from his chapter " De la 

 Generation des Insectes 3f des Vegetaux ." — • 



"C'est sur le sujet de la generation des Insectes 

 & des Vegetaux, que ies Homines se sont trouvez 

 embroillez dans un Chaos de Tenebres & de Con- 

 fusion duquel on n'auroit jamais pu se debarasser 

 sans le secours du Microscope. We faut-il pas en 

 effet etre plonge dans lTguorance la plus grossiere 

 & la plus absurde que de s'imaginer que la Putre- 

 faction & l'Ordure avec l'Aide du Hazard pou- 

 voient produire des Millions de Creatures vivantes 

 de diverses Especes & former toutes les Parties 

 necessaires pour les Fonctions de la Vie & leur 

 donner l'lntelligence de chercher la Nourriture 

 propre pour continuer leur Existence ? Cependant 

 quelque etrange qu'une telle Opinion nous paroisse 

 a present, le Tems a ete quand ces Idees, toutes 

 absurdes quelles sont etoient etablies & receues 

 non seulment des Gens sans Lettres mais aussi des 

 Philosophes les plus savans & les plus eclairez 

 des Siecles passez." 



A little further on we find the following remarks 

 on Spermatozoa : — 



" On a decouvert par 1' Assistance des Verres que 

 le Semen masculinum des Animaux est rempli d'un 

 Nombre infini de petites Animalcules, pleines de 

 Vie & Vigueur, quoiqu'elles soient d'une Petitesse 

 si extreme, quetrois milles Millions n'egalement pas 

 la Grosseur d'un seul Grain de Sable. On trouve 

 ces Animalcules a peu pres de la meme Forme dans 

 toutes les differentes Especes d' Animaux ayant le 

 Corps d'une Figure ovale & la Queue tres longue 

 en Comparison du Corps. ... II est tres facile de 

 decouvrir ces Animalcules dans la Laite d'unPoisson, 

 on n'a qu'a presser le Poisson tant soit peu vers 



le Ventre & il en sortira de la Laite dont la 

 Grosseur de la Tete d'un Epingle suffira." 



In the following year (1754) was published " An 

 Account of Some New Microscopical Discoveries." 

 This book was dedicated to the President (Martin 

 Folkes) and Fellows of the Royal Society by the 

 author, T.N. (Turberville Needham). 



In this work, he propounds this theory, that 

 " a Drop of Water the Diameter of which exceeds 

 not a line may be a Sea not only as daily experience 

 shews in the Capacity which it has of containing 

 and affording Sustenance to Millions of Animals, but 

 also in the Similitude which these very Animals 

 may bear to several known Species in that part of 

 the Creation which is the Object of our naked Eyes. 

 A microscopical Animal may therefore in Shape and 

 relative Magnitude be to numberless Inferiors what 

 an Elephant, Ostrich, or Whale is in the several 



Kingdoms of Beasts, Birds, or Fish Some 



general Reflections of this nature succeeding to 

 those late Wonderful Discoveries of the Properties 

 of the Fresh- water Polype, for which the world is 

 obliged to the ingenious Mr. Trembley, induced 

 me to examine if no Species of Fish could be found 

 in the Sea, which, bearing a near Resemblance to it, 

 might be almost in Large what this is in Miniature, 

 and serve by Induction to clear up those Phenomena 

 at least which escape our Apprehension upon 

 account of the Minuteness of the Object." 



Mr. Needham devotes 59 pages to a description 

 of the Calamary. A very good figure is given of 

 the lingual baud. He describes the teeth upon it 

 as follows : — "A curious Arrangement of new 

 Rows of Teeth invests in a manner the whole 

 Expansion on one side of a thin transparent Mem- 

 brane to which they adhere. The Area of this 

 Membrane, tho' it be so minute in a Calamary 

 of the largest size as not to exceed half an Inch in 

 Length and one Tenth of an Inch in Breadth, yet 

 affords sufficient space to contain without confusion 

 five hundred and four Teeth of several Shapes, each 

 Row being composed of fifty-six." 



The chapter on the Farina fozcundans (Pollen) is 

 very interesting, and reminds the reader of the 

 painstaking investigations of Leeuwenhoek. The 

 author's dissections and microscopic examinations 

 soon satisfied him that the explanations of M. 

 Tournefort and others respecting the use of the 

 stamina in flowers was incorrect. Their theory was 

 that the stamens were a kind of excretory ducts, 

 and that the pollen was the excrement of the food 

 of the fruit or embryo plant discharged by filtration. 



This theory was, however, opposed by Mr. Mor- 

 land, M. Geoffroy, and others, who " found a nobler 

 use for it, and were of an Opinion which appears 

 to be the most agreeable to Truth, that it is this 

 Dust which, falling on the Pistil, impregnates and 

 fecundities the Grain or Fruit inclosed therein and 

 hence it is called Farina fcecundans." 



