THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



NOVEMBER, 1828. 



Art. I. On the Metamorphoses of the Reproductive Bodies of 

 some A^lgcBy said to possess successively/ an Animal and a Vege- 

 table Existence, By A. 



One of the most extraordinary opinions now supported by 

 various naturalists, is that which maintains a twofold vitality 

 in a certain class of bodies, or, in other words, both an ani- 

 mal and a vegetable existence. Some very celebrated names 

 have lent their testimony to confirm this opinion, and it is 

 asserted that many of their conclusions are the results of actual 

 experiment. It is true, they do not assert that any individual 

 body is at once both an animal and a vegetable, but they do 

 assert that it passes from an animal to a vegetable state with- 

 out disorganisation. 



" There, are phenomena in the kingdom of nature," ob- 

 serves Professor Nees von Esenbeck (as quoted in the Annales 

 des Sciences Naturelles), " which can hardly require too fre- 

 quently repeated experiments, and which, when proved, demand 

 the support of numerous recorded authorities. For, as the 

 phenomena in question appear to contradict certain principles 

 admitted into the reigning systems, we often prefer rather to 

 deny the conclusions of candid and experienced observers, than 

 to receive what has hitherto been regarded as untenable by 

 generally received authority. 



" In this situation are placed all observations upon the 

 transition, or metamorphosis, of vegetable life (which is charac- 

 terised by immobility) into animal life (distinguished by mo- 

 tion) ; the moment when a being, arrived at the period of its 

 existence, continues itself, as it were, by a new creation, and 

 the animated embryo developes itself into a motionless vege- 

 table." 



Vol. I, — No. 4. y 



