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judged tliat I faw fome thoufands of them in a portion of liquid, no 

 larger than a grain of fand, and this hquid confifted of eight 

 parts water, and one part only of the before-mentioned fubftance 

 taken from the teeth. 



With the point of a needle, I took fome of the fame kind of 

 fubftance from the teeth of two ladies, who I knew were very 

 2)un6lual in cleaning them every day, and therein I obferved as 

 many of thefe animalcules as I have juft mentioned. I alfo faw 

 the fame in the white fubftance taken from the teeth of a boy 

 about eight years old ; and upon examining in like manner, the 

 lame fubftance taken from the teeth of an old gentleman, who 

 was very carelefs about keeping them clean, I found an incredible 

 number of living animalcules, fwimming about more rapidly than 

 any I had before feen, and in fuch numbers, that the water which 

 contained th.em, (though but a fmall portion of the matter taken 

 from the teeth was mixed in it,) feemed to be alive. 



Some time after making the preceding obfervations, I received 

 from Sir Hans Sloane, a packet, containing three fmall maggots, 

 two of which were dead, and the third alive, with a letter, inform- 

 ing me that they were found in a perfon's decayed tooth, from 

 whence they had been expelled by fumigation. Upon examining 

 thefe, I had no doubt that they were of the fort found in cheefe, 

 and upon comparing them with fome living ones which I procured 

 from a cheefemonger, I found them to correfpond exa611y in make 

 and fhape. Thefe maggots are the offspring of a fmall fly, whicii 

 is frequently feen in clieefemongers' fliops, and lays its eggs in 

 the cheefe, where tlie little maggots produced from them find 

 nourifliment, and are in time converted into flies. 



The maggots fent me by the cheefemonger, I kept in a glafs 

 tube, and fupplied them with food, and in a fhort time they were 

 converted into flies, which laid eggs, and thefe again produced 

 maggots of the fame kind as the former. The living maggot 



