On the nature of the minute Fibres which compofe the fiejhy parts 

 of feveral Animals, and aljo of Fifhes and Infects. 



IN my examination of the component Fibres of the flelh of oxen 

 and cows, I judged tliat each fingle Fibie was fo minute, that fifty 

 of them, placed together, were no more than equal in diameter to 

 one twenty-fecond part of an inch ; but, if we take the twentieth 

 part of an inch, and allow the other two parts for the membranes in 

 which the flefhy Fibres are inclofcd, it will amount to one thoufand 



1,000 flefhy Fibres in the length of an inch, and, confe- 



1,000 quently, a million of fuch Fibres, wrapped in their 



1 000 000 membranes, will be comprifed in the coinpafs of a 



fquare Inch. In fome of my obfervations, it appeared 



to me, that about an himdred of thefe flefhy Fibres, lying clofe to- 

 gether with a membrane furrounding them, compofed one fmall 

 flclhy mufcle : at another time I faw, in an ox's tongue, three fmall 

 fleftiy mufcles, each of them enveloped in a membrane, lying clofe 

 together; and, having cut them tranfverfely,! found that the fpace 

 they occupied was not fo much as could be covered by a grain of 

 fand (one hundred of which grains, placed fide by fide, make up 

 the length of an inch). Now, if we fuppofe that two hundred of 

 thefe flefliy Fibres, inclofed in their membranes, compofe a fmall 

 flelhy mufcle, five thoufand of thofe fmall muscles will go to make 

 up the dimenfions of a fquare inch. I compared the thicknefs of 

 thefe flefliy Fibres with the fize of a hair taken from my wig, and 

 I judged that at leaft four Fibres of an ox's flefli, taken near the ribs, 

 were contained within the fize of one of thole hairs, and that a hair 

 of my beard was nine times as large as one of thofe Fibres. We 

 mufi; not imagine that thefe flefliy Fibres are round, but each of. 



Vol. 11. P. 



