BIOGENESIS 2f 



either perfect or imperfect; and everything which we 

 know in past or present times that she has produced, 

 came solely from the true seeds of the plants and ani- 

 mals themselves, which thus, through means of their 

 own, preserve their species. And, although it be a mat- 

 ter of daily observation that infinite numbers of worms 

 are produced in dead bodies and decayed plants, I feel, 

 I say, inclined to believe that these worms are all gen- 

 erated by insemination and that the putrefied matter in 

 which they are found has no other office than that of 

 serving as a place, or suitable nest, where animals de- 

 posit their eggs at the breeding season, and in which they 

 also find nourishment ; otherwise, I assert that nothing is 

 ever generated therein. And, in order, Signor Carlo, 

 to demonstrate to you the truth of what I say, I will de- 

 scribe to you some of those insects, which, being most 

 common, are best known to us. 



It being thus, as I have said, the dictum of ancients 

 and moderns, and the popular belief, that the putrescence 

 of a dead body, or the filth of any sort of decayed matter 

 engenders worms ; and being desirous of tracing the truth 

 in the case, I made the following experiment : 



At the beginning of June I ordered to be killed three 

 snakes, the kind called eels of ^sculapius. As soon as 

 they were dead, I placed them in an open box to decay. 

 Not long afterwards I saw that they were covered with 

 worms of a conical shape and apparently without legs. 

 These worms were intent on devouring the meat, in- 

 creasing meanwhile in size, and from day to day I ob- 

 served that they likewise increased in number; but, al- 

 though of the same shape, they differed in size, having 

 been bom on different days. But all, little and big, after 

 having consumed the meat, leaving only the bones intact. 



