28 SEMINAL VERMICULI. WT. 
tion, as is proved by facts. To fix the point, I 
awaited till the human femen cooled. I then took 
fome drops, and fpread them very thin on a 
watch-glafs. The vermiculi of the {pread drops, 
though thefe were of confiderable thicknefs, con- 
dtantly perifhed fooner than thofe of the whole 
femen ; becaufe, asI think, the former were more 
expofed to the air. Two equal portions were tak- 
en at the fame time, and the one put ina clofe 
and the other in an open veflel : the vermiculi of 
the latter always died fooner. The privation they 
underwent clearly afcertains how injurious this 
element was to them. They lived longer in vacuo 
than in the open air ; fo that all were dead, when 
fome {till lived in a vacuum. The difference of 
time in their death was an hour and a half, two, 
even three hours, and fometimes longer, accord- 
ing to the feafon of the experiments. ‘Thefe faGs 
prove, that the air is noxious to the vermiculi ; 
and the following evince that it is the caufe of 
their being in continual agitation. Capillary 
tubes were made at the blow-pipe, and one end 
immerfed in recent femen ; it afcended the cavi- 
ty of the tube to a confiderable height. Break- 
ing the tubes near the part to which it rofe, I pre- 
fented this extremity to the blow-pipe, and in- 
ftantly fealed it. The fame.was done to the o- 
ther end, by which means the feminal fluid was 
deprived of all communication with the external 
air. 
