39 SEMINAL VERMICULI Il. 
It will undoubtedly feem paradoxical, that the 
vermiculi live longer in {pring and autumn than 
in f{ummer. The reverfe apparently fhould hap- 
pen; for the heat of fummer fhould be more 
congenial to them, as it approaches nearer to the 
natural heat of living man. At firft, it gave me 
confiderable furprife, nor was it diminifhed on 
reflecting, that in open air they live much longer 
' when the weather is warm. This induced me to 
repeat my experiments. And] conftantly found, 
that, during fummer, they never lived as long in 
tubes as during fpring and autumn. In fummer, 
they abfolutely die fooner on the warmeft days. 
With a little refleGtion, it is not difficult to com- 
prehend the caufe of the difference. We have 
feen that the femen of man and animals, when 
removed from its natural fituation, very foon 
becomes putrid, and putrefaction takes place 
earlier as the heat is greater to which it is expo- 
fed. To this caufe, therefore, I afcribe the more 
immediate 
men of a dog in a glafs tube during fummer 5 many az 
onalbale were dead the firt day, more on the fecond and 
third, and on the fourth very few were alive. Next yeary 
he examined fome femen taken from the fame dog ; for fe« 
ven days and nights, fome animaltcula were ftill alive, and 
a few fwam with as much velocity as if they had recently 
come from the animal. De diuturna vita animaleulorum in 
femine mafculo canis——S« 
