48 SEMINAL VERMICULI. il. 
tobacco, the effluvia of the moft ardent liquors, 
and the electric fpark, as ] have proved, we fhall 
have an aflemblage of proofs fo convincing, fo 
decifive of the real and abfolute animality of fe- 
minal vermiculi, that I know not what other evi- 
dence could be required to prove that atoms, 
minute as points in matter, are of fuch a nature 
as vermiculi feem to be. 
I muft juftify myfelf for the inconfiftency of 
what is now related, and the brief account of vers 
miculi in my firft treatife on infufions (1). 
There I {poke negligently ; I had not then ftudi- 
ed them; but trufted to what others had writ- 
ten, and adopted the theory that feemed beft 
fupported by facts. I did not hefitate to embrace 
M. de Buffon’s opinion ; and, with him, fuppof:- 
ed vermiculi were not real animals, as his fenti- 
ments appeared to be fupported by obfervations 
more numerous, better detailed, more connected 
and convincing, than thofe of Leeuwenhoeck. 
At that time this was my opinion; and it would 
have always continued the fame, had not the ob« 
fervations narrated here convinced me of the 
contrary ; and I flatter myfelf that nobody will 
reproach me if my prefent fentiments are different 
from what they formerly were. — 
This 
. (1) Saggio di Offervazioni Microfcopiche. 
