_ tl. SEMINAL VERMICULE. 65 
teal. I fhould deviate from my plan, by attempt- 
ing to refute it. Authors, celebrated and known 
to natural philofophers, have done fo with fuc- 
cefs. But I cannot refift faying a word on the 
beautiful difcovery of Haller; which is completely 
decifive. He proves, by facts fo convincing that it 
is impoflible to withhold our affent, that the foetus 
belongs to the female; that entire, it pre-exifts 
fecundation (1). It is evident, therefore, that the 
vermiculi afforded by the male cannot be feetufes. 
The facts eftablifhing this difcovery are explained 
in his excellent treatife on the chicken. 
Though we refufe the vermiculi this noble pur- 
pofe, we do not fail to aferibe others to them: Some 
phyfiologifts have fuppofed them the caufe of ve- 
nereal pleafures ; others, that they preferve the 
fluidity of the femen ; and fome, that they effe& 
certain unknown purpofes. All have endeavour- 
ed to divine their ufe-—There exifts in us, and 
‘im other animals, this wonderful multitude of 
living beings, and many larger vermes, of which 
Vout. I. E “ the 
(1) The author difcovered that the tadpoles of frogs, 
toads, and newts, pre-exilted fecundation ; that they exilted 
in the egg produced by the mother, before it was moiften- 
éd by the femen of the male, Differtations on Animals and 
Vegetables. He alfo difcovered, that, in the egg of the 
torpedo, a fetus exifts previous to fecundation, Lettere 
Sopra Diverfe Produzione Marine #?. 
