976 “ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES» Mi, 
flies, nocturnal and diurnal butterflies, worms, 
and others, and fcrupuloufly obferved what hap- 
pened to each ‘kind. I forefee the reader’s anxie- 
ty to learn the refult of thefe experiments ; and 
in two words his .curiofity may be fatisfied, by 
dJearning that the whole different {pecies were ex- 
cluded equally in confined as in open air.  Boer- 
hhaave, adopting the received maxim concerning 
the fterility of eggs in confined air, thus exprefles 
himfelf in chis Preleétiones Academice (1). 
“ Ova bombycis in aere :calido excluduntur, fi li- 
“bere admittatur. Eadem in phiala claufa nun- 
“ quam producunt fuum animal.’ Now, the truth 
is, thefe hatch very well in clofe veffels, as I 
have been.convinced by every experiment | made. 
From all that has been faid, we muft conclude, 
that the air of clofe weffels is not an impediment 
to the prodution of plants or animals; but 
plants, without any exception known to me, ger- 
minate there, and animals grow and :propagate 
their fpecies. Thofe :which undergo metamor- 
-phofes experience the changes in clofe equally’ as 
in open vefiels. 
Why do we generally believe that ftagnant air 
obftruéts the production of animals and vege- 
tables? Analogy is furely the caufe of this re- 
markable error. It was obferved, that animals 
and vegetables fubjected to experiment foon 
perifhed 
ry 
~ 
(1) Tom. z. 
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