WML. CONFINED IN STAGNANT AIR. 117 
-on.the nervous fyf{tem only as a conjeCture. [ 
have not collected that aflemblage of faéts necef- 
fary to giveit authenticity, nor have I had leifure 
to enter into all the details, and.make the moft 
profound refearches. I with that others would 
undertake it; and | fhall always entertain the 
fame regard for thofe who attain their purpofe, 
whether they confirm or confute my conjecture ; 
for I have no other view than the purfuit of truth. 
In the firft chapter, we have fpoken of eggs 
and feeds which refufed to germinate when con- 
fined in a fmall portion of air. It is poflible 
that this fterility arifes from the caufes deftruc- 
tive of animals confined in-clofe veflels. Com- 
parifon will help to convince'us. Butterflies, we 
have feen, do not come from chryfalids confined 
in {mall veffels. M. De Reaumur, | find, has 
had the fame.refults, although the objeG of his 
experiments -was-different from mine. He her- 
metically fealed glafs tubes, four or .five inches 
long, containing chryfalids, fome had come from 
the cabbage caterpillar, and fome from cater- 
pillars that produce phalenz: they conftantly re- 
mained in their original ftate, though confined 
above five months. ‘They never unfolded ; -for, 
as he obferved, they [did not perfpire, and 
perfpiration is neceflary for chiylalids-to become 
butterflies. Thefe two facts he proved .in a de- 
«ifive manner. When the chryfalids are in a very 
«onfined ftate, as a tube of a few inches in capa- 
H 4 city, 
