349 ANIMAL REPRODUCTIONS. 
a 
Although the head of the {nail is a very com= 
plicated little machine from its ftru€ture, as I 
have fhown in another place (1): it is indubi. 
table that the gelatinous quality of the flefh 
greatly promotes its wonderful reproduction. 
When treating of the polypus, I have enlarged on 
this obfervation. However, | do not mean that one 
fhould conclude that all gelatinous animals, all ani- 
mals in their primitive ftate of jelly, may repro- 
duce or repair the lofs of their members, as the 
polypus and fhail. Experiment alone can difcov- 
er the limits of this admirable property; and 
what we have already learned concerning the ex~ 
tent of its dominion fhould excite naturalifts to 
diverfify to the utmoft their effays on a fubje& fo 
fertile in wonders. I cannot exhort them too 
earneftly to defpair of nothing even in the moft 
uncommon experiments, | 
(1) Palingencfie Philofophique, Part 9. new edition of Le 
Contemplation de la Nature, Part 3. chap. 21. Note 4. 5 
MEMOIR 
