INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. XXvil 



ferption, as it is moft natural to believe. Is it be- 

 caufe only one ovum is in a ftate to be impreg- 

 nated in the one cafe, and almoft always more 

 than one in the other ? Whatever is the truth, 

 it is evident that feminal vermiculi have no con- 

 cern in generation, both becaufe it appears that 

 fome feminal fluids are entirely deftitute of them, 

 and not the lefs fecundative on that account ; and 

 although the whole are dead, their native element 

 has loft none of its prolific virtue. Since indifputa- 

 bie obfervations prove, that various animals actual-: 

 ly exift in the mother before fee undation, how do 

 they originate there ? Does every germ include an- 

 other germ ; that a fmaller one ; and in this man- 

 ner involving fucceffive germs to infinity ; fo that 

 a thoufand years ago, beings which have now 

 pafled through a thoufand generations, then ex- 

 ifted, though the term of evolution could not ar- 

 rive until a thoufand changes were undergone ? 

 Can we conceive, that at a time beyond the pow- 

 er of imagination to reach, a germ exifted ; that 

 we ourfelves, the prefent generation of mankind, 

 were in being, under any figure, howeve-r- mi- 

 nute ; that, until the maturity of the preceding 

 generation, our bodies could never expand into 

 perfed Ihape and organization. — Or, is it n^ore 

 rational to fuppofe, that at the age of puberty, 

 fom.ething is fecreted by the mother, that there is 

 fome aflimilation of parts which will form a foe- 

 tus; 



