lNT,RODUCTOPvY OBSERVATIONS. xllX 



very fhock would feem fufficient to extinguifh life. 

 But exiftence will continue two years, while an 

 a£tive and voracious caterpillar, which perhaps 

 ate its own weight in a day, is (hut up in the 

 chry falls, and incapable of feeding ; perceptible 

 motion is its only fun6bon ; digeflion is at an 

 end. Motion, in other animals, is the firft fen- 

 lible fundion. The eggs of the common water 

 fnail are at firfl tranfparent globules ; then a 

 Ijpeck appears, which is the foetus. It continues 

 to increafe ; and, long before burfting the inte- 

 gument, it moves about v;ithin the egg. 



If the whole of thefe faO:s are confidered, and 

 due weight allowed to each, it may not appear 

 fo very far beyond belief, that all the vital func- 

 tions of an animal may be fufpended without 

 death for a long time, and that they may be again 

 awakened when its organs are brought into a 

 fuitable fituation. What is the ftate of an un- 

 impregnated germ ? — Certainly it does not live : 

 Though it proceeds from the mother even at the 

 appointed time, it corrupts, unlefs the prolific li- 

 quid is applied. Let us confider the confe- 

 quence. Is there a creation of life, or only the 

 awakening of that which is dormant ? — Afluredly 

 the creation of life does enfue. The fecundative 

 liquid alone can produce fo wonderful an clfeft § 

 it does not awaken dormant life, for their is no 



Vol. L c eviden<2e.. 



