I^S ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. L 



it is falfe that the divifion of animalcula is the 

 efFed: of mutual fhocks : and if that fpecies, 

 which the Genevefe naturaHft mentions, feems to 

 prove the reality of the fhocks, it is not at the 

 beginning, or when farther advanced, but when 

 the divifion is almoft at an end, and then only, 

 that any fhocks are given by the companion ani- 

 malcula, and when the dividing ones are exert- 

 ing themfelves to feparate. Befides, their inflinQ: 

 to aflift in feparating appears peculiar to this fpe- 

 cies. I have never witneiTed any thing fimilar in 

 the numerous kinds examined. But the experi- 

 mentum crucis againfl J^Uis's obje£lion is, that ani- 

 malcula, ifclated in glaffes, multiply by divifion 

 as the relt, though they can experience no fhocks 

 from others. 



Had my refpeclable colleague continued to 

 lludy animalcula, he would have perceived the 

 infufficiency of the proportions he has given from 

 the immenfe numbers in adual divifion. Fre- 

 quently among innumerable multitudes traver- 

 fmg an infufion, there has hardly been one that 

 did not exhibit ngns of divifion. But I can 

 comprehend what has milled Ellis. By con- 

 ftant obfervation, I find that this mode of multi- 

 plication has determinate periods ; at one time, 

 it cannot be more general ; at another, it is 

 rarer ; and now it is not to be feen at all. Ap- 

 parently, his obfervations were made when the 



propa- 



