1. ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. ly^ 



our own. This ingenious creatrix has formed 

 the body of fome fo as to convey an idea of 

 jightnefs and grace ; while others difplay a lloth- 

 ful inactivity : one is contrafted within itfelf, and 

 apparently only of a fmgle piece ; another ex- 

 tended beyond all bounds ; and a third moft ex- 

 actly proportioned. In a word, there are as many 

 varieties among birds and quadrupeds as their 

 forms are different from that of man ; yet in 

 every one is there the narrowed refemblance in 

 the effential part of organization. 



Analogical reafoning applied to thefe two races 

 of animals cannot be flronger or more convin- 

 cing ; but how is it weakened by defcending tlie 

 animal fcale to fiflies, reptiles, infeds, and at laffc 

 is totally loft. Let us attend a moment to the 

 ftruCture of infefts. Not only do the bones, 

 blood, heart, and other vifcera difappear, but we 

 cannot difcover either veins or arteries. A lon- 

 gitudinal vefTel from one extremity to the other 

 is feen, in which flows a liquid generally tranfpa- 

 rent. Although the nervous fyftem is maintain- 

 ed entire, there is no brain, at leaft nothing pro- 

 perly fo : and their refpiratory oi-gans much 

 more refemble thofe of plants than thofe of the 

 larger animals. Cefcending the animal fcale flill 

 lower, every femblance of organs is loft, and the 

 whole body of the animal is reduced to the moft 

 iimple ftru(5ture imaginable. Many polypi are 



Vol. L M buf 



