ilO ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS* X 



and one day reftore it under another form. It 

 is fingular that direft experiment has already 

 brought animalcula into view which refill the 

 beat of ebullition. This is at lead a fmall pre- 

 fumption in favour of my hypothefis on the fu*- 

 ture reftitution of animals. It may remain to 

 expofe the germs of thefe animalcula, or rather 

 the fubftances where they lodge, to fire. Let 

 us defpair of nothing ; but let us inveftigate Na^ 

 ture farther. You underftand how to interro* 

 gate her as Ihe ought to be, and to you will {he 

 make her mod favourable refponfes. You will 

 not prefume, apparently, that fire may be the na-^ 

 tural element of a race of animalcula, much lefs 

 will you think with M. Robinet that it is only 

 an aggregate of animalcula. You limit yourfelf 

 with inquiring, by judicious experiments, what 

 degree of heat animalcula, in the ftate of germs, 

 can fupport without deflrudion. 



I greatly approve of your extending thefe ex-. 

 periments to the eggs of infedts about which we 

 know fo little ( i ). Thofe of many butterflies, 

 beetles, or flies, may afford ample fcope for ob- 

 taining evidence fit to flimulate the fcrutinizer 

 of Nature. Reaumur's experiments, fatisfac- 

 torily proving that one may prolong the dura- 

 tion of the embryo's life in the egg, are diredl- 



(i) Th?fc have been detailed, 



