23^ ANIMALCULA OF mrUSIONS. i^ 



fa£ts which the different claffes of polypi have 

 taught us, and which have created fuch a reform 

 in our ideas of animality. Perhaps microfcopic 

 plants would occafion a fimilar reform in our 

 ideas of vegetation. I wifh a fociety of botanifts 

 would engage in the ftudy of thefe plants alone. 

 What do I fay, ' mould' only would demand 

 their whole attention. Nothing is better adapted 

 to make us forcibly feel the narrow limits of our 

 corporal and mental abilities than applying to re- 

 fearches on the moft minute produdions of nature. 

 All the fineft faculties feem to vanifh at the root 

 of a flalk of mould. 



If mould appears fooner, and more abundant, 

 on fubftances that have boiled long, perhaps it 

 is becaufe boiling prepares them in a manner fi- 

 milar to what we prepare the earth by our la- 

 bour. Ebullition feparates them more, multi- 

 plies the furface, opens new pores, forms new 

 channels for admiffion of the air and the like. 

 Internal changes may alfo be occafioned in the 

 fubftances favourable to the generation and ex- 

 panfion of mould. Finally, a certain degree of 

 heat, which boiled fubftances preferve for a time, 

 may tend to accelerate the germination of mould, 

 and to increafe its multiplication ( i ), 



r 



( I ) When M, Bonnet made thefe excellent refleflions on 

 the botanical microfcope, I had not communicated any 



thing 



