L ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS.' 'lt^^ 



minal vermiculi, he will be induced to believe' 

 they approach thefe minute polypi, if they are not 

 actually polypi. I fhould have earneflly wifh- 

 ed that a laudable fcruple had not prevented 

 you from examining the feminal vermiculi of dif- 

 ferent animals. Your defcriptions would have 

 been more exa£l than any hithertor given, and 

 you would have difcovered many peculiaritiesr 

 which efcape eyes lefs praftifed and lefs philofo- 

 phic than your's (i). I can recoiled: that Mr 

 Needham beftows fome reproach that you did noS 

 invefligate the animalcula on which he dwells 

 with fuch complaifance. The ftrange ideas thai 

 poflefled him during his obfervations are not very 

 fit to fatisfy us of the truth of his obfervations. 

 1 would recommend a more profound and im* 

 partial enquiry. 



Among the animals that occupy the lower 

 fcales of animality, none fo numerous or diverfi* 

 fied as the polypus are known. The liberal hand 

 of Nature has difperfed them every where. The 

 carpet, thus to fpeak, the bottom of pools, ri- 

 vers, lakes, and feas, and they are even found in 

 infufions. No one could have fufpefted this ; 

 nor would we have fufpecled all the acceflbry 

 fafts which thefe minute animals have exhibited 



in 



( I ) I have endeavoured, as far as in my power, to fa^ 

 tisfy the curiofity of my illuftrious friend, in the tra^v 

 oiifthe feminal vermiculi of man and other animals^ 



