242 ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. I« 



' only a diftant view of its confines ? More fub- 

 ' lime ideas of nature will be formed by confi- 



* dering her as an immenfe whole, and being 

 •= convinced that our difcoveries are but of the 

 ' moft m-inute portion of what fhe includes. Our 

 ' aftonilliment will increafe, but we fhall obferve ; 



* we ihall amafs new fads, conned them if pof- 

 ^ fible, and attend corredly to every thing.' 



It feemed proper to recur to thefe logical re- 

 ^icdions, part lo, de la Palingenefte, There I at. 

 tempted to retrace and unfold my principles fur- 

 ther on organic preformations. Four kinds were 

 eftabliflied ; and that my reader might not fup- 

 pofe that I confidered thefe genera univerfal, 

 I added, * One ought not to infer from this, 

 ^ that ail fmall animals are at firft envelop- 

 •^ ed in one or more integuments, or in eggs. 

 ^ It would be deducing too general a confequence 

 •^ from fpecific fads. The Author of nature has 

 ^ fpread fuch a vad variety throughout, that we 



* cannot define general conclufions too well. 



* How many new and unforefeen fads have de- 



* flroyed conclufions which a ftrid logician would 

 <- not acknowledge ! — The clufter polypus is an. 



* other exception much more fnigular j and is an 



* additional convidion of the uncertainty, not to 



* fav the falfity, of our general conclufions. In- 

 « fufion animalcula will be other exceptions ; and 

 -^ very probably, what was taken for eggs in them 



* is 



