I, ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. 243 



* is not fo. — The ideas of animality, applicable 



* to the higher clafles, are too confidently tranf- 



* ferred to the lower. -How abfurd would k 

 ^ be to confine nature in the limited circle of our 

 ' feeble conceptions ! I avow then, that all 1 



* have faid on the different kinds of organic pre- 

 ^ formations, chiefly regards the fpecies beft: 



* known to us, or on which we have been able 

 ' to make exadt and conneSed obfervations. I 

 ' confefs myfelf ignorant of the laws which regu- 

 ' late the evolutions of thofe numerous micrc- 

 •* fcopic beings, vvhofe exigence, and nothing 

 ' more, is difcovered by our mod powerful mag- 

 .* nifiers, and which belong to another world, 

 .' that may be called the world of mvi/ibks,* 



Thefe paifages are tranfcribed, my dear friend, 

 becaufe we cannot fortify ourfelves, and our fel- 

 low naturalifts, too well againft the fedu£lions of 

 analogical conclufions. If it is fufficiently evi- 

 dent, that v/e cannot refer the propagation of 

 polypi by natural divifion to any known kind of 

 organic preformation, furely we ought to re- 

 nounce the profpeQ: of explaining their genera- 

 tion by the generations exhibited by other arii- 

 mals. If we are unable to divine this new mode 

 of multiplication, we ought thence to conclude 

 that many others may exifl in the animal king- 

 dom, of which we can form no idea. 



C^ z Therefore 



