L ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. 25I 



ral refledion, which, if there was any neceiEtyj 

 would prove that you know when to fufpend 

 your judgment on what is prefented to view in 

 the extenfive field of Nature. ' The refults of 

 ' my obfervations/ you tell me, ' do not appear 

 ' fo decifive, in favour of the theory of germs, a& 



* I at firfl conceived. That clafs of germs which 



* does not perifh at boiling heat, while the ani- 



* malcula produced by them die at 106" and 

 ' 108° ; thefe germs, I fay, embarrafs me a little. 



* Yet when the reafons on both fides are balanq- 



* ed, it would feem that my experiments are 



* more in favour of germs than of the imaginary 

 ' vegetative power which, according to Need- 

 ' ham, produces animalcula. For, according to 

 ' the principles of this Epigenefift, that power 



* fhould tend to become weaker in proportion as 

 ' the adlion of heat is augmented. But we fee the 

 ' reverfe from the firft refults of my experiments 

 ' on animalcula, and in thofe on mouldinefs. All 

 ' thefe refults would rather infmuate, that the 



* produdive principles of thefe organized beings 

 ' are fufpended in the air ( i ).* 



It 



( 1 ) When this was written, I had not the complete evi- 

 dence of the oiigin of animalcula which was afterwards 

 obtained. However, I knew the different kinds of ksd 

 that fupported boiling heat without lofing the germinating 

 faculty. To them I now add the minute {ccds of mould 

 which germinate after expofure to the heat of the fire 

 in a chafing difh. 



