L AKIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS, 273 



* in general perifh at io6° or 108° j but as 



* tranfpareney did not then occur to me, I ain 

 ' ignorant whether any very tranfparent were of 



* the number. I only touch on the fubjed ;* 

 and it cannot be too often repeated, that I view 

 all that I wrote you before but as fimple conjec- 

 tures, or rather doubts ( I ). 



( 1 ) In the coiirfe of the letter, from which M Bon- 

 net has given two extrads, I had (ketched an explana- 

 tion fimilar to that of M. de SaufTure, though unacquaint- 

 ted at the time with the fcntiments of that celebrated Ge- 

 nevefe ProfeiTor, as appears from the date of the letten 



* If the decifion of Nature fhould not favour your con- 



* jedlure, Why may we not explain the itideftruCiibility 



* of germs from the indeftrudibility of their component 



* parts ? Without recurring to afbeftus or amianthus, 



* there are fubftances known to us whofe ftruifture fup- 



* ports the influence of heat infinitely furpaffing that of 



* boiling water. Thefe are earthen vefTels in which glafs, 



* melted by the heat of furnaces, remains many weeks, 



* yet they do not fufFer. Therefore a germ, compofed 



* of matter analogous, would eafily refill the heat of 



* boiling water, and be deftroyed by it when beginning 

 ' to expand ; for, being replete with foreign m.atter, 



* the primordial molecules, forming its original flate, 



* would be removed farther from each other ; their reci- 



* procal attraflion would be diminifhed, confequently 



* their former cohefion. Therefore the heat dilfipating the 



Vol. I. S ' foreigrt 



