278 BitMINAJU VEHMICULI* Ih 



readers. I have found his counfels falutory, and 

 profited by them : they have enabled me to ex-^ 

 tend the matter, and enlarge my refearches on 

 fpermatic verniiculi. 



The reality of the exiflence of thefe animals, 

 and a knowledge of their peculiar nature, are as 

 iit to engage the enquiries of a philofopher as 

 they feem to retreat from his penetrating exami- 

 nation. I may fay that, like the Proteus of. 

 fables, their figure and appearance change with 

 the naturalifts who attempt to ftudy them. 



The feminal fluid of man and of certain ani- 

 mals, microfcopically examined by Leeuwen- 

 boeck, appeared full of animalcula, vi^hich he nam- 

 ed vermes, from their fimilarity in figure and mo- 

 tion. But they were foon confidered by fome 

 philofophers as a phantom of the imagination, an 

 jllufion of the fenfes, or fome imperfeciion in 

 the microfcope ; they fuppofed there was nothing 

 real in what he had defcribed. Others judged 

 the Dutch naturalifl with lefs feverity ; they ad- 

 mitted there was a number of corpufcula in the 

 feminal fluid, but, denying they were animals, 

 conceived them inorganic particles, which, from 

 fubtility, were raifed and evaporated fooner than 

 the reft; thus forming a fermentation and mo- 

 tion in the iluid that created the idea of anima- 



Nearly 



