'11. SEMINAL VERMICULI. 



3^5 



capilii procederent. Interdum mihi imaginabar 

 me internofcere pofle a,dhuc varias in corpore 

 horum animalculorum partes, quia vero continuo 

 eas videre nequibam, de iis tacebo(i)". 



Thefe obfervations were accompanied by o- 

 thers, written by Leeuwenhoeck to the Secretary 

 of the Royal Society, 1678. He compofed them 

 becaufe fome perfon had fuggefted to him to ex- 

 amine the feminal fiiiid of animals. " Si quando 

 canes coeunt,'* Leeuwenhoeck anfwers the Se- 

 cretary, " marem a faemina flatim feponas, ma- 

 teria qusedam tenuis, et aquofa (lympha fcihcet 

 fpermatica) e pene folet paulatim extillare ; banc 

 materiam numerofiffimis animalculis repletam 

 aliquoties vidi, eorum magnitudine, quae in 

 femine virih confpiciuntur, quibus particulse glo- 

 buiares aliquot quinquagies majores permifce- 

 bantur. 



" A cuniciiiorum coitu lymphse fpermaticse 

 guttulam unam, et alteram e fsemella extillantem 

 examini fubjeci, ubi animalia praeditlorum firaiiia, 

 fed longe pauciora cornparuere." 



In the fame year, 1678, Leeuwenhoeck alfo 

 communicated to the Royal Society the animai- 

 cula he had found in the femen of the dog. — - 

 '" Seminis canini tantiilum microfcopio applica- 

 tum iterum contemplatus fum, in eoque antea 

 defcripta animalia numerofiffima confpexi. Aaua 



Vol. L U pluvialis 



(i) Philofophical Trarifadions, No, 141, p, 104.1. 



