21; SEMINAL VERMICULI. 'XI'- 



'J * 



refpond with thofe of M. de BufFon : at the 

 fame time, it appeared to me that I had, during 

 this lotig refearch, difcovered feveral reafons 

 which might have induced him to think as he 

 does. 



One of the principal phenomena which thd 

 French author confiders as the chief bafis of his 

 hypothefis, is the formation of the fpermatic ver- 

 miculi, being derived from the mucilaginous 

 parts of the femen and its filaments, which are 

 tranfmuted into thefe animated beings under the 

 obferver's eye, as he has found in the femen of 

 man and the dog. Mr Needham readily em- 

 braces this opinion : he fuppofes the vermiculi 

 do not exift in the femen while in the body of the 

 animal, but are formed fome minutes after com- 

 ing from it, and when beginning to decompofe 

 and change by the influence of the air (i). 



In my experiments on femen, related in the 

 firfl chapter, this formation is not mentioned, be - 

 caufe I had not fecn the fmallcft indication of i(. 

 Whether the vermiculi were obferved at firil, or 

 hot till the femen fettled, I never perceived ths 

 profs or filamentous parts giveexiflence to them. 

 It is true, in the hrft courfe of experiments, I did 

 not think of examining this part of the fubjeft 

 profoundly j my attention was not fixed uDon it, 

 X- 4 as 



(0 New Mlcrofcopkal DSfcoveries, 



