ON GENERATION. 513 



EXERCISE THE SEVENTY-SECOND. 



Of the primigenial moisture. 



We have now dignified the blood with the title of the in- 

 nate heat j with like propriety, we believe, that the fluid which 

 we have called the crystalline colliquament, from which the 

 foetus and its parts primarily and immediately arise, may be 

 designated the radical and primigenial moisture. There is 

 certainly nothing in the generation of animals to which this 

 title can with better right be given. 



We call this the radical moisture, because from it arises 

 the first particle of the embryo, the blood, to wit ; and all the 

 other posthumous parts arise from it as from a root ; and they 

 are procreated and nourished, and grow and are preserved by 

 the same matter. 



We also call it primigenial, because it is first engendered 

 in every animal organism, and is, as it were, the foundation of 

 the rest ; as may be seen in the egg, in which it presents 

 itself after a brief period of incubation, as the first work of 

 the inherent fecundity and reproductive power. 



This fluid is also the most simple, pure, and unadulterated 

 body, in which all the parts of the pullet are present poten- 

 tially, though none of them are there actually. It appears 

 that nature has conceded to it the same qualities which are 

 usually ascribed to first matter common to all things, viz. that 

 potentially it be capable of assuming all forms, but have itself 

 no form in fact. So the crystalline humour of the eye, in 

 order that it might be susceptible of all colours, is itself 

 colourless ; and in like manner are the media or organs of 

 each of the senses destitute of all the other qualities of sen- 

 sible things : the organs of smelling and hearing, and the air 

 which ministers to them, are without smell and sound; the 

 saliva of the tongue and mouth is also tasteless. 



And it is upon this argument that they mainly rely who 

 maintain the possibility of an incorporeal intellect, viz. because 

 it is susceptible of all forms without matter ; and as the hand 

 is called the " instrument of instruments," so is the intellect 



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