a 58 A TriWif of BODIES. Chap. 24. 



Ariftotlc attributeth to the feed of the male ? But this is impofli- 

 ble; for all this diversity of work is to be done at one time, and 

 in the fame occafions: which can no more be effected by one a- 

 gcnc, then multiplicity can immediately proceed from unity. 



But befides that there can be no agent to difpofe of the parts 

 when they are gathered;it is evident that a fenfitive creature may 

 be made without any fuch gathering of parts beforehand frorn, 

 an other of the fame kind: forelfe,how could vcrmine breed out 

 of living bodies, or out o/corruption ? How could rats come 

 to fill fhips, into which never any were brought ? How could 

 frogs be ingendred in the aire ? Eels of dewy turfs, or of mud ? 

 Toads of ducks? Fifh of herns ? and the like. To the fame pur- 

 pofe; when one fpecies or kind of animal is changed into ano- 

 ther; as when a caterpiller or a /ilk-worm becometh a flic; it 

 is mamfeft that there can be no fuch precedent collection of 

 parts. 



3. And therefore there is no remedy but we muft (eek out fbme 



The Authoiirs other means and courfe of generation, then this. Unto which we 

 queft?en. C may be lead, by confidering how a living creature is nouriQied 

 and augmented: for why fhould not the parts be made in gene- 

 ration of a matter like to that which naaketh them in nutrition? 

 If they be augmented by one kind of juyce that after feverall 

 changes turncth at the length into flefli and bone; and into eve- 

 ry fort of mixed body or fimilar part, whereof the fenfitivc crer- 

 ture is compounded; and that joyneth it (elf to what it findeth al- 

 ready made, why fhould not the fame juyce with the fame pro- 

 grefleofheat and moifture, and other due temperaments, be 

 converted at the firft into flefli and bone , though none be for- 

 merly there to joyn it felf unto ? 



Let us then conclude that the juyce which ferveth for nourifh- 

 ment of the animaljbeing more then is requifite for that fervice; 

 the fuperfluous part of it is drained from the reft, and is referved 

 in a place fit for it: where by little and little through digcftion, 

 it gaineth ftrength,and rigour, and fpirits to it fclf, and becom- 

 eth an homogeneall body, fuch as other fimple compounds are; 

 which by other degrees ofheat and moifture, is changed into an 

 other kind offubftancc : and that again by other temperaments 

 into another. And thus, by the courfe of nature, and by patting 

 fueccfTiYcly many degrees of temper, and by receiving a totall 



change 



