MO 



plain indication that it fed thereby. There was no 

 eminence for the nose ; but two little, almost imper- 

 ceptible pits for the nostrils. Always the younger 

 the embryo, the bigger the head is, in proportion to 

 the body. The parts nearer the head are likewise 

 bigger, in proportion to the rest. 



It weighed less than seven grains, which is an ex- 

 traordinary lightness, for a body seven lines long. 

 It was so soft that no part of it could be touched, with- 

 out making a change in its figure. Upon opening it, 

 Mr. Dodart discovered the heart and the right auricle. 

 All the other parts in the thorax an I the lower belly^ 

 weresimple outlines, (all vesicular) except a part on 

 the leftside, probably the spleen. 



Some suppose, that millions of animalcula swim in 

 the sr j cd of male animals, which are so many embryos, 

 for which a receptacle only is provided in the eggs of 

 the female. But all agree, that either the male seed, 

 or the female egg, contains all the parts of the body $ 

 so that generation is no more than the growth or un- 

 folding of the parts there delineated. But how those 

 seeds, whether male or female, are elaborated and 

 prepared, abundantly transcends the highest reach of 

 human understanding. 



If the animalcula, of which all animals are formed, 

 are originally in the male, yet they never can be 

 formed into animals, without the egg of the female. 



That all animals spring from animalcula, seems pro- 

 bable from the following considerations : 



1. That something may be observed in the tread 

 of an egg, even before incubation, like the rudiments 

 of an animal, in form of a tadpole. 



2. That after incubation, all the parts of the animal 

 suddenly appear, the stamina, which existed before, 

 being then expanded. After three days incubation, 

 the punctum-saliens of a chick is discovered by the 

 naked eye. On ihe fifth day, the rudiments of the 

 head and body appear, which were before discernable 



