177 



The little wounds, which the rupture of several ves- 

 sels has occasioned in divers parts of the inside, consoli- 

 date insensibly : those parts which had been put into a. 

 violent exercise, or whose forms and proportions had 

 been modified to a certain degree, conform themselves 

 gradually to these changes. The liquors, which are 

 obliged to pass through new channels, take that direc- 

 tion by little anil little. Lastly, the vessels which were 

 proper to the caterpillar, some of' which occupied a con- 

 siderable place within it, are effaced, or converted into 

 a liquid sediment, which the butterfly rejects afier hav- 

 ing l;vid aside the sheath of the chrysalis. 



13- When we consider the metamorphosis of insects, 

 we are surprised at the singularity of the means which 

 the AUTHOR of nature has thought proper to make 

 choice of, in order to bring the different species of ani- 

 mals to perfection. 



Wherefore is the lutterfty not bred a butterfly? 

 Why does it pass through the state of a caterpillar, and 

 that of a chrysalis] Why do not all the insects that 

 metamorphose themselves undergo the same changes ? 

 Whence does it happen, that amongst the species that 

 assume the form of a nymph, some shed the skin of the 

 worm, whilst others retain it? How does it also come 

 to pass, that among such insects as pass through the 

 state of tTre worm-skin nymph,, some take that form hi 

 the very belly of their mother ] 



These questions, like all those which may be started 

 concerning Essences, derive their solution from the gene- 

 ral system which is unknown to us. 



Without endeavouring then to penetrate into the 

 cause of metamorphoses,, let us observe attentively the 

 fact, and its immediate consequences. 



Let us consider the variety which those metamor- 

 phoses disperse throughout nature: a single individual 

 unites within itself two or three diffe rent species. The 

 same insect successively inhabits two or three worlds : 

 fend how great is the diversity of its operations in these 

 various abodes ! 



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