INFUSORIES. 149 



their members, in others exhibit no slight ana- 

 logy to seeds. 



Of all the groups of animals those of the least 

 consequence, one would think, must be those 

 that for the most part escape the inquiring eye 

 unless aided by a microscope. The infusories, 

 or as they have been also called animalcules, 

 microscopic animals, acrita or indiscernibles, 

 amorpha or without form, are of this description. 

 These wonderful little creatures, though they 

 are every where dispersed, remain like seeds, 

 without apparent life or motion, perhaps after 

 animation has been suspended for years, till 

 they come in contact with some fluid, when they 

 are immediately reanimated, move about in va- 

 rious directions, absorb their proper nutriment 

 and exercise their reproductive powers according 

 to the law of their several natures. Yet the>e 

 little animals, though in some respects trey 

 exhibit no slight analogy to vegetables, are not 

 only distinguished from them by their irritability, 

 but likewise by their organization, and powers of 

 locomotion and voluntary action. Their mode 

 of reproduction, however, is not far removed 

 from that of some vegetables ; they arc sponta- 

 neously divisible, some longitudinally and others 

 transversely, and these cuttings, if they may be 

 so called, as in the Hydra or common Polype, 

 become separate animals. They are also propa- 

 gated by germes, and some appear to be vivipa- 



