INFUSORIAL ANIMALCULES. 137 



at pleasure, some resembling globes, eels, trumpets, serpents, boats, 

 stars, pitchers, wheels, flasks, cups, funnels, fans, and fruits. 



The multiplication of the species is effected in some by sponta- 

 neous division or fissuration, in others by gemmation or budding ; 

 whilst some species are oviparous, and others viviparous. The first 

 step in the process by which infusorial animals are eliminated, is the 

 formation of globular corpuscles or cells, which, by their aggregation in 

 some cases, and individual evolutions in others, give birth to the or- 

 ganisms which subsequently appear. 



The Infusoria have no night in their existence ; they issue into life in 

 a state of activity, and continue the duration of their being in one cease- 

 less state of motion ; their term is short, they have no time for rest, 

 and therefore have but one day, which ends only with their death and 

 decomposition. Nevertheless, they appear to love that which pro- 

 motes life, the light of heaven j but others, born in the bowels of the 

 earth, and who never partook of the blessing, still, like the ignorant 

 among mankind, have their own contracted round of unenlightened 

 joys ; they perform their mechanical duties, and expire hidden and 

 unknown. 



On examining the structure of infusorial animalcules, some are 

 found to have a soft yielding skin, so elastic as to stretch when food 

 or other circumstances render it necessary, returning again to its pre- 

 vious condition as the cause of distension ceases ; these are designated 

 illoricated, which signifies shell-less. Others are termed loricated, from 

 being covered with a shell, which is beautifully transparent, and flexible 

 like horn. When the delicate and soft substance in which the func- 

 tions of life perform their allotted duties perishes, the shell that pro- 

 tected it from injury during its hours of existence remains as a token 

 of the past labours of- nature ; this sometimes consists entirely of flint, 

 and in other cases of lime united with oxide of iron, destructible in 

 some instances by fire, and in others not so. 



Some of these minute beings have apportioned to them setae, or 

 bristles ; these stiff hairs, attached to the surface of their bodies, do 

 not rotate, but are movable, and appear to be a means for the support 

 of their bodies, as aids in climbing over obstacles that present them- 

 selves, or as feelers. Others are possessed of unci, or hooks, pro- 

 jecting from the under part of the body, which are capable of motion ; 

 and by their means the animalcule can attach itself to any particular 

 thing that it desires. Some, again, have styles, which are a kind of thick 

 bristle, jointed at the base, possessing a movement, but not rotary; they 

 are in the shape of a cone, large at their base, and delicate at their 



