LECTURE xn. 



'mens, its nature is still obscure ; and even its very 

 'existence has been occasionally doubted ; particu- 

 larly by Blumenbach and Muller. There seems 

 however to be no good reason for questioning the 

 existence of some such animal, though the ac- 

 counts of its extraordinary qualities may have been 

 exaggerated. The best account of it is in a quarto 

 pamphlet, published by a Dr. Hagen, as an aca- 

 demical thesis : in which all the observations rela- 

 tive to it are summed up in a concise manner, and 

 its real existence, seemingly, well ascertained. It 

 is said to be generally about three quarters of an 

 inch long, and in habit or shape to resemble a 

 Scolopendra, as I before observed. 



I shall now pass to a branch of Zoology distin- 

 guished by peculiarities of organization and ap- 

 pearance unequalled by any other parts of the 

 animal kingdom. 



These wonderful productions are now, by the 

 common consent of Naturalists, distinguished, in 

 systematic arrangement, by the title of Zoophytes 

 or Plant- Animals. Of these the genus Hydra or 

 Polype deserves our first attention ; not only from 

 its wonderful nature and properties, but because it 

 serves as a kind of standard or example of refer- 



