78 THOUGHTS ON ANIMALCULES. 



nately dried and rendered dormant, and then revived by 

 the addition of water, twelve times, appearing at each 

 successive resuscitation as active as at first*. Pro- 

 fessor Owen mentions having witnessed the revival of 

 an animalcule, (a species of Arctiscon), w T hich had been 

 preserved in dry sand four yearsf. 



* In this respect these animalcules resemble certain plants, whose te- 

 nacity of life is such, that they preserve their vitality, like seeds, for many 

 years. Mosses that had been dried for a century have revived after im- 

 mersion in water for a few hours. 



f Hunterian Lectures for 1843, p. 40. 



