ANIMAL3. 281 



CHAP. II. 



OF THE GENERATION OF AMJIALS. 



Before we sui-vey animals in their state of maturity, and per- 

 forming the functions adapted to their respective natures, method 

 requires that we should consider them in the more early periods 

 of their existence. There has been a time when the proudest 

 and the noblest animal was a partaker of the same imbecility 

 with the meanest reptile ; and, while yet a candidate for exist- 

 ence, equally helpless and contemptible. In their incipient state, 

 all are upon a footing ; the insect and the philosopher being 

 equally insensible, clogged with matter, and unconscious of exist- 

 ence. AVhere then are we to begin \vith the history of those be- 

 ings, that make such a distinguished figure in the creation ? Or, 

 where lie those peculiar characters in the parts that go to make 

 up animated nature — that mark one animal as destined to creep 

 in the dust, and another to glitter on the throne ? 



This has been a subject that has employed the curiosity of all 

 ages, and the philosophers of every age have attempted the solu- 

 tion. In tracing nature to her most hidden recesses, she be- 

 comes too minute or obscm-e for our inspection ; so that we find 

 it impossible to mark her first differences, to discover the point 

 where animal life begins, or the cause that conduces to set 

 it in motion. We know little more than that the greatest num- 

 ber of animals require the concurrence of a male and female to 

 reproduce their kind ; and that these distinctly and invariably are 

 found to beget creatures of their own species. Curiosity has, 

 therefore, been active in trying to discover the immediate result 

 of this union ; how far either sex contributes to the bestowing 

 animal life, and whether it be to the male or female, that we are 

 most indebted for the privilege of our existence. 



Hippocrates has supposed that fecundity proceeded from the mix- 

 ture of the seminal liquor of both sexes, each of which equally con- 

 tributes to the formation of the incipient animal. Aristotle, on the 

 other hand, would have the seminal liquor in the male alone to con- 

 tribute to this purpose, while the female supplied the proper nour- 

 ishment for its support. Such were the opinions of these fiathers 

 of philosophy ; and these continued to be adopted by the natu- 



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