54 OFTHE GENERATION 



which they are known to produce ? Why are we 

 defiroLis of employing the power of compulfion 

 only ? Is not this equally abfurd as to judge of 

 painting by the touch ; to explain the phaenome- 

 na which belong; to the mafs by thole that relate 

 only to the furface ; or to ufe one fenfe in place 

 of another ? It is limiting the reafoning faculty 

 to a fmall number of n>echanical principles, 

 which are by no means fufficicnt to explain the 

 various effeds of Nature. 



But, if thcfe penetrating forces be admit- 

 ted, is it not natural to ima2;ine, that thofe par- 

 ticles which are mofl analogous to one another 

 will unife in the mon intimate manner ; that 

 each part of the body will appropriate thofe 

 which are mod agreeable to its nature ; and that 

 the whole fupeifluous particles will form a femi- 

 nal fluid, which fhall contain all the organic par- 

 ticles neceffary for forming a fmall organized 

 ' body, fimilar in every refped to that from which 

 the fluid is extraded ? May not a force fimilar to 

 that which is the caufe of growth, be fufficlent 

 to colled the fuperfluous organic particles, and 

 beftow on them the figure of the body from 

 which they proceed ? ' 



That our food contains an immenfe number 

 ;of organic particles, requires no formal proof; 

 fince we are folely nou.iihed by animals and ve- 

 getables, which are organized fubftances. In the 

 ftomach and inteflines, the grofs parts of the a- 

 limeiu are feparated and rejeded by the excre- 



tories. 



