I'^i EXAMINATION OF 



head *. But it Is apparent, from the very figures 

 given by this author, of the embryo which he 

 pretended to have fecn efcape from its covering, 

 that the fa£l is abfolutely falfe. He beheved that 

 fie fav^r u^hat he defcribes ; but he was deceived ; 

 for this embryo, according to his defcription, was 

 more completely formed, at the time of its tranf- 

 migration from the condition of a fpermatic 

 worm, than it is in the uterus of the mother at 

 the end of the fourth or fifth week. Hence 

 this obfervatron of Dalenpatius, inftead of being 

 confirmed by future experiments, has been re- 

 ceded by all naturahlLs, the moft acute of whom 

 have only been able to dilcover in the feminal 

 fluid of man round or oblong bodies, which ap- 

 pear to have long tails, but no nsembers of any 

 kind. 



One would be tempted to think that Plato had 

 Been acquainted with thefe fpermatic animahs 

 which are transformed into men ; for, at the 

 end of his Timaeus f, he fays, ' Vulva quoqufi 



* matrixque in f oeminis eadem ratione animal 



* avidum generandi, quando procul a foetu per 

 ' aetatis florem, aut ultra diutius detinetur, aegre 



* fert moram ac plurimuiTi indignatur, pafTimque 



* per corpus oberrans, meatus fpiritus intercludit, 

 ' refpirare non finit, extremis vexat anguftiis,. 



* morbis denique omnibus premit, quoufque u- 



' trorumqu6 



* See nouvelles de la republic des lettres, ann. 1699, p. 552* 

 t P. 1088, edit. Ficini. 



