DIFFERENT SYSTEMS. 133 



* trorumqiie cupido amorqiie, quafi ex arborlbiis 

 ' foetum frudumve producunt, ipfum deindede- 



* cerpunt, et in malricein vclui agrum infpar- 



* gunt: Hinc animalia primum talia, ut nee prop- 

 ' ter parvltatem videantur, necdum appareant 



* formata, concipiunt; mox quae confl-averant, 

 ' explicant, ingentia intus enutrlunt, demum e- 

 ' ducunt in luceni, animaliumque generationem 



* perficiunt.' Hippocrates, in his treatife De 

 Diaeta, Teems likewife to infinuate that the fe- 

 men of animals is full of animalcules. Demo- 

 critus talks of certain worms which afTume the 

 human figure ; and Ariftotle tells us, that the 

 firft men iffued from the earth in the form of 

 worms. But neither the authority of Plato, of 

 Ariftotle, of Hippocrates, of Democritus, nor 

 that of Dalenpatius, will ever he able to beftow 

 credibility on a notion which is repugnant to the 

 repeated experience and obfervation of all thofe 

 who have hitherto made inquiries into this fub- 



jea. 



Valifnieri and Bourguet perceived fmall 

 worms in the femen of a rabbit : One of their 

 extremities was longer than the other; they were 

 very adive in their motions, and beat the fluid 

 with their tails : Sometimes they raifed them- 

 felvcs to the top of the liquor, and fometimes 

 funk to the bottom; at other times they turned 

 round, and twilkd like fcrpents: In fine, fays 

 Valifnieri, I cleaily perceived them to be real 

 pnimals : * E gli riconobbi, e gli gindicai fenza 



I ^ * dubitamcnto 



