DIFFERENTSYSTEMS. 143 



objeded to by the fupporters of this dodrine. 

 If ihefe animalcules are the immediate caufe of 

 generation, why is there no proportion between 

 their numbers and ihofe of the young, which 

 are various in men, quadrupeds, birds, lifhes, 

 and infeds ? Befides, there is no proportional 

 difference in moft fpecies of fpcrmatic animals, 

 thofe of a rat being nearly equal in fizc to thofe 

 of a man. Even when a difference in fize takes 

 place, it has no proportion to the bulk of the 

 animals. The fpermatic animals of the calmar, 

 which is a fmall fifli, are a hundred thoufand 

 times larger than thofe of a man or of a dog. 

 This is an additional proof that thel'e worms 

 are not the fole and immediate caufe of genera- 

 tion. 



The particular objedions to the ovular fyflem 

 are not lefs weighty. If the foetus exifted in 

 the egg before the jundion of the male and 

 female, why do we not fee the foetus in the egg 

 before impregnaiion, as clearly as after it ? We 

 formerly mentioned, that Malpighius always 

 foinid the foetus in eggs which had received the 

 impregnation of the male, and could difcover 

 nothing but an unformed mole or mafs in the 

 cicatrice of unimpregnated eggs. It is, there- 

 fore, evident, that the foetus is never formed till 

 the egg has been impregnated. 



Farther, we not only cannot difcover the foe- 

 tus in eggs before the intercourfe of the fexes, 

 but we have not been able to demonftratc the 



exillence 



