CHAP. Vlf. 



Compaiifon of my oivn Experiments ivith thofe of 

 Leeunvenhoeh 



THOUGH my experiments were made 

 with all the attention of which I was ca- 

 pable, and though 1 often repeated them, I am 

 fatisfied that many things muft have efcaped me. 

 I have defcribed only what I faw, and what e- 

 very man may fee, at the expence of a little art 

 and patience. To free mylelf from prejudice, I 

 even attempted to forget what other obfervers 

 pretended to have ieen, endeavouring, by this 

 means, to be certain of feeing nothing but what 

 really appeared ; and it was not till I had di- 

 gefted my experiments, that I wiflied to compare 

 them with thofe of former writers, and particu- 

 larly with thofe of Leeuwenhoek, who had oc- 

 cupied himfelf more than 60 years in experi- 

 ments of this kind. 



Whatever authority may be due to this acute 

 obferver, it is certainly allowable to inflitute a 

 comparifon between a man's own obfcrvations, 

 and thofe of the mod refpedable writer on the 

 fame fubjcd:. By an examination of this kind. 



Vol. If. N truth 



