EXPERIMENTS. 107 



figure of the animalcules : And, with regard to 

 the vafcular texture of the thick part of the fe- 

 minal fluid, he fufpeded that it was only a con- 

 geries of filaments, without any regular organi- 

 zation : ' Quae tibi videbatur vaforum congerios, 

 fortaflis feminis funt quaedam filamenta, haud 

 organice conftructa, fed dum permearunt vafa 

 generation! infervientia in iftiufmodi figuram 

 elongata. Non diifimili modo ac faepius no- 

 tatus funi falivam craffiorem ex glandularuni 

 faucium foraminibus editam, quafi e convolutis 

 fibrillis conftantem *.' 

 Leeuwenhoek replied, i8th March 1678, in 

 the following words : * Si quando canes coeunt 

 marem a foemina ftatim feponas, materia quae- 

 dam tenuis et aquofa (lympha fcilicet fperma- 

 tica) a pene folet paulatim exftillare ; banc 

 rnateriam numerofiffimis animalculis repletani 

 aliquoties vidi, eorum magnitudine quae in 

 femine virili confpiciuntur, quibus particulae 

 globularcs aliquot quinquagies majores per- 

 milcebantur. 



* Quod ad vaforum in crafTiori feminis virilis 

 portione fpedabilium obfcrvationem attinet, 

 denuo non fen)el iteratam, faltcm mihiuKnipli 

 comprobalfe videor ; meque omnino perfuafum 

 habeo, cuniculi, canis, telis, arterias venafve 

 fulife a peritifTniiO anatomico haud unquani 

 magis perfpicue obfervatas, quam mihi vafa in 

 fcmini virili, ope perfpicilli, in confpcdum 

 venere. 



N 3 * Cum 



♦ See Phil. Tranf. No. 141. p. 1043. 



