224 REFLECTIONS ON 



' quodam circa caput ferebatur. Corpus fere 



* carebat motu, cauda tamen in tres quatuorve 



* flexus volvebatur.' Here we have the change 

 of figure that I had obferved, the mucilage 

 from which the moving bodies with difficulty 

 difengage themfelves, the flownefs of their mo- 

 tion before they efcape from the mucilage, and, 

 laftly, a part of the pretended animal in mo- 

 tion while the other is dead ; for, a little after- 

 wards, he obfcrves, ' movcbant pofteriorem fo- 

 ' lum partem, quae ultima morti vicinia effe 

 ' judicabam,' AH this is repugnant to the na- 

 ture of an animal, but exaQly correfponds with 

 my experiments, except that I never faw the 

 tail move, but in confequence of an agitation of 

 the body. Speaking of the feminal fluid of the 

 cod, he fays *, ' Non e(l putandum omnia ani- 



* malcula in lemine afelli contenta uno eodem- 

 ' que tempore vivere, fed ilia potius tantum vi- 

 ' vere quae e^itui feu partui viciniora funt, quae 



* et copiofiori humido innatant prae reliquis vita 

 ' carentibus, adhuc in crafla materia, quam hu- 



* mor eorum efficit, jacentibus.' If thefe are 

 animals, why were they not all alive ? Why 

 did thofe only live which were in the moft fluid 

 part of the liquor ? Leeuwenhock did not obferve, 

 that the thick part, inftead of being a humour 

 produced by the animalcules, is a mucilage, 

 which gives birth to them. If he had diluted 

 the mucilage with water, he would at once have 



given 



* P. 3 2- 



