THE EXPERIMENTS. 225 



giveii life and motion to tlie whole. The mu- 

 cilage itfelf is often nothing elfe than a ma(s of 

 thofe bodies, which begin to move as foon as 

 they can difengage themfelves ; and, of courfe, 

 this thick matter or mucilage, inftead of being 

 a humour produced by the animalcules, is only 

 a congeries of the animals themfelves, or rather, 

 as formerly remarked, the matter of which they 

 are formed. Speaking of the femen of the 

 cock, Leeuwenhoek, in his letter to Grew, fays *, 

 Contemplando materiam (feminalem) animad- 

 verti ibidem tantam abundantiam viventium 

 animalium, ut ea ftuperem ; forma feu externa 

 figura fua noftrates anguillas fluviatiles refere- 

 bant, vehementiffima agitatione movebantur ; 

 quibus tamen fubftrati videbantur multi et ad- 

 modum exiles globuli, item multae plan-ova- 

 les figurae, quibus etiam vita pofTet attribui, 

 et quidem propter earumdem commotiones ; 

 fed exiftimabam omnes hafce commotiones et 

 agitationes provenire ab animalculis, ficque 

 etiam res fe habebat ; attamen ego non opi- 

 nione folum, fed etiam ad veritatem mihi per- 

 fuadeo has particulas, planam et ovalem figu- 

 ram habentes, effe quaedam animalcula inter 

 fe ordine fuo difpofita et mixta, vitaque adhuc 

 carentia.' Here we have animalcules, in the 

 fame feminal fluid, of different forms; and I am 

 convinced, from my own experiments, that, if 

 Leeuwenhoek had obferved thofe oval bodies 

 Vor,. IL V witli 



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