232 REFLECTIONS ON 



with great propriety, that the milt of the cod * 

 is gradually filled with feminal liquor ; and that, 

 after the fifli has fpent this liquor, the milt dries, 

 and leaves only a flaccid membrane, entirely 

 deilitute of every kind of fluid. * Eo tempore,' 

 fays he, * quo afellos major la<3:esfuosemifit, rugae 

 ' illae, feu tortiles ladium partes, ufque adeo con- 



* trahuntur, ut nihil praeterpelliculas feu membra- 



* nas efl^e videantur.' How fhould this dry mem- 

 brane, which contains neither feminal liquor nor 

 animalcules, produce animalcules of the fame fpe- 

 cies next feafDn ? If they were produced by a re- 

 gular generation, fuch a long interruption could 

 not take place, which, in moft filhes, continues 

 a whole year. To remove this difficulty, he af- 

 terwards remarks : ' NeceflTario ftatuendum erit, 



* ut afellus major femen fuum emiferit, in ladi- 



* bus etiamnum muitum materiae feminalis gig- 



* nendis animalcuiis aptae remanfiile, ex qua ma- 

 ' teria plura oportet provenire animalcula femi- 

 ' nalla quam anno proximeelapfoemifrafuerant.' 

 This fuppofition, that part of the feminal liquor 

 remains in the milt for rhe produdion of Iper- 

 matic animals the following year, is perfedly 

 gratuitous, and contrary to obfervation ; for the 

 milt, during this interval, is nothing but a thin 

 dry membrane. But how will he explain a 

 phaenomenon that takes place in fome fifhes, and 

 particularly in the calmar, whofe feminal liquors 

 are not only renewed every year, but even the 



membranes 

 * Tom. 3. p. 98. 



