±^6 OF THE FORMATION 



thefe particles will preferve their original nature 

 "without any mixture, and fix their pofition, 

 without the neceffity of being penetrated by o- 

 thers. Thus the particles which proceed from 

 the fexual parts will be fiirft fixed, and thofe that 

 are common to the two fexes, whether they be- 

 long to the male or to the female, will then fix 

 indifcriminately, and form an organized body, 

 which, in its fexual parts, will perfedly refemble 

 the father, if it be a male, and the mother, if it 

 be a female, but which, in the other parts, may 

 refemble either or both. 



If what I have advanced be properly under- 

 flood, we fhall, perhaps, be able to obviate an 

 cbjedion to the fyftem of Arjllotle, and which 

 might alfo be urged againft the do£trrne which 

 I am now ellablifhing. The objection is, Why 

 is not every individual, both male and fe- 

 male, endowed with the fvculty of producing an 

 animal of its own lex? I am aware of the diffi- 

 culty of folving this queftion, which 1 have 

 flightly mentioned in the fifih chapter, and fhall 

 now proceed farther to illulirate. 



From what is delivered in the firfl four chap- 

 ters, and from the experiments I have related, 

 it is apparent, that reproduclion is elTeifxcd by 

 the afTemblage and union of the organic par- 

 ticles, detached from every part of the animal or 

 vegetable body, in one or fcveral common re- 

 fervoirs ; that thefc particles are the fame which 

 ferve for the nutrition and expanfion of the 



body I 



