RECAPITULATION. 349 



of putrefcency, as to become a poifon of the 

 moft a6):ive kind ; for, whenever this adive 

 matter is exalted to a certain point, which may 

 always be diftinguilhed by the rapidity and mi- 

 nutenefs of the moving bodies it contains, it 

 muft become a fpecies of poifon. The fame 

 thing may be remarked with regard to the poi- 

 fon of vegetables. The fame matter which 

 nouriihes us while in a natural ftate, w^ill de- 

 flroy us when it is corrupted, as appears from 

 the gangrenes wiiich affed: the limbs of men and 

 other animals, when they are fed with corrupt- 

 ed grain ; and from comparing the refidue of 

 the food which adheres to our teeth, wirh that 

 which proceeds from the teeth of the viper or 

 of a mad dog, which is nothing but the fame 

 matter too much exalted, and in the higheft 

 ftate of putrefadion. 



When large quantities of this organic and 

 prolific matter are coUeded in fome part of an 

 animal, where it is obliged to remain, it there 

 forms living beings, which we have always re- 

 crardcd as real animals. The taenia, the afca- 

 rides, all the worms found in the veins, in the 

 liver, in wounds, in pus, and moft of thofe which 

 are formed in putrified flefti, have no other ori- 

 gin. The eels in pafte, in vinegar, and all the 

 pretended microfcopic animals, are only dillc- 

 rent forms alTumed, according to circumftances, 

 by this adive matter, which has a perpetual 

 tendency to organization, 



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