142 



VESTIGES OF THE 



In Mr. Weekes's apparatus, the silicate of potash became 

 first turbid, then of a milky appearance; round the 

 negative wire of the battery, dipped into the fluid, there 

 gathered a quantity of gelatinous matter, a part of 

 the process of considerable importance, considering that 

 gelatin is one of the -proxmiaie, 'princliileSj or first com- 

 pounds, of which animal bodies are formed. From this 

 matter Mr. Weekes observed one of the insects in 

 the very act of emerging, immediately after which, it 

 ascended to the surface of the fluid, and sought conceal- 

 ment in an obscure corner of the apparatus. The insects 

 produced by both experimentalists seem to have been 

 the same, a species of acarus, minute and semi-trans- 

 parent, and furnished with long bristles, which can only 

 be seen by the aid of the microscope. It is worthy of 

 remark, that some of these insects, soon after their 

 existence had commenced, were found to be likely to 

 extend their species. They were sometimes observed to 

 go back to the fluid to feed, and occasionally they 

 devoured each other.* 



The reception of novelties in science must ever be 

 regulated very much by the amount of kindred or 

 relative phenomena which the public mind already 

 possesses and acknowledges, to which the new can bc> 

 assimilated. A novelty, however true, if there be no 

 received truths with which it can be shown in har- 

 monious relation, has little chance of a favourable hear- 

 ing. In fact, as has been often o1)served, there is a 

 measure of incredulity from our ignorance as well as 

 from our knowledge, and if the most distinguished philo- 

 sopher three hundred years ago had ventured to develop 

 any striking new fact which only could harmonise with 

 the as yet unknown Copernican solar system, we cannot 

 * See a Pamplilet circulated by Mr. Weekes, in 1842. 



