^20 dF INSECTS IN" GENERAL. 



tleemed contemptible, that was not found in the wfiting^ 

 of the ancienta. 



The attempts of thefe early writers gave birth to the 

 refearches of others, who were gradually more bold and 

 fuccefsful, in proportion as their reverence for antiquity 

 was dimiiiillied. In 1668, about twelve years after 

 JMouffht pubiiihed his '^hcatrum Ififeclornm, the e::ptri. 

 ments and obfervations of the celebrated Rhcdi made their 

 appearance in Italy. His inveftigations were principally 

 directed to the manner of the generation of infects, with 

 a view to overthrow that abfurd and erroneous doflrinc 

 ellabliflied by the ancients, of their arifing fortuitoufly 

 from different bodies in a ftate of putrefaftion. Nothing 

 can more fully demonllrate the llrength of prejudice tlian 

 thofe elaborate treatifes which Malphigi, Swammerdum^ 

 and Rhcdi were obliged to compofe, in order to combat 

 the notion of the fpontaneous generation of thefe jiuimals ; 

 an opinion which at prefent feems as ridiculous and unphi- 

 lofophical as it is untrue. Notwitli!tanding all their efforts to 

 prove, that the fmaller animals art; produced in the fa me man- 

 ner with thelarger, and that the organization of the oody of 

 a mite requires the fame app..r ftus of limbs, and the fame 

 delicate flrudlure as that of an elephant, attempts were 

 Itill made to revive the ancient error by Kirker-^ Bonaricy 

 and others *. And what is moft mortiiving to human 

 reafon, the fame Rhedi, the declared enemy of prejudices, 

 and the man o! aii others who knov/s befl how to com- 

 bat them, has, upon ti-is very fubje£l, fallen into a fimi- 

 lar error. In order to produce thofe infers which <i:c 



found 



* Vi-ie Mot '• di dubitar ir.torno la genera.ior.e dc viventi, fecondo I/ 

 opluior-e de moderni. 



