598 ANIMALCULES. 



the division is completed. For some time subse- 

 quent to the separation the two animals remain in a 

 seemingly torpid state; but they afterward begin to 

 swim about briskly. Each part is only one half the 

 size of the whole : but they soon acquire the magni- 

 tude peculiar to the species, and multiply by similar 

 divisions* To obviate every doubt, I put a single 

 animalcule into a drop of water, which split before 

 my eyes. Next day I had five, the day after sixty, 

 and on the third day their number was so great that 

 it was impossible to count them. 



i( Another species, with a beak or horn on the 

 fore-part of its body, which I obtained from an in- 

 fusion of hemp-seed, multiplied likewise by division, 

 but in a manner still more singular than the former. 

 This animalcule, when about to divide, attaches it- 

 self to the bottom of the infusion, contracts its body, 

 which is naturally oblong, into a spherical form, so 

 that the beak entirely disappears. It then begins to 

 move briskly round, sometimes from right to left, and 

 sometimes from left to right, the centre of motion 

 being always fixed. Towards the end, its motion 

 accelerates, and, instead of an uniform sphere, two 

 cross-like divisions begin to appear. Soon after, 

 the creature is greatly agitated, and splits into four 

 animalcules, perfectly similar to, though smaller 

 than, that from which they were produced. These 

 four increase to the usual size, and each in its turn 

 subdivides into other four*." 



* La Falengenesie Philosophique, paiC. Bormet, torn. i. p. 4z8. 



