132 Crosse's Experiments ivith the Voltaic Battery. 



mostly imbedded more or less in the silica, with eight or ten fila- 

 ments projecting from each beyond the silica. It was perfectly 

 impossible to mistake them, after having made one's self master of 

 their different appearances ; and an occasional motion in the fila- 

 ments of those that had been the longest formed was very percept- 

 ible, and observed by many of my visitors, without my having 

 previously noticed the fact to them. Most of these productions 

 took place from half to three quarters of an inch under the surface 

 of the fluid,~ which, as it evaporated very slowly, I kept to the 

 same level by adding fresh portions. As some of these insects 

 were formed on the inverted part of the syphon-shaped wire, I 

 cannot imagine how they contrived to arrive at the surface, and 

 to extricate themselves from the fluid : yet this they did repeat- 

 edly ; their old places were vacated, and others- were born in new 

 ones. Whether they were in an imperfect state (except just at 

 the commencement of their formation), or in a perfect one, they 

 had all the distinguishing characteristic of bristles projecting from 

 their bodies, which occasioned the French scivans to remark that 

 they resembled a microscopic porcupine. I must not omit to state, 

 that the room in which these three batteries were acting was kept 

 almost constantly darkened. It was not my intention to make 

 known these observations until I myself should be better informed 

 about the matter. ^ Chance led to the publication of an erroneous 

 account of them, which I was under the necessity of explaining. 

 It is so difficult to arrive at the truth, that mankind would do bet- 

 ter to lend their assistance to explore what may be worth investi- 

 gating, than to endeavor to crush in its bud that which might 

 otherwise expand into a flower. In giving this account, I have 

 merely stated those circumstances regarding the appearance of 

 insects, which I have noticed during my investigations into the 

 formation of mineral matters ; I have never studied physiology, 

 and am not aware under what circumstances the birth of this class 

 of insects is usually developed. In my first experiment I had 

 made use of flannel, wood, and a volcanic stone ; in the last, none 

 of these substances were present. I never, for a moment, enter- 

 tained the idea that the electric fluid had animated the organic 

 remains of insects, or fossfl eggs, previously existing in the stone 

 or the silica ; and have formed no visionary theory which I would 

 travel out of my way to support. I have since repeated these 

 latter experiments in a third room, in which there are now two 



