^i THE PHILOSOPHY 



* roundifli or oval animalcules that have no beak or hook on the 



* fore part of their bodies, divide tranfverfely. A kind of ftridure 



* or ftrangulation begins about the middle of the body, which gra- 

 ' gually increafes, till the two parts adhere by a fmall thread only. 



* Then both parts make repeated efforts, till the divifion is com- 



* pleted. For fome time after reparation, the two' animals remain 



* in a feemingly torpid ftate. They afterwards begin to fwim about 

 ' brilkly. Each part is only one half the fize of the whole : But 



* they foon acquire the magnitude peculiar to the fpecies, and mul- 



* tiply by fimilar divifions.' ' To obviate every doubt,' conti- 

 nues our author, ' I put a fingle animalcule into a drop of water, 

 ' which fplit before my eyes. Next day, I had five, the day after, 



* fixty, and, on the third day, their number was fo great, that it 



* was impofTible to count them *. 



* Another fpecies, with a beak or horn on the fore part of Its 

 body, which I obtained from an infiifion of hemp-feed, multi- 

 plied likewife by divifion, but in a manner ftill more fingular 

 than the former. This animalcule, when about to divide, at- 

 taches itfelf to the bottom of the infufion, contradts its body, 

 which is naturally oblong, into a fpherical form, fo that the beak 

 entirely difappears. It then begins to move brifkly round, fome- 

 times from right to left, and fometimes from left to right, the 

 centre of motion being always fixed. Towards the end, its mo- 

 tion accelerates, and, inftead of a uniform fphere, two crofs-like 

 divifions begin tq appear. Soon after, the creature Is greatly agi- 

 tated, and fplits Into four animalcules perfectly fimilar, though 

 fma'der than that from which they were produced. Thefe four 

 increafe to the ufual fize, and each, in its turn, fubdivides into 

 other fcurf)' Sec. 



I The 



* La Palingenefie Philofophitjue, par C. Bonnet, torn. i. p. 428. 429. 

 ■j- Idemj p. 430. 



