224 THE PHILOSOPHY 



difcovered evident marks of uneafinefs ; and all of them that re-= 

 mained on the flefh of the pigeon were deprived of life, as in the 

 former experiment, in lefs than an hour. Thus the degree of heat 

 that is neceflary to fuch w^orrns as inhabit the interior parts of ani- 

 mals, is deftrudlive to thofe fpecies which Nature has deftined to 

 feed upon the flefh of dead animals. Hence the worms fometimes 

 found in ulcerous fores, muft belong to a different fpecies from thofe 

 upon which the above experin\ents were made. 



The growth of feme worms, which feed upon animal or vege- 

 table fubftances, is extremely rapid. Redi remarked, that thefe crea- 

 tures, the day after they cfcaped from the egg, had acquired at leaft 

 double their former fize. At this period he weighed them, and 

 found that each worm weighed feven grains j but that, on the 

 day preceding, it required from twenty-five to thirty of them to 

 weif'^h a fingle grain. Hence, in about the fpace of twenty-four 

 hours, each of thefe worms had become from 155 to 210 times 

 heavier than formerly. This rapidity of growth is remarkable in 

 thofe maggots which are produced from the eggs of the common 

 flefh- fly. 



Before we difmifs this fubjed, a few obfervations on that power, 

 inherent in all animal bodies, of difTolving, and converting into 

 chyle, every nutritive fubftance thrown into the ftomach, merit at- 

 tention. 



In order to explain the procefs of digeftion, fome phyficians and phi- 

 lofophers have had recourfe to mechanical force, and others to chemical 

 adion. The fupporters of mechanical force maintained, that the ftomachs 

 of all animals comminuted, or broke down into fmall portions, every 

 fpecies of food, and prepared it for being converted into chyle. The 

 chemical philofophers, on the contrary, fupported the opinion, that 



the 



