GENERATION. 



At the end of one day the number diniininicd ; and, upon 

 the third, none wt-re to be fccn. In other fomen, vhich 

 fccmed to be cntin-ly filamentous, the ovular corpufcula 

 did not proceed from the filaments ; but thcfo, dividing in 

 two, were mctamorphofed into corp^lfcula. They were em- 

 barrafl'ed by a thread. The longer it was, the more it im- 

 peded their motion; but it gradually contrafted, and was 

 at hi\ completely dcftroyed. The figure of thefe ovular' 

 corpufcula refenibled tli'nt of thofe of infufions. They 

 fwam with a progrefTive motion, though, at firft, the thread 

 occafioned a fimple ofcillation. He obl'erved fimilar pheno- 

 mena in the femiiial fluid of other animals. Sometimes 

 the corpufcula altered tin ir ligure ; fonictimes they divided 

 into two. Buffon conceives that they cannot properly be 

 deemed animals, and he forms of them a particular clafs, 

 imder the term of orgiimc moleciilfs, which are particles dif- 

 feminated through all matter, original, incorruptible, ani- 

 mated, and always aftive. Nor does he hefitate to confide 

 the formation of the animated univerfe to thofe molecules. 

 Subfequent refcarches have not confirmed thefe opinions of 

 the French imturalift. That the funinal vermiculi have 

 tails is proved by numerous accurate obfervers, and -.s parti- 

 cularly fupported by the tellimony of Haller. (Elem. 

 Phyfiol. t. 7. p. 521.) It feems queftionable whether 

 Buffon ever faw the real fpermatic vermiculi j for the 

 latter live at mod only for a few iiours after the dif- 

 charge of the fluid, while thofe obferved by him remain- 

 ed for fome days. And his remarks; on the whole fecm 

 much more applicable to the microfcopic animalcula ob- 

 ferved in vegetable infufions, as well as in all liquors ex- 

 pofed to the air. This point feems clearly proved by the 

 labours of Spallan/.ani, who made a vaft number of obter- 

 vationson the fubj-ft, and fot the whole hillorj- of the fper- 

 matic animalcula in fo clear a light, that no doubt can re- 

 main on the fubjeft. Tlie general refult of his refearches 

 tends completely to confirm tlie original remarks of Leeu- 

 venhoeck. (Sfe his Trails on the Nature of Animals and 

 Vegetables, Edinb. 8vo. 1799.) He obferves that his ex- 

 r>. riments on frefli human femen prefented him with totally 

 different refults from thofe defcribed by Buffon, but as he 

 could not regard Bnffon's flatemeuts as purely chimerical, 

 he thought the contradiftion might be reconciled by fhew- 

 in<T that the French naturahll had defcribed animals of a dif- 

 ferent kind. " I had remarked,'' fays he, " that there is no 

 part of an animal which, when infufed, does not give exiftence 

 to a particular kind of animalcula. They are produced indif- 

 ferently, by the mufcles, brain, nerves, membranes, tendons, 

 veins, and arteries. The fame holds good of the blood, 

 ferum, milk, chyle, faliva, &c. mixed with water, or even 

 by themfelves. I had not yet made experiments upon the 

 human fcmen for this purpofe ; but it was mofl probable, 

 that the putrefaction of this liquid would give exiilence to 

 particular beings. May not M. de Buffon have confounded 

 thefe with the feminal vermiculi, and afcribed to the latter the 

 properties and phenomena exhibited by the former ? I de- 

 termined to afcertain this faft by obferving what happened 

 fucceffively to the femen, when long preferved in a watch- 

 glafs. I made my firft experiments on the human feminal 

 fluid. The vermiculi died in three hours and a half, and 

 ■were precipitated to the bottom cf the glafs. Upon the 

 fixth day, the feminal fluid began to exhale a foetid and dif- 

 afreeable odour ; but I could perceive no animated being : 

 only, upon taking fome drops from the bottom of the glafs, 

 I obferved the dead bodies of the vermicuh apparently very 

 entire. The feventli and eighth days I faw no change, but 

 the fa-tor increafed. On the ninth I difcovered very minute 

 animalcula, tlxeir fizc nearly equalling that of fpermatic ver- 



miculi ; but they had no tail, and greatly refembled moft 

 minute fpherules. Like aninialcula of infufions, they fome- 

 times flopped at little fragments of corrupted femen : fome- 

 times their courfe was very rapid, retrograde, riling and 

 finking in the fluid : in a word, they pofieffed every pro- 

 perty of infufion animalcula. They were feen in every llra- 

 tum of the femen ; and thofe at the bottom put in motion 

 the dead bodies of the feminal vermiculi, which were ftill 

 entire, and remained fo fome days longer.'' Two or three 

 fucceffive generations of thefe animals were obferved, as in 

 the cafe of other animalcula. 'When the femen was expofed 

 to a greater degree of heat, they appeared at a more early 

 period, even as foon as twenty-three hours from the removal 

 of the fluid from the dead body. In one inflance they wex'e 

 obferved to propagate by a fpontaneous tranfverfe divifion 

 of tlie body. " Thele fa£ls fufTiciently fatisfied me that 

 Buffon liad erroneoufiy afcribed to the fpermatic vermiculi 

 properties b 'longing only to the animalcula of infufions. 

 Let us, in a few words, colleft the circumilanccs. Accord- 

 ing to tliis author, after a certain time, the venniculi were 

 de])rived of their tails. He fliould have faid that the ani- 

 malcula of infufion came in the place of the vermiculi, which 

 were already dead, and precipitated to the bottom of the 

 liquid. He was arrefted by their firfl appearance : and took 

 them for feminal vermiculi deprived of their tail, which in 

 truth they often very much refemble. When difengaged 

 from the tail, Mr. Buffon adds, they acquire greater aCtivi- 

 ty. This was a necelTary confequence of the firft miflake. 

 When the infufion animalcula had taken place of the vermi- 

 culi, tlieir increafed agihty could not be unobferved, fince 

 the animalcula move with much greater quicknefs than the 

 vermiculi. This erroneous fuppofition being admitted, Mr. 

 Buffon had to relate, as he has done, the remainder of tile 

 phenomenon. He had to fpeak of the imaginary changes 

 of the vermiculi, of their divifion, and their diminution, 

 with the more confidence, as his opinions had to be confirmed 

 by a repetition of his experim.ents, if not upon all, at Icafl 

 upon many fpecies of infufion animalcula in the femicn.'" 

 p. 135--142. The following account of the fpermatic 

 vermiculi is taken from the work of Spallanzani already 

 quoted, which contains the moft complete account of the 

 fubjett. 



'VVhcn the femen begins to difTolve, if it be examined 

 with a magnifier cf fmall power, the irregular parts feem to 

 be in an indiftinft flow agitation, produced by globular cor- 

 pufcula, of which each poffeffes a fort of filament, or fhort 

 appendage, about fix times the length of the body. They 

 have two motions ; one ofcillatory, from right to k-ft, and 

 •vice -vcrfd, in which the appendage is curved from one fide to 

 the other : the other is progreffive, the vermiculus tranfport- 

 ing itfelf by ofcillation. They ftrike againft every obftacle, 

 and when in confiderable numbers, make a thoufand contor- 

 tions to efcape, at laft taking that way where they feel 

 the leaft refiftance. Thus they are in continual motion. 

 In twenty-three m.inutes the motions of ofcillation and pro- 

 greflioii had diminifhed ; and in an hour and a half it had 

 leffened fo much, that a very fmall number of corpufcula 

 poffeffed any power of motion. In general, the progrefiive 

 motion cca!es before the ofcillatory ; fo that, at laft, the 

 corpufcle merely bends from right to left, and reciprocally. 

 They continue fixed to the fame fpot, until the ofcillatory 

 motion inf.n.ibly dies away. After all motion is gone, the 

 corpufcula remain entire in the fluid, and then they are bet- 

 ter feen than even when the liquid is diluted v.-ith water. 

 Each corpufcle is not properly globular, but elliptic, and 

 the appendage is not only longer than it appears, but the 

 breadth is not equal throughout like a thread, but increafes 



as 



