LECTURE I. 21 



at once the aspect of a plant, and the motions of 

 an animal, determined to try the experiment of 

 cutting it in two, in order to ascertain its doubtful 

 nature ; and was beyond measure astonished to 

 find that instead of destroying it, both parts seemed 

 uninjured by the wound, and that, in a very few 

 days, each had reproduced every deficient organ, 

 and that each animal seized its prey, and moved 

 about as before. 



This striking discovery, being announced, was 

 at first considered by many as a fable ; and it was 

 e\-en contended, that this division of animal life 

 was in itself absolutely impossible upon the prin- 

 ciples of common sense, as well as of sound philo* 

 sophy : but, at length, the attention of philosophers 

 in every part of Europe being excited by the sin- 

 gularity of the circumstance, the animals were 

 every where sought after, and experiments made 

 by cutting them in every possible direction. Their 

 real nature was thus completely ascertained ; and, 

 from subsequent experiments, it was found, that 

 in reality many other tribes of the inferior animals 

 were likewise possessed of the power of repro- 

 duction, though in a less striking degree -, and thus 

 a wide field of philosophical investigation was sud^- 



