LECTURE Xir. i9^ 
isera or kinds, instituted from tlie "^mctiire^ add'’ 
appearance of the Coral or hard part, aiid'^the'^^f- 
firtity which the animal or softer part bears to sbme^ 
other genus among the soft-bodifed Anfmals or^ 
XfellusGa. The' Zoophytes therefore unite ^ the- • 
ammai and vegetable kingdoms, and fill up the^ 
intermediate -space. AnoD . »£- 
By the ancients most of the Zoophytes were 
considered -as plants ; but in Iate§ times some phi-^' 
losophers have imagined them tatherftcf belong to 
the mineral kingdomy'^ftinc^ng that: they greW^Oir 
increased somewhat in the'^manner of crystals and^^ 
ether regulariy figured bodies. lo-dm n odT 
/ About the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury some observations were made on the com-‘^'^ 
men red coral, and some other species, by Count 
Marsigli, which seemed to prove then# of a vege- 
table nature; for on gathering- them perfectly ^ 
fresh, and placing them in sea water, they appear- '^ 
ed to put forth small flowers from all the minuted 
cavities' or liellow points on the surface. These"^ 
therefore were^considered^ as a convincing proof 
that coral was -a plant. The arguments ’against 
this tlieory were, the animal odor which they dif- ^ 
fused in burning, and a greater degree of seUsibi- 
