140 METAMORPHOSES OF MAN 



tirely new speculation — a peculiar theory termed that 

 of " panspermy" which supposed the constant exist- 

 ence and universal diffusion of germs that were always 

 ready to be developed. On the other side, Descartes' 

 followers took the matter up, and asked those who 

 believed in the existence of a soul among the lower 

 animals, what became of the soul of a polyp which 

 had been divided into fifty portions, each one of which 

 assumed the character of an individual ? Was the 

 soul divided into as many portions as the body, or did 

 it remain in some favoured segment ? Did the fiftieth 

 part of the soul, in the first instance, become even- 

 tually developed? How, in the second case, could 

 the portions first deprived of a soul perform their 

 functions as well as those in which it was left intact ? 

 Or, were there indeed not only bodily germs but 

 spiritual ones also ? These questions, as well as many 

 others, were discussed at the time with considerable 

 spirit, but the excitement gradually calmed down. 

 Unsolved problems were laid aside ; and, thanks to 

 the ventilation, and even to the number of the facts, 

 it was considered as easy to conceive of an animal 

 reproducing itself after the manner of plants, as to 

 suppose that an insect could be oviparous and vivi- 

 parous alternately, and that a single act of fecundation 

 influenced not only the generation immediately suc- 

 ceeding it, but future generations also. 



For more than three-quarters of a century, natural- 

 ists continued to explore the paths which had been 

 thrown open to them by the discoveries of Bonnet, 

 Peysonnel, and Trembley. Facts were rapidly accu- 

 mulated, but no new phenomena were observed. 

 There are among the works of this period some 



