,54 STATES OF INSECTS. 



becomes Jit for nutrition, whence the epiploon appears to 

 be a kind of concrete chyle*. 



Need I repeat to you the hypothesis to which this 

 stands opposed— That every caterpillar at its first exclu- 

 sion contains within itself the germe of the future butterfly 

 and of all its envelopes, which successively presenting them- 

 selves are thrown off, till it appear in perfection and 

 beauty, with all its parts and organs, when no further de- 

 velopment takes place. 



I believe you will agree with me, when you have read 

 and considered the above abstract of Dr. Herold's hy- 

 pothesis, that in it he substitutes a name for knowledge, 

 talks of a visformatrix because his assisted eye cannot 

 penetrate to the primordial essence or state of the germes 

 of being, and denies the existence of what he cannot dis- 

 cover 13 . From ancient ages philosophers have done the 

 same, to conceal their own ignorance of causes under a 

 sounding name, when they have endeavoured to pene- 

 trate within the veil of the sanctum sanctorum, which it 

 is not permitted to vain man to enter. This has occa- 

 sioned the invention, not only of the term in question, 

 but of many others, as little meriting the appellation of 

 Signs of ideas ; such as Plastic Nature, Epigenesis, Pan- 

 spermia, Idea seminalis, Nisus formativus, &c. But upon 



a Entwickelungsgeschichte der Schmetterlinge 12 — 27. 105 — . 



b Dr. Virey's observations under the article Embryo (iV. Diet. 

 d'Hist. Nat, x, 195,) deserve here to be considered. " II y a done 

 quelque chose au dessus de l'intelligence humaine dans cette forma- 

 tion des etres ; en vain on veut l'approfondir, e'est un abime dans 

 lequel on ne voit que la main de Dieu. A quoi bon s'appesantir sur 

 le mystere de la formation des etres, sans esperance de l'expliquer ? 

 Ne vaut-il pas mieux observer les operations de la nature autant 

 qu'il est permis a Pceil humain de les appercevoir?" 



