[4 2 V 1 
Strainers indifcrirninately of either ; and thus might 
we have Muies common from each refpe&ive Male, 
without a promifcuous Congrefs of thefe two Spe- 
cies. 
§ii. In another View, if we conftder the ex- 
treme Tenuity, I may lay the mere Nothingnefs 
of one of thefe Stamina, in its firft Origin, at the 
Diftance of many Ages ; comparatively to any one 
Part, the fmalleft mufcular Fibre, for inftance, of 
an adult Animal it is now faid to conftitute : how 
can we underhand, that fo minute a Filament could 
be developed, or in any Senfe ferve as a Sub- 
jiratum to a Cylinder fo folid, fo maffive, fo compa- 
ratively immenfe ? Could a Mountain be look’d 
upon as a Superftrutture upon a Grain of Sand ? Or 
the terraqueous Globe derive its prefent Dimenlions 
from the Dilatation of an Atom ? What is not the 
prodigious Force of this mufcular Fibre in its pre- 
fent State, if compared with what it had in its 
Origin? and, consequently, what mud have been 
the Increafe of real extraneous Matter, cither by 
Apportion, or Incorporation ; which is now as 
much a Part of this Fibre as the original Stamen ? 
And if thus much can mechanically be affimilated, 
why not the whole of it formed by mechanical 
Caufes? Or why muft fo infignificant a Part of it 
be faid to be concreated with the Univerfe? But to 
ftrike at once with what, in my Opinion, may be 
look’d upon as a demonftrative Argument againft the 
Syftcm of original Stamina ? The Difficulty hill in- 
creases immenfely, if we look into the Vegetation 
of Plants, and the wonderful Re-produ&ion of the 
Parts of Polypes, Starfifh, Lobfters Claws, &c. The 
original 
