[ 6 S7 ] 
der and Defccnt. Neverthelefs, tho' thus fpecifically 
determin'd, no one, that obferves their Origin with 
the fame Care as I have done, will be inclined to 
aferibe it to pre-exiftent Germs: It is therefore pro- 
bable, as I juft now advanced, that when we arrive 
at the lowcft we can difeover in this Clafs, we are 
yet at an immenfe Remove from the univerfal Source ; 
notwithftanding that fome of them are fmall beyond 
Conception, and no lefs fimplc in their Motions ; 
which argues their Organization as fimple, andfeems 
to imply that there are among them, or not at a very 
great Diftance from them, fuch as are only mere 
Machines, without any true Spontaneity. 
I have myfelffcen a vaft Gradation, and fuch a one 
as I have yet but an imperfedt Notion of, in a Courfe 
of continual Obfervations made upon Infufions and 
Macerations of all kinds, from themoft compounded 
to the moft fimple $ from Animals of the largeft kind 
to moving Atoms of the leaft ; from Motions as flow 
to the moft powerful Magnifier, as the Motion of the 
Minute-Hand of a Watch to Eyes unarm'd; from 
free Progrefiion in all Directions to merely ofcilla- 
tory Balances ; which all feem to come to at laft in 
the Courfe of their Decompofttion, when they are 
juft upon the Point of difappearing. 
§ 31. Thus thefe Animalcules, if they may be 
call’d indifferently by that Name, manifcftly conftitutc 
a Clafs apart ; and their greateft Charadteriftic is, 
that they neither are generated, fubfift by Nutri- 
ment, as other Plants and Animals do, or generate 
in the ordinary Way. This is indeed true, if the 
whole Clafs is taken in one general View : Yet is the 
Head of it united to the Species of the next im- 
6* 2 mediate 
