Of the Mufcle. 
109 
Of the mufcle. 
I N a diffedlion of the ovarium of a mufcle, Mr. 
Leeuwenhoek difcovered numbers of embrio mufcles s , 
which appeared as plainly in the microfcope as the mufcle 
does to the naked eye; lying with their fharp ends fattened 
to the firings or veflels whereby they received their 
nourifhment. Thefe minute embrio mufcles are in due 
time laid or placed by the parent, in a very regular and 
clofe order, on the outfide of the fheli; where, by means 
of a glewy matter, they adhere very fafl, and continually 
increafe in fize and flrength; till becoming perfedi 
mufcles, they fall off and fhift for themfelves, leaving 
the holes where they were placed behind them, as abun¬ 
dance of mufcle fhells when viewed by the microfcope can 
fhew two or three thoufand of thefe eggs adhering 
fometimes to the fheli of one mufcle 5 it is not certain 
they are all fixed there by the mufcle itfelf, but are fre¬ 
quently placed there by another mufcle. The fringed 
edge of the mufcle, called by Mr. Leeuwenhoek the 
beard, has in every the minuteft part of it fuch a variety 
of motions, as is unconceivable for being compofed of 
fpngifh fibres, each fibre has on both fides a vafl many- 
moving particles, which one would almofl imagine to be 
animalcules 
The firings or threads, which we term the beard, are 
compofed of a glew, which the mufcle applies by the 
help of its trunk to fome fixed body, and draws out as a 
fpidex does its web, thereby faflening itfelf, that it may 
not 
* Phil. Tranf. No. 336. b Phil. Tranf. No. 336. Axe* 
Nat. Top.U. p. 15. & Tom, iv. p. 423. 
