72 $ A N I M A 
flee, which is then open, by its neck, the valvules of 
which are then more limber, into the matrix of the wo¬ 
man, which is then fvvelled by motion, by heat, and be¬ 
comes turgid by a fort of flight inflammation which feents 
to take place; moiflened alfo by its lymph and the fpipits 
which arc excited', the excitation produced in the nervous 
papillae of the wrinkles of the vagina, caufes the womb 
to clofc immediately and fpafmod'cally. The male femen 
being then retained, heated, agitated, meeting with the 
ovum of the woman, its vivifying portion,'which is of in¬ 
conceivable fmallnefs, infmnates itfelf through the pores, 
already dilated, of the little glandulous membrane of the 
egg, where it is retained, fixed, cherifhed by a gentle,heat, 
nottrirtied, takes root by the umbilical membrane, and fdon 
fuffbeates or deftroys all the other animalcules which have 
lefs ftrength. Thus is conception completed ; but, as it 
fometimes happens that more titan one of thefe animal¬ 
cules is preferved, hence plural conceptions; hence two 
children, by this internal ftruggle, are fometimes born 
joined together. Bocrk. bj. Med. 673. 
This hypothefis, however, not proving fatisfabtory, ano¬ 
ther hath been fuggefted by M. Butfon, by which, indeed, 
he at once annihilates the whole animalcular world ; yet 
in this he hath been fdllow'ed by feveral very ingenious 
philofophers. His fyftem being founded upon a vaft num¬ 
ber of experiments, we ihall give the particulars of them 
in his own words : 
“ Having procured the feminal veffels of a man who 
died a violent death, and whofe body was Hill warm, I 
extracted all the liquor from them, and put it in a vial. 
1 examined, by the microfcope, a drop of this liquor, 
without any dilution. A loon as tire vapours which arofe 
from the liquor, and obfeured the glafs, were diilipated, I 
obferved pretty large filaments, as reprefented in Jg. 22 
of the preceding plate, which, in fome places, fpread out 
into branches, and, in others, intermingled with each 
other. Thefe filaments clearly appeared to be agitated 
with an internal undulatory motion, like hollow tubes, 
which contained fome moving fubflance. I faw diftindtly 
two of thefe filaments, which were joined longitudinally, 
feparate from each other in the middle, and alternately 
approach and recede, like two ftretched cords, fixed by 
the ends, and drawn afunder at the middle. Thefe fila¬ 
ments were compofed of globules which touched one ano¬ 
ther, and refembled a chaplet of beads, as reprefented in 
Jg. 23 of the fame plate. I then obferved filaments 
which were blown up, and fwelled in certain places, as 
{hewn in Jg. 24; and perceived frnall oval globules iffue 
from thefe fvvelled parts, which had a vibratory motion, 
like that of a pendulum, as reprefented mjg. 23. Thefe 
fmall bodies were attached to the filaments by little threads, 
which gradually lengthened as the bodies moved: and, 
laftly, J obferved thefe fmall bodies detach themfelves en¬ 
tirely from the large filament, and draw after them the 
little thread, which refembled a tail. As the liquor was 
too thick, and the filaments too near each other, I dilu¬ 
ted another drop with pure rain water, after fatisfying 
myfelf that it contained no animalcules. I then perceiv¬ 
ed that the filaments were more diflant from each other, 
and faw diftintlly the motion of the fmall bodies above 
taken notice of, which was more free, and they appeared 
to fwim with greater agility, and trailed their threads af¬ 
ter them with greater eafe5 and, if I had not feen them 
feparate from the filaments, and draw the threads out of 
them, I fliould have believed, from this fecond obferva- 
tion, the moving bodies to be real animals, and their 
threads to be tails. This appearance is faithfully deline¬ 
ated in Jg. 26 of the fame plate. After examining with 
great attention one of the filaments, which was three times 
thicker than the fmall bodies, I perceived two of thefe 
bodies detach themfelves with much difficulty, and drag 
after them long (lender threads, which impeded their mo¬ 
tion. When the feminal liquor became more fluid, the 
filaments difappeared; but the fmall bodies were exceed¬ 
ingly numerous, as (hewn in Their motion, for 
L C U L E. 
the moil: part, refembled that of a pendulum; each of 
them had a long thread, from which they evidently en¬ 
deavoured to difengage themfelves; their progreffive mo¬ 
tion w as extremely flow, during which they vibrated to 
the right and left. At each vibration, they had a rolling 
unfteady motion; fo that, befides their horizontal vibra° 
tiens, they roll or vibrate in a vertical diredtion; which 
proves thefe bodies to be of a globular figure, or at lead 
that their inferior part is not a flat bafe fufficiently exten- 
five to keep them in one pofition. At the end of two oir 
three hours, when the liquor was more fluid, a Hill great¬ 
er number of thefe moving bodies appeared, as reprefent¬ 
ed JJg. 28. They were more free of incumbrances; 
their threads were iliorter; their progreflive motion was 
more direift; and their horizontal vibration was greatly 
diminiilied; for the longer the threads were, their vibra¬ 
tory motion was increafed, and their progrefs forward was 
diminifned. The vertical vibration was Hill apparent. 
In five or fix hours, the liquor had almoft all the fluidity 
it could acquire, without being decompofed. W’e then 
difeovered that moil of thefe fmall moving bodies were 
entirely difengaged from their threads, as fliewn in Jg. 29, 
Their figure was oval; they moved forward with confide- 
rable quicknefs ; and, by their motion backward and for¬ 
ward, and to every fide, they had now more than ever 
the appearance of real animals. Thofe which had tails 
or threads flicking to them, feemed to have lefs vivacity 
than the others. Of thofe which had no threads, fome 
appeared to change both their figure and their iize. Some 
were round ; but the greateft part of them were oval, and 
a few were thicker at the extremities than in the middle. 
The rolling and vibratory motions were Hill perceptible. 
In twelve hours, the liquor had depofited, at the bottom 
of the vial, a kind of gelatinous, bluiih, or rather afh- 
coloured, fubflance; and the fluid that fwam on the 
top was nearly as clear as water, only it had a tindhire 
of blue, like water in which a fmall quantity of foap had 
been diffolved. It Hill, however, retained its vifeofity. 
The little bodies, which were now entirely freed from 
their threads, moved with great activity on all fides, and 
fome of them turned round their centres. Moft of them 
were oval, though fome of them were round. I have feen 
them change figures, and from oval become round: I 
have feen them divide, and, from a fingle oval or globule, 
feparate into two. Their activity always increafed as their 
fize diminiilied. At the end of twenty-four hours, the 
liquor had depofited a greater quantity of gelatinous mat¬ 
ter, which I diluted, witli fome difficulty, in water. It 
appeared to confift of a multitude of opaque tubes refem- 
bling lace, but without any regularity or the fmalleft mo¬ 
tion. In the clear femen itfelf, there were a few fmall 
bodies flill moving; next day.their number was ftill far¬ 
ther diminiilied. After this nothing was to be feen but 
globules without the lead appearance of motion. Thefe 
experiments were often repeated with great exadtnefs; 
and they convinced me that the threads which adhere to 
the moving bodies are not tails, nor any part proper to 
thefe bodies; for the tails or threads have no proportion 
to the reft of the body; they are of different dimenfions, 
though the bodies are always nearly of the fame fize at the 
fame time. The motion of the globule is embarraffed in 
proportion to the length of the tail. When the tail is too 
long, it fometimes prevents the progreflive motion alto¬ 
gether, leaving nothing but the vibrations from right to 
left; and the globules make evident efforts to difentangle 
themfelves from this incumbrance. 
“Having procured the feminal fluid of another man 
recently dead, I put a pretty large drop of it on the glafs 
of the microfcope, and it foon liquefied without any mix¬ 
ture. It had the appearance of a clofe net-work, the fi¬ 
laments of which w'ere of a coniiderable leng'h and thick- 
nefs, and they feemed to proceed from the th ekefl part 
of the liquor, as fliewn in Jg. 30. Thefe filaments fepa- 
raled in proportion as the liquor became more fluid; and 
at laft they divided into globules, which feemed at firft to 
have 
