‘ThelH AS TiO RY of PN GE GT s. 9 
As therefore the experiments we have made, 
have, like the rifing fun, diffipated this thick 
and dark cloud of imaginary metamorphofes, 
the whole truth thereby appearing in the cleareft 
and moft evident light; in the fame manner, 
by purfuing the fame caufe, with that readi- 
nefs and confidence which fuch guidances de- 
ferve, we fhall readily underftand the moft 
obfcure and difficult’ changes which happen in 
thofe infeGts that have no legs. As we have 
refolved in this work not to depend upon in- 
dudtions of one thing from another to prove 
the affertions, we fhall abide firmly to the 
chain of our experiments, and, in confequence 
of this method, advance, that the wings, horns, 
and other parts which Worms without legs 
feem to acquire about their chefts, at the time 
of their mutation, are not truly produced, during 
the period of mutation, or, to fpeak more 
agreeably to truth, during the time of the 
limbs fhooting or budding out; but that 
they have grown there by degrees under the 
fkin, and as the Worm itfelf has grown by a 
kind of accretion of parts, and will make their 
appearance in it upon breaking the skin on its 
head or its back, and thereby give it the figure 
of a Nymph, which it wauld afterwards of 
itfelf affume, Tab. XXV. fig. v. 
Hence it is, that we can with little trouble 
produce the legs, wings, horns, and other 
parts of an infect, which lie hid under its skin 
while in the fhape of. a naked worm, which 
has neither legs nor any other limbs. This 
we have fhewn in the prefence of the celebrated 
Mr. Thevenot, a gentleman whofe unufual fa- 
gacity, in every branch of polite learning, is 
above praife. We had the good fortune of 
changing before him the Worm of a Bee into 
a Nymph, by breaking the skin upon its head, 
upon which all the parts hid under it made 
their appearance; and we fince have had equal 
fuccefs in demonftrating to the fame gentle- 
man, and the illuftrious Lawrence Magellotti, 
a curious fearcher into the fecrets of nature, all 
the parts of the Butterfly clearly and diftin@ly 
in the original Caterpillar. We have fince dif- 
covered alfo a method of changing, at pleafure, 
the Caterpillar into a Chryfalis. 
_Tocomprehend in a few words the reafons, 
foundation, and manner of thefe natural changes, 
and at the fame time to illuftrate them by a 
palpable fimilitude, I need only briefly remark, 
that ‘ the Nymph or Chryfalis” (I here {peak 
only of infects without legs, the change that 
happens in the reft, being, as will hereafter 
appear, fo eafily underftood as to require no 
explication) ‘‘ is nothing more than a little 
“© Worm, which, the growth of legs, wings, 
‘* and other limbs hid under its skin being 
“* perfected by time, at laft burfts that skin, 
‘© and cafting it off, gives us a clear and dif- 
“* tinct view of all thofe parts.” This change, 
which has been prepofteroufly called a tranf- 
formation, or metamorphofis, and by fome a 
death and refurrection, is no more myfterious 
or furprifing, than what happens, when “ one 
“< of the meaneft plants, defpifed and trodden 
‘** under foot, gradually fwells on every fide ; 
“« and after producing a bud, by burfting the 
“< Jittle cafe containing it, prefents an elegant 
“* and beautiful flower.” 
We might likewife compare, in this place, 
the fanguiferous animals with infects; as in 
refpect to the accretion of their limbs there 
is not the leaft difference to be found between 
thefe large creatures, and the little worm we 
have compared with vegetable fubftances: but 
amoneft all the animals of that tribe, none 
agree fo exactly or obvioufly in thefe changes 
with the infect tribe, as Frogs. ‘Thefe crea- 
tures are changed into a true Nymph, known 
by the name of a Tadpole ; as will more fully 
appear hereafter, in the explanation of our 
plates, and in comparing together the Tadpole, 
the Nymphs of Worms, and the little cafe in 
which flowers are produced, Tab. XLVI. 
The fame changes therefore, which we ob- 
ferve in vegetative animals, are equally obfer- 
vable in fenfitive ones, fo as to afford us in all 
God’s works the moft manifeft proofs of his 
infinite wifdom and power, which man can 
neither imitate nor comprehend: for as the 
foundations of all created beings are few and 
fimple, fo the agreement between them is moft 
furprifingly regular and harmonious, every 
thing con{fpiring equally to fill us with fenti- 
ments of admiration and reverence for the 
great Author of nature. 
The ferious confideration of the preceding 
truths, will fet in a juft light the great error 
of thofe; who, from thefe natural and intel- 
ligible changes in bodies, have endeavoured to 
explain the refurrection of the dead; whereas 
that great operation not only far furpaffes the 
powers which we fee in nature, but has not 
any thing in common with the natural changes 
of which we have been fpeaking: the refur- 
rection is a fubject of faith only, which gives 
a certain and undoubted knowledge of things 
beyond the reach of our fenfes. Thefe ani- 
malcules do not die, as man does, in order to 
rife again; all that happens to them is, that 
their limbs become improveable at the time 
of their tranfmutation, which, however, hap- 
pens in fo furprifing a manner, that it is no 
wonder obfervers, at firft fight, fhould take 
the production to be a real refurrection from a 
dead animal. This is all that can be offered 
from what we know of infects, in proof of 
the refurrection of the dead ; which is altoge- 
ther another thing, than that idle and imaginary 
death of thofe animalcules, or the transfor- 
mation, as it is called, of their limbs, Nor 
are thofe authors lefs miftaken, who, from 
thefe natural changes, which they idly call 
metamorphofes, have endeavoured to afcertain 
the transformation of metals; as amoneft others, 
the moft learned Sir Theodore Mayerne has 
not feared to advance this abfurd notion in the 
dedicatory epiftle prefixed to Mouffet’s treatife 
on infects. His words are: ‘“* Moreover, if 
D “© animals 
