ro 
‘* animals are tranfmuted, why may not me- 
‘© tals be tran{mutable ?” 
To finifh this inquiry, as it is much more 
ealy to comprehend the change of the fix-legged 
Worms, than that of the Worms without legs, 
of which we have hitherto been {peaking ; 
feeing the former only acquire wings, Tab. 
XLV. fig. xxiv, xxv. and its limbs are feen 
to fhoot or bud out, in the fame clear, difting, 
and gradual manner with the correfponding 
parts of plants and flowers, fo as to agree more 
perfectly with fuch vegetation, and with the 
change {poken of in Frogs; than what hap- 
pens in the Worm without legs; fo it cannot 
but appear furprifing, that men of the greateft 
fenfe, learning and experience, who have at 
all times been indefatigable in obferving thefe 
changes, fhould have fo long continued under 
a miftake, in regard to the true manner in 
C H A 
The BOOK bf NA DURE; for; 
which they are performed ; fubftituting all 
along, to a fimple but elegant fcene of wonders, 
the wild flights of their unnatural fancies. 
Hence it is, that the doétrine of infects remains 
to this day buried in the profoundeft obfcurity, 
fo as that not only thofe look upon it as a 
myftery, who have few opportunities of being 
acquainted with fuch fubjects, but even thofe 
alfo who have made this.ftudy their regular 
employment, and were the beft qualified to 
purfue it with fuccefs, fuch as Aldrovandus, 
Mouffet, Libavius,andGoedaert ; indeed, Imight 
fay all who have hitherto applied themfelves 
this way, have been fo far deceived as not only 
to doubt and waver in their opinions ; but in- 
fluenced by prejudices obftinately to remain in- 
fenfible to the ftrongeft conviction, that the moft 
obvious ‘and convincing experiments could 
afford. 
P. Hl. 
The manner in which the true knowledge of the Nymph, the real foundation of all 
the natural changes obfervable in infects, has been obfcured and corrupted, with 
an illuftration of the fubjeE, and an entire reflitution of its original truth. 
H* VING manifeftly proved in the prece- 
ding pages, that the Nymph, or Chryfa- 
lis, is nothing but the very infect which may 
one day be expected from it; and having 
proved beyond contradiétion, that the former 
lies hid within the worm, or its skin, in the 
fame manner as the tender and growing flower 
is wrapped up in its bud; fo that as the flower 
breaks from the furrounding cup, the limbs 
of the enclofed infect, by the power which 
{wells and fhoots. them forth, muft, in the 
fame manner, at laft burft their prifon, and 
make their appearance, which appearance alone 
conftitutes the nature of the Nymph, or the 
knowledge of the foundation upon which all 
thofe natural mutations depend. All thefe 
things, I fay, having been abundantly demon- 
ftrated, I can have no pleafure in giving a long 
and pompous catalogue of thofe authors, who 
have entertained different opinions of the mat- 
ter, nor in refuting thofe ftrange fancies with 
which they have obfcured and perplexed this 
moft valuable branch of natural hiftory. Be- 
fides, what purpofe could fuch a difcuffion 
ferve, but to lead us ftill further from the 
conclufion of this our fecond propofition,  fince 
the fimple explanation of truth, is the beft me- 
thod of oppoting and overturning falfhood ? 
However, as Mouffet’s elaborate performance 
on this fubje€t, isin a manner univerfally read 
by thofe who itudy the nature and the changes 
of infects, and is not only founded on the ex- 
periments of the author himfelf, and of his 
learned friends Wotton, Gefner, and Penn ; 
but in part extracted alfo from upwards of 
forty authors, of which the learned Aldrovan- 
* Inf. The. Lib. If. C. 1. 
dus is one; and as the author follows fo {cru- 
puloufly the rules laid down by Ariftotle, that 
he {carce ever deviates from them, it is incum- 
bent upon us to mention what he propofes in 
his elaborate treatife, where he lays down the 
changes that occur in the Silkworm, as an ex- 
ample of thofe which happen in all other in- 
fects; and gives fuch an account of thofe 
changes, as neither reafon nor experiment can 
warrant. His words are thefe: *<“ It is very 
<< remarkable that in this metamorphofis which 
“ is performed by means of an Aurelia, the 
«© Silkworm’s head becomes the Butterfly’s 
<< tail; and the head of this laft the tail of 
«¢ the former ; and the fame thing happens in 
«< all the other Caterpillars that become Au- 
«< relie.” In another part of the fame + per- 
formance, where he treats purpofely of the 
Chryfalis, he fays as follows: * It has nei- 
‘«« ther a mouth, nor any diftinct limb.” Now 
as all thefe notions are dire€tly oppofite 
to the clear and diftinét obfervations we have 
made, and already delivered, it would be 
fpending time to little purpofe to dwell any 
longer upon them; they have been already 
fufficiently refuted. We need not be now fur- 
prifed that this learned Englifhman, who 
could be guilty of fo great an error (which 
fome eminent countrymen of his own have be- 
fore taken notice of in a performance called, 
«¢ A catalogue of the plants that grow in the 
«« neighbourhood of Cambridge,”) fhould not 
have taken the leaft notice of the manner in 
which fuch fanciful changes are performed, 
though in the fame chapter he with great rea- 
fon affirms, contrary to Ariftotle’s opinion, that 
+ Inf, The. Lib. IL..C. 36. 
the 
