SA PATE IE TT IPO OL IE McGill University Libraries 362 $97 UL LYMAN COLLECTION MACDONALD COLLEGE LIBRARY QL 362 ds Recession | 3425 DATE = = Senn sae : t : are De FR ea ambagas =i bag tna as Visions! <2 Raa APS EY van Aa re 5 ae Af 4 fie tomr~ yee = See BOOK of NATURE; G- RP = oT ae HISTORY or INS ECS: Reduced to diftin® Crasses, confirmed by particular Instances, Difplayed in the Anatomical Analyfis of many SPECIE’, AN D ILLUSTRATED with GOPPER-PLAT ES. INCLUDING The Generation of the Froc, the Hiftory of the EPHEMERUs, the Changes of Frins; BuTrTeRFLies, and BEETLES}; WistH THE Original Difcovery of the Mitx-VessEts of the Currie-Fisu, and many other curious Particulars, By JOHN SWAMMERDAM, MD. WITH The LIFE of the AUTHOR, by HERMAN BOERHAAYVE, M. D. Tranflated from the Durcu and Latin Original Edition, Oe Eo BOM AES oe tS eo - Oe ee Revifed and improved by NOTES from Reaumur and others, 1} GO TN BEL OL, ae Law) N-D.O =N:; Printed for C. G. SEYFFERT, Bookfeller, in Dean-STReert;, Sono, MDCCLYVIIL S MEIN OIE RE TS To tue RIGHT HONOURABLE GEORGE EaRL oF MACCLESFIELD, PRESIDENT Or THE ROYAL SO CY) ee This WOR K Is moft Humbly Infcribed, By His Lorpsurr’s Moft Devoted Humble Servant, The EDITOR. ; H > ; % Hy i] i L ] |g im JOHN SWAMMERDAM. fituated upon the Rhine, between Leyden and Woerden; and removing afterwards to Amfterdam, where he carried on the timber trade, obtained the furname of Swammerdam from the place of his nativity. In this laft place heaven bleffed him on the laft day of January in the year mpcv1, with a fon, who was called John James Swammerdam, who followed in that famous city the bufinefs of an apothecary. As this John was very ftudious of natural hiftory, and very well fkilled in feveral branches of it, fo he diligently improved every opportunity of cultivating it, which his refidence and way of life afforded ; and for fifty years together {pared neither pains or expence in procuring proper materials for that purpofe. And indeed his collection was very magnificent, his houfe being full of animals, infeéts efpecially, vegetables, and foffils, though without the leaft confufion, every thing being difpofed in its proper place and order. But the chief ornaments of his mufeum were curiofities from _both—the~Indies, and particularly the porcelain of China and Japan. ‘Both citizens and ftrangers viewed this collection with admiration; and the greateft princes, that pafled through Amfterdam, vifited it, as one of the things beft worth their attention in that famous city. Many of thefe, delighted with the fight of fo beautiful a {fpectacle, offered to purchafe it, but were furprifed at the price, the poffeffor valuing it at fixty thoufand Dutch florins ; though after his death, when his curiofities were fold publickly in fingle lots, they {carce fetched one fixth of that price. This great naturalift, and Barentje Corver, daughter of John Janfz Corver, were the parents of John Swammerdam, who was born at Amfterdam the twelfth of February mpcxxxvi1, and lived to be the celebrated author of this valuable work. His father intended him for the church, and with this view took care to procure him early inftructions in Latin and Greek; but our author, after a ferious examination of his own difpofition and talents, thought himfelf une- qual to fo important a tafk, and brought his father to change his former intention, who thereupon confented to his fon’s applying himfelf to phyfic ; but as he kept him at home till he fhould be properly qualified to engage in that ftudy, he frequently employed him in cleaning his curiofities, and put- ting every thing in its proper place. This occupation infpired our author in a a manner [ices Theodorus was born in Swammerdamme, a village of Holland fi ll sSWAMMERDAM. ural hiftory, fo that not aes -. f chafed, he content with the furvey of thofe,curiolities that mee: ce ae saying a {oon began to make a collection ot his own by catching Ges and compared SC erterne for others, all which he difpofed in certain Cc “ ; : a ee ott he beft writers. However, when g with the accounts a en of a es t sided el aeheae dies, but all up, he very ferioul ¥ atten ed to nis a ceft Senpbedeaice. Ses he while with a mind bent on attempts of the greateft 1 ) a oBaingly he fpent both day and ar saga Se Phay ate ins ; fivine infe&ts proper to thoie two auiterent — ) she Pad, be in that of Gueldres, and in the the pio = Utrecht. He ranfacked with this view the air, the land, and eer = re crounds, downs, waftes, fand hills; rivers, — fields, meadows, paftures, corn grounds, ) oe ae ponds, wells, lakes, feas, and their fhores and banks >. ee te an. er : caves, uninhabited places, and even bog-houfes, in fearch 0 eo - peers Nymphs, and Butterflies ; in order to make himfelf acquainted with the n of infects, their food, manner of living, diforders, changes Sen ai and their feveral ways or methods of,.propagation. 5 and, nee f he f e yet a very young man, he had madé more difcoveries In regar . a a = a ticulars, and obtained’ more “certainty, than the known authors “Or ail gic preceding ages put together. ‘This, however incredible it ae fe es. fome, is notwithftanding matter of fad. Perfons properly qualified to’ judge of his fuccefs, have honoured’ it with the fame teftimony. Our author, thus initiated in natural hiftory, came to Leyden in the year mpext, to purfue his ftudies in the Dutch univerfity, of which he was admitted a member the eleventh of O@ober, and attended affiduoufly for two years together the leétures in furgery of the celebrated John Van Horne, and thofe in phyfic of Francis Sylvius de la Boe; and his progrefs in thofe noble ftudies was fo anfwerable’ to his diligence, that on the eleventh of O@ober mpcixut, he was admitted a candidate of phyfic in that famous uni- verfity, after undergoing the examinations prefcribed on that occafion. Our author, on his arrival at Leyden, contracted a friend{hip with that great anatomift Nicholas Steno, and ever after lived with him in the» greateft intimacy. “Hé™tikewife commenced a’ friendfhip with Rynier de Graaf, another eminent anatomift; but emulation, or rather envy, afterwards changed it to an inveterate hatred. The curiofities of anatomy now began to make a confiderable impreffion on our author, formed it feems by nature herfelf for the cultivation and improvement of that noble {cience ; fo that having gone through his courfes with the moft fudden and unexpected fuccefs, he immediately began to confider how the parts of the body prepared by diffeGtion, could be preferved and kept in conftant order and readinefs for anatomical demonftrations; as fuch a difcovery would free him not onl from the trouble of repeated diffe@tions, but likewife from the difficulty of obtaining frefh fubjects, and the difagreeable neceflity of infpecting fuch as were already putrefied. And herein he fucceeded, as he had done before, in is nice contrivances to difleét and otherwife manage the minuteft infeds. Sylvius, the moft diligent anatomift of his time, made good ufe of this our author's great art and indefatigable induftry; but was chiefly delighted at his extraordinary fkill in difle@ing Frogs; for Swammerdam had demonftrated to him by actual experiment, fo early as the fifteenth of January of this year, that in this animal the air at the time of infpiration could be derived to the artery and pulmonary vein, and thence to both regions of the heart. See Sylv. Difp. Med? VII. §. uxxrx. — Lxxxvult. il The LIFE of JOHN il is chi rj for nat a manner from his childhood, ith a tafte After The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. ill After this our author made a journey into France, where he fpent fome time at Saumur, in the houfe of T'anaquil Faber, and made a variety of obfer- vations upon infeéts. It was there, that on the nineteenth of June mpc xv, he difcovered, by means of very flender tubes, the valves of the lymphatic vefiels, which he immediately fent, on the twenty-eighth, delineated with his own hand, to-his friend: Steno, who he then thought refided at Copenhagen. See his treatife on Refpiration, page 90, gt. He afterwards wrote to Thevenot on the twenty-fourth of September in the year following, that perhaps the famous Frederick Ruyth might have feen thofe paintings before he publifhed his own on the fame fubjeé&t: this he mentioned*to Thevenot, on occafion of his fending him from Paris to Amfterdam, the little treatife' on thofe valves which Ruyth publifhed the fame year at the Hague. But Swammerdam barely hinted this, without direétly charging Ruytfh with plagiarifm, which he owns it is impoflible for him to prove; on the contrary, he exprefies a great deal of affection for his rival in this difcovery, and fays, he is fincerely rejoiced at his having the honour of it. And no doubt Swammerdam did no.moré than “juftice to Ruyfh’s: merit on this occafion, as this laft, long before the edition of his book, had fhewedthefe valves to others, and even to Bils.. But the’ letters direéted to Steno at Copenhagen, could not reach his hands in Holland, where he then refided, but very late; and if Ruyfh had feen them, how could’ he have had the affurance to publifh the drawings taken notice of, without mentioning Swammerdam, who was then living, and even on the fpot. . Among‘other things, our author, during his ftay in the neigh- bourhood of the Loire, obferved and defcribed the flying infect called Libella or Dragon Fly, and likewife fome Hemerobia or Day Flies.’ From Saumur he went to Paris, where he lived in the fame houfe, and inthe greateft friendfhip with Steno. He likewife contraéted an intimacy with Melchifedec Thevenot, a very worthy gentleman, and formerly the French king’s minifter at Genoa, who moft hofpitably received and entertained him and Steno at his pleafant country feat of Yfli, at a few miles diftance from Paris, and thereby afforded our author an opportunity of making further obfervations upon the infe& creation. Not fatisfied. with-this~piece*of politenefs, he in confideration. of Swammerdam’s fingular abilities, and the great pains he had taken to cultivate them, made him a- moft liberal offer of every thing he thought requifite to promote his ftudies. Our author ever retained a grateful memory of thofe favours, and others which he afterwards from time to time conftantly received from this great refpecter of merit; and a little before his death owns in one of his letters, that he had never found in any other perfon, fo true, faithful, and fure a friend. Thevenot introduced his gueft to a great many other gentlemen, who met frequently at his houfe with a view of cultivating the arts and {ciences ; but in all their affemblies our author continued for a long time, notwithftanding all the company’s entreaties, a filent auditor only, till his modefty being at laft overcome by repeated importunities, he found himfelf obliged to give one and then another fpecimen of his manner of diffe@ting infe@s, and of fhewing their inward parts; by which he gained great applaufe, as by his tacit {kill he effectually filenced the talkative ignorance of others. Thevenot, moreover, ftrenuoufly recommended our author’s fkill to that great man Conrad Van Beuningen, a fenator and burgomafter of Amfterdam, and at that time that republick’s minifter at the court of France; who obtained leave for Swammerdam at his return home, to diffe& the bodies of fuch patients as fhould happen to die in the hofpital of that city: and our author improved himfelf eR » he LIFE of JOHN: SWAMMERD AM. himfelf greatly in anatomy, by making the proper ufe of fo favourable an opportunity. But this was not the only opportunity which providence threw in our author’s way at this time, as the principal phyficians of Amfterdam had formed a college, and had agreed «to mect together every other week in order to confer on medical, but chiefly anatomical fubjeéts, and to make experiments relative thereto. The obfervations of this fociety of learned men were afterwards publifhed by Cafper Commelin, in the year MDCLXVI and Lxvit, before Swammerdam had been created doétor of phyfic ; notwith- ftanding which, he was the firft to furnifh materials for it. It was he, and he alone, that made in the faid college, with his own hand, a drawing of the {pinal marrow, publifhed by Blafius at the fame place; and on this occafion he wrote to Thevenot the following particulars. I. That the fpinal marrow confifts entirely of fibres, Il. T hat thofe diftina fibres meet and terminate in fome part of the brain. _ III. That there iffue fibrous nerves from the fibres of the fpinal marrow. IV. That the pia mater is altogether extended into hollow fheaths. V. That all thefe things may be eafily feen by fuddenly placing the yet warm {pinal marrow along with the vetiehes containing it, in cold water, and breaking the vertebre with great caution from the marrow, after having fuffered both to remain in that fituation during the fpace of a day anda night. This letter was written the firft of April tight ape inde cnranr mgr” tbe pe ‘ efp. page 103 and 107, He even made fome chemical experiments on the cold fermentation roduced by mixing together the falt of urine, and the fpirit of glauber falts ibid Ii He then too compofed that laborious eflay on re{piration which as i : maintain on his declaiming for his degrees in phyfic. We aid be convinced by reading this performance, that he only purfued fuch ere he thought fr in his own way, and of whofe truth he had fatisfied himfelf, and pate pie vince others by experiments, without borrowing any ee fro fe writers. Having finifhed this differtati eee g ertation, he came back to Leyden to take out his degrees; and took occafion of his ftay there to cultivate ft intimate friendfhip,with the famous Van Horne, who. had been fo rly hi preceptor in the ftudy of anatomy. With this ‘gentleman he th tie d ee cunt ree prepared a great many things in many aaeua = while both publickly owned a community of fentiment ds difc =. The profeffor moft liberally fupplied all kinds of i Is ee os aoe as oe aie acute fone tne of materials, the other direé&ted drawings of each difcovery, Oa ke ec he ane oe ipl matter! obfervations to Matthew Slade. Nothing here ee call Schiadagie 2 laudable an undertaking. Van Horne’s liberality soot he fabice ye inftruments, and every other expence; and Swammerdam’ sate re in Ss day and night employed in making proper ufe of th sae eae ell and on the twenty-fecond of January Mm pcixvi, that AV : Bi “~ awe Swammerdam firft injected the uterine vefi Is Pa Se ey ane hou ceraceous matter, which moft ufeful vee - a — fubjeé with a perfected. The twenty-fecond of February of the fa pe airorta and to his degrees as dodtor of phyfic, after havi HE betes ut oe admitted diatriba or thefis « = age Pe Pe: CAN publickly maintained his s on refpiration ; which was then i , : contracted arguments, but appeared the Marcl conceived but in fhort and Giiins in a-vcldtne Aca the printing a 2 following with confiderable to the illuftrious Thevenot, and iota with heme with a dedication ith a irontifpiece of a moft elegant figure The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. v figure of the reciprocal copulation of the hermaphrodite houfe Snail, John Baptift Van Lam{weerde publifhed in oppofition to this of Swammerdam another moft vehement differtation, which he entitled, “ An Exfpiration of Swammerdam’s Syftem of Refpiration;” but this attempt fell fhort of its author’s expectation: for though Swammerdam’s book may contain fome things out of the way, they will be readily excufed by equitable judges, in confideration of the many curious and juft obfervations that are to be met with in every part of that work. Another occupation of Swammerdam’s at this time was to blow up with air the parts of the body farft properly evacuated and cleanfed, that by drying in this fituation they might afterwards retain it, and fo at all times afford an opportunity of obferving and defcribing them. This certainly muft be allowed one of the moft ufeful inventions in anatomy, as by it we can erect and ftiffen parts, which would putrefy on lying one upon another, and which if inje&ted with wax would be rendered obfcure and confufed. It was thus our author cultivated anatomy with the greateft art and labour, in conjunction with the celebrated Van Horne ; but a quartan ague, which attacked him this year, brought him fo very low, that he found himfelf under a neceflity of | difcontinuing his anatomical ftudies, which on his recovery he entirely neglected, in order to give himfelf up to the ftudy of infects.” In the year mpexxviti the great duke of Tufcany being then in Holland with Mr. Thevenot, in order to fee the curiofities of the country, came to view thofe of our author and his father, and furveyed them with the greateft delight, and his ufual tafte and atten- tion for natural hiftory. On this occafion Swammerdam made fome anatomical diffections of infeéts in the prefence of that great prince, who was both a lover and a moft fkilful judge of fuch things, and who was ftruck with admiration at our author’s great fkill in managing them, efpecially at his proving that the future Butterfly lay with all its parts neatly folded up, in a Caterpillar, by actually removing the integuments that covered the former, and extricating and diftinctly exhibiting all its parts, however minute, with incredible ingenuity, and by means of inftruments of an unconceivable finenefs. On_ this occafion his ferene highnefs offered our author twelve thoufand florins for his fhare of the colle@ion, on condition of his removing them himfelf into Tufcany, and coming to live at the court of Florence: In this certainly the prince acted very wifely, as thofe curiofities would be in the greateft danger of being loft or becoming ufelefs, if not preferved and fhewn by the great genius that had colle@ted them, and who was alone capable of fhewing every article, and exhibiting them to the greateft advantage; but Swammerdam, who hated a court life above all things, reje&ed his highnefs’s propofal. Befides, he could not put up with the leaft reftraint in religious. matters, either in point of fpeech or practice. In the mean time, he had the happineds of difcovering in the difle@tion of an overgrown Acipenfer, a very large pancreas, which, by difcharging its fluid contents into the firft inteftine through a great many fpacious and open-mouthed channels, gave a moft fatisfactory opportunity of examining this, at that time, fo famous and much-talked-of fluid, in which, on the ftri@teft examination, he could difcover no acid tafte, but rather a bitterifh ranknefs, refembling that of gaurus, or pickle made of fith. This our author affirmed publickly, contrary to what had been before advanced by de Graaf and Sylvius. He alfo made fome obfervations in the hofpital, but merely as fupplementary additions to his other inquiries ; for -he now made the nature and properties of infects his chief ftudy, and purfued it with infinite diligence, and without the leaft relaxation; fo that in the year mpcix1x, he publifhed a general hiftory of them, a work equally remarkable ie tne v1 The LIFE of jours sSWAMMERDAM. : {s in the execution. y at boldnefs in the attempt and happy fucce tee ie 4 Ct he burgomafters of Am- i rmance he dedicated to the honourable t é 1 | laa as he was entirely bent on perfecting this y Si aii Sia of infeéts from every quarter of the world, and then difpofing t ee in aes boxes in order to form a compleat catalogue, which was attended wit a and conftant expences, without the leaft return. Our author’s father, who had always kept him at home, and fupplied all his expences, began + take offence at his proceedings ; for though he was now above thirty years old, a confequently had fpent the beft years of his life, he had not as yet engage in any bufinefs that could ferve to render him ealy and independant. His father on this account omitted no opportunity of reproving his fon for this his thoughtlefs way of acting, which he would have Ahad him change for the practice of phyfic ; but inftead of prevailing on him by his remonftrances, they only ferved to make him redouble his endeavours according to his difpofition, that he might the fooner finifh the great tafk in which he had fo couragioufly, though perhaps unadvifedly, engaged; all the while ftriving to divert his father’s anger, by promifing him, that as foon as he had com- pleted his undertaking, he would in good earneft apply himfelf to the practice of phyfic. But his father feeing no probability of his fon $ accom- plifhing his purpofe, nor yet of being able to divert him from it by fair means, threatened him feverely that if he did not immediately exert his talents as a phyfician, but obftinately perfifted im his anatomical ftudies, his expenfive refearches after infects, and his experiments of that kind, he would neither fupply him with money or cloaths; and to fhew he was in earneft, he immediately deprived him of the means of purfuing what he had begun. Our author therefore, though exhaufted with continual labours, and moreover afli@ed with a continual bad ftate of health, at laft confented to take his father’s advice, the juftnefs of which he now began to perceive ; but his bad health rendered him quite unfit to bear the fatigues ufually attending the practice of phyfic, fo that he thought it was proper that he fhould retire into the country for fome time, in order to recover his ftrength, and with a view of returning to his bufinefs with new force and fpirits. But he was {carce fettled in his country retirement, when in the month of June MDCLxx, he relapfed into his former occupation, the torrent of his genius that way being fo much favoured by the folitarinefs of the place, and the favourable opportunity of examining infects in their very haunts and fcenes of propaga- tion. Thevenot, in the mean time, informed by his correfpondents in Holland of the difagreement between our author and his father, and the bad con- fequences that might probably attend it, did all that lay in his power to engage the former to retire into France, where he moft generoufly offered to provide him with every thing requifite for the purfuit of his favourite ftudies. But whatever impreffion this propofal might have made on the fon, the father forbid him to accept of it, as appears by ‘a letter of his to Mr. Thevenot, dated the thirtieth of OGober of the fame year. The for upon this, to oblige and appeafe his incenfed father, made an accurate furvey of every curiofity in the latter’s grand and numerous colleGtion, put all things in their proper places, and compofed a moft exact catalogue of them with infinite pains and labour, and a confiderable lofs of time, which he ever after feverely regretted. The year following, mpcxrxxt1, having gone through this tedious and dif agreeable talk, he was about publifhing his treatife on the Chameleon and Hemorobion, or Day-Fly ; but afterwards thought proper to defer the publication of thofe pieces, fo that they did not appear till the year txxv, thou gh The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. vil though he had formerly printed fome part of them in Ruylenburgh, and even in France, fo early as the year MDCLXVII. On the firft of May uxxu he fent to the Royal Society of London three plates and fix figures, in which he had reprefented the womb of a human fubject, dedicating them at the fame time to that learned body. To them he added fome moft curious drawings of the {permatic veffels, the tube of the womb, and the ovary. All thefe curious pieces had been fketched out in profeflor Van Horne’s houfe by the twenty-firft of January, MDCLXxvII, though not finifhed or illuftrated with proper explanations till the feventh of May mpcixx1. Thus for the firft time was publifhed a fpecimen of a method, by which both arteries and veins, and their fineft ramifications, can be filled with a ceraceous matter, which not only renders thofe parts perfectly vifible, but even incorruptible : and our author, to procure due credit to his drawing, fent with them the’ uterus itfelf prepared according to this his new method. -His motive in all this proceeding, was to have the opinion of learned and equitable judges of fuch kind of performances. Another thing he had in view, was to convince the world that it was indebted to him as the firft inventor, for the difcoveries relating to the fpermatic veffels, which the - celebrated Van Horne had before publifhed in his'Prodromus. But above all things, he by this means endeavoured to refute what Regnier de’ Graaf had written againft him, -with the ereateft bitternefs, concerning fome difcoveries in regard to the organs of generation; and for this purpofe he appealed to the judgment of the members of the Royal Society, to whom, as far as it concerned him, he gave full power and authority to decide the con- troverfy. About this time he made a great many other very ufeful anatomical dif- coveries: in particular he diffected a great number of fifhes, with a view chiefly of difcovering their liver, pancreas and melt ; and in the courfe of his inquiries very often found in fome a very large pancreas, with a great number of {pacious and wide-mouthed duéts opening into the inteftines: but above all. things he applied himfelf with the greateft diligence to find out by every trial that promifed: any fuccefs, the true nature and properties of the pancreatic fluid, of which. he fent many-bottles full-to the celebrated Charles Drelincourt, then profefior of anatomy and phyfic in the univerfity of Leyden. . All .thefe particulars: may be feen in the fecond part of the Private College of Amfterdam,. publifhed by C. Commelin in the year mpcxxxitt ; for there is fearce any: thing in all that performance, for which the world is not indebted to our author; who there very mildly and modeftly refutes de Graaf and Sylvius’s accounts of the pancreatic fluid, though he formerly ufed. to treat with «great: harfhnefs thofe who contradicted his fentiments, as appears in the literary controverfies »he before this-had maintained with de Graaf, Gafper, Bartholin, and others. But religion and. piety had by this time got the better of our author’s warm and ftubborn temper. Happening to read fome books which the then famous Antonia Bourignon had a little before publifhed, they made fo great an impreflion upon him, that a ftri€& compliance with all the duties of a good chriftian was now become his principal concern. He began to hate and {hun all thofe things: which men moft covet and run after,, but bent his endeavours more particularly to fupprefs the unruly aflions of the mind, and above all that infatiable ambition which makes us fo defirous of a fuperiority over others, and which therefore, as the root of all evil, he was defirous utterly to extirpate and deftroy. All this time Antonia Bourignon happened to be in Holftein, accompanied by John Ticlens, a native | vill The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. a native of Amfterdam, with whom Swammerdam had been long acquainted. He therefore writ to his friend the eighteenth of March DC LXXIII, to beg he might procure him Antonia’s good will, and leave to write to her on his {piritual concerns 5 and having obtained this favour, he accordingly writ to her the twenty-ninth of April following, and received an anfwer to his letter dated the feventeenth of Auguft. Her advice wrought fo great a change in him, that at that time he thought of nothing but of obtaining from God a holy eace of mind, fincerely grieving that he had loft fo much time in the fervice of the world. After this he writ many more letters to Antonia, who very acioufly anfwered them. About this time he was, if I am not miftaken, the farft that difcovered a thing of very great importance, for he found that the hernia in both men and women never proceeds from a rupture of the peritoneum, but that the peritoneum alone is extended over the part where the feminal veflels, enclofed in one cafe or (heath, but which before this lay clofe under the peritoneum, fall from it towards the fcrotum. Now, if in this cafe the peritoneum happens to infinuate itfelf into that wide paflage, by which the fpermatic cord falls down towards the teftes, it there, whatever caufe may prefs it, forms a facculus ceceus, or, blind bag, on account of its wonderful extenfibility, andthe fmoothnefs of the cavity made for it by the defcent of the fpermatie cord. “T he ecphyfis once formed, grows larger and larger, as the caufe which firft produced it increafes; and continuing to keep clofe to the fpermatic cord, follows it towards the fcrotum, above the os pubis, and along the outfide of the mufcles. If this eephyfis ftops at the groin, it forms what is called a bubonoceles; but if it defcends to the {crotum, an ofcheoceles ; befides which, it obtains a variety of other names, from the different fubftances that may happen to fall into it, fuch as the omentum, the inteftine, air or water. The fame is the cafe in women, except that the defcent is made along the femoral veflels, (See Schraderi, Obferv. Decad. II. Obferv. rv. v.) where there is a very exaé& drawing to reprefent the nature of this diforder.. Many eminent perfons have fince made pretenfions to the honour of this difcovery, but the account I have given of it appears the moft probable. In this book too there is another obfervation of our author equally important ; for he there mentions his having feen two cicatrices in the ovary of a woman, that had been brought to bed of twins; which it is duely to be remarked happened at the fame time. In the fame collection there is our author’s contrivance for preferving the parts, or anato- mical preparations-in balfam. For all thefe reafons, the editor thought proper to dedicate this work, publifhed in mpcixxiv, to Swammerdam, who was the chief contributor to it. Our author, moreover, in the year MDCLXXIII, had exhibited to the illuftrious Arnold Syen, profeffor of botany in the univerfity of Leyden, the feminal little bags of Fern,. and the delineations he had made of them. I intreat the reader to view and confider attentively the defcriptions and figures contained in this book, and compare them with thofe given a long time after by fome of the greateft botanifts. There cannot be a greater refemblance between two eggs, than there is between our author’s performance this way, and thofe that followed. “The fame things might have been feen in France, nor is it impoffible that they might have been defcribed there too. The laft day of September of this year ale a finifhed his treatife on Bees, which proved fo fatiguing a pethormiaaize =a ae ec ae even the appearance of his former health dic ae = ne It = an undertaking too great for the ftrongeft j continually--employed by day in making obfervations, and almoft The. Lif E..of ; }.O0,N SWAMMERDAM. ix almoft as conftantly engaged by night in recording them by drawings, and fuitable explanations. ‘This being fummer work, his daily labour began at fix in the morning, when the fun afforded him light enough to furvey fuch minute objects; and from that hour till twelve he continued without inter- ruption, all the while expofed in the open air to the fcorching heat of the fan, bearheaded, for fear of interrupting the fight, and his head in a manner diffolving into fweat under the irrefiftable ardors of that powerful luminary. And if he defifted at noon, it was only becaufe the ftrength of his eyes was too much weakened, by the extraordinary atiux of light and the ufe of microfcopes, to continue any longer upon fuch fmall objeéts, though as dif- cernible in the poftmeridian, as they had before been in the antemeridian hours. This fatigue our author fubmitted to for a whole month together, without any interruption, merely to examine, defcribe, and reprefent the inteftines of Bees, befides many months more beftowed upon the other parts; during which time he {pent whole days in making obfervations, as long as there was fufficient light to make any; and whole nights in regiftering his obfer- vations, till at at laft he brought his treatife of Bees to the wifhed-for perfection: a work which all the ages from the commencement of natural hiftory to our own times, have produced nothing to equal, nothing to com- pare with it. Read and confider it, and then judge for yourfelf. ~ Our author, the better to accomplifh his vaft unlimited views, often wifhed for a year of perpetual heat and light to perfect his inquiries, with a polar night to reap all the advantages of them by proper drawings and defcriptions. In his eflay on the Hemorobion, or Day Fly, he ingenuoufly owns that this his treatife of Bees was formed amidft a thoufand torments and agonies of heart and mind, and felf-reproaches, natural to a mind full of devotion and piety. On one hand his genius urged him to examine the miracles, of the ereat Creator in his natural productions, whilft on the other, the love of that fame all-perfeé&t Being deeply rooted in his heart, ftruggled hard to perfuade him, that God alone, and not his creatures, was worthy of his refearches, love and attention. The diftrefs of mind our author felt upon this o¢cafion, was fo fevere thateas foon as he had finifhed-his book upon Bees, he put it into the hands of another, without knowing or giving himfelf the leaft con- cern about what might become of it. It appears however, that he at the fame time wrote two letters to Paul Boccone, on the conftruection of falt water or fea ftones and corals, which are to be found in the nineteenth and twentieth letters of the faid Boccone’s natural obfervations. After this Swammerdam grew almoft altogether carelefs of the arts he had been hitherto fondeft of. He had conceived this diftafte for wordly affairs above two years before, though he had ftruggled againft it in favour of his book on Bees ; but now he could no longer allow his mind any other occupation befides that of loving and adoring the Sovereign Good, to whofe honour alone he openly declared, he began and direéted his many and great labours in the cultivation of natural hiftory, from which he now entirely defifted merely to devote all the little uncertain portion of life that remained, to the fincere practice of every chriftian virtue. His temperament was of the melancholy kind, which phyficians have obferved to be very firm in its purpofes, and our author's natural difpofition was encreafed by a quartan ague, fo that he prefevered in his refolution, in which the authority and advice of Antonia Bourignon fixed him beyond a poflibility of relapfing into his former worldly way of thinking. He therefore refolved to withdraw himfelf entirely from all converfation with c the 4 i x The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. the world, but had firft the prudence ferioufly to examine, what would ~ neceflary to maintain him in his retirement. ‘This he found to pia yearly to four hundred Dutch florins or gilders,’ without having any tang but his curiofities to raife fuch an income by. Thefe therefore he immediately refolved to fell, in hopes the produce of them put out to intereit, would be fufficient to anfwer his demands. The firft he applied to on this occafion, and the only perfon perhaps who knew any thing ot our author’s private intentions, was Thevenot, whom he requfted to publifh and forward the fale of thofe things, which he had fpent fo much time and labour in collecting, and formerly fo much loved. Thevenot did all that lay in his power to ferve his friend, but to no purpofe ; for however valuable the treafure, no one was to be found in France willing to purchafe it, though our author was often flattered with the hopes of its felling to advantage. This difappointment made Swammerdam apply to another friend. This was Nicholas Steno, who having renounced the religion of his country, was become a member of the church of Rome; had obtained a bifhopric as a reward for his change, and to induce him to continue in it, and now lived at the court of Florence. Swammerdam wrote to him to know if the grand duke was. now as willing, as he had formerly been, to purchafe his euriohities. In anfwer to this letter, the new convert’s zeal made him ufe every argument he could think of to make our author, after his own example, conform to the church of Rome, and remove with his colle@tion into Tufcany, promifing him for certain, that the great duke would let him have for his curiofities the price of twelve thoufand florins, which his highnefs had formerly offered, and let him want for nothing, that could make life eafy and agreeable. But our author looked upon thefe conditional offers as the greateft indignity that could be offered him, and accordingly bitterly reproached his friend Steno for endeavouring to prevail upon him in a manner he utterly detefted, telling him withal that his foul was not venal; and Bourignon being confulted on the occafion, advifed him by all means to reject Steno’s propofals. Our author agitated by fuch a feries of hopes and difappointments, made ufe of the little leifure that remained on his hands, in arranging and adorning his curiofities ; rendering them as durable as poflible, and compolingya complete catalogue of them, fo that in his mufeum thus-fettled, the materials and the contrivance, the dignity of the fubjects, and the vaft pains taken in procur- ing, preparing, and exhibiting them, vied together for the preference. Thefe treafures confifted chiefly of infe€ts and anatomical preparations from human fubjeéts. The former our author fet the higheft value upon, and: no wonder, as he had fpent fixteen years in collecting and preparing them, with infinite pains and expence. ‘The fight of his mufeum was alone fufficient to prove, that what all former authors had publifhed on this branch of natural hiftory, amounted to nothing more than a dry catalogue of names, and fome external figures, without affording any certain and ufeful know- ledge. Whereas our author alone had colle&ed near three thoufand fpecies of infe@ts, that had no relation one to the other, and had examined every one of them, and difpofed them all in claffes according to their real and natural characters ; he had even diffected many of them with that {kill and dexterity peculiar to himfelf, and having with unwearied diligence traced them through every the leaft period of their changes from the egg to the Butterfly, faith- fully recording all his obfervations, ‘taking care at the fame to prepare and keep by him the minute originals as inconteftable vouchers of his inde- fatigable induftry in examining them, and his fcrupulous veracity, relating what The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM, Xi what he had difcovered. Nay, that nothing fhould be wanting to perfect his difcoveries, he ufed himfelf to hatch, in a manner found out by, and only known to himfelf, the little eggs of infects, in order to difcover the obfcure manner of the exiftence of their firft rudiments, the progrefs of theie rudiments to life, the firft motions of the infant animalcula, and by what endeavours they at laft. broke their eggs, and opened themfelves a paflage into the world. While thus employed, he at length publifhed at Amfterdam the twelfth day of July mpcuxxv, his hiftory of the Ephemerus, or Day- Fly ; which he began in France in the year tx1v, continued in Guelderland in the year txvi1, but did not perfect till this time, that he made it public. However even this, he did not attempt without Bourignon’s approbation. This was the laft offspring of our author’s great genius and application, after which he entirely renounced all thoughts of human affairs, to think of nothing but his fpiritual concerns, which he imagined he could not fo well promote in any other manner, as by going to confer perfonally with Bourignon. Accordingly, having firft obtained her leave for that purpofe, he fet out the autumn following from Amfterdam for Slefwick in Holftein, where fhe then refided, arrived there the thirtieth of September, and {pent fome time in her houfe. Mean while the Lutheran divines of that country, utterly ayerfe to Bourignon’s undertakings, were for making her quit Holftein, which made her think of afking the king of Denmark’s leave to take fhelter in his regal dominions, Swammerdam having taken upon him to execute this commiffion, fet out for Copenhagen, in company with another of her difciples, the twenty- fifth of March, mpcuxxvi. Here he faw Steno’s mother, now far advanced in years, but reaped no other benefit by his journey, his Danith majefty not thinking proper to grant Bourignon’s requeft. After this our author made but a fhort ftay at Slefwick, from whence he fet out for Amfterdam the fixteenth of June following. On his coming home, he had the mortification of finding that his father’s difpleafure at his paft conduct, inftead of being appeafed, was grown more violent on account of his late undertakings. Another and greater fubject of affliction was, the marriage of his fifter Joanna, who had hitherto kept houfe for her father fiance he had buried his wife ;-for the father on this-occafion had refolved to break up houfe-keeping, and to live for the future with his fon-in-law, Our author therefore now found himfelf under the fad necefflity of fhifting for himfelf by the month of May following. How great, alas! muft have been_ his diftrefs! He had neither money nor any thing of value except his mufeum, which he had already fo often endeavoured in vain to difpofe of ; and his father did not propofe to allow him more than two hundred florins a year. On this occafion he formed a defign of retiring into the country, and flattered himfelf with the hopes of being able to provide for himfelf that way. The moft noble John Ort of Nieuwenrode Breukele, &c. had contraéted a friend- fhip of a very long ftanding with our author, and had often entertained him at his pleafant country feat with the greateft hofpitality and _politenefs, and even invited him to remain there for good and all, and purfue his ftudies without interruption. But Swammerdam_ never till now found himfelf under a neceflity of putting his friend’s fincerity to the teft ; however he little expeéted the refufal he now met with, and which, as it convinced hun of the little dependance to be had on the promifes of men, greatly con- tributed to increafe his former anxiety. But his father dying this year put an end to his troubles, by leaving him a fufhciency to live, in a manner fuitable to his own inclinations, for now he faw himfelf freed from all bufinefs, xii Thé LIFE of JOHN sWAMMERDAM. ig God, which alone he delighted in. But his en the father’s fortune came to be divided, and the fifter claiming more of the inheritance than hief dire@tion of the fale, while Swammerdam for the fake of peace and uietnefs, and in order to get the fooner into 2% ‘long wifhed for retirement, ubmitted to her unjuft pretentions. ems e- lefs, the vexation attending this family ftrife, joined to the uninterrupted fervour of his devotion, brought a tedious diforder upon him. This was a double tertian ague, which afterwards continued without intermiflion, and then changed in different manners. Whilft this fit of ficknefs continued, he got up but feldom in the day time, and for three months together that the flow fever continued, he never went out of his houfe ; he was even a whole twelve month without making a fingle experiment. At laft his diforder, again changing to a tertian ague, feemed to abate, and then entirely left him for fomie days. His friends neverthelefs, and among them doétor Matthew Slade, a moft learned phyfician, and one whofe advice had the greateft weight with our atithor, could never prevail upon him to ftir from his bed-chamber. He would often excufe himfelf by faying that {olitude and retirement could alone extirpate the relicks of his diforder; when Slade, Ruyfh, Schrader, Hotton and Guenellon, who all of them frequently vifited him in the quality both of friends and phyficians, attempted to perfuade him to the ufe Of medicines and frefh air for the recovery of his former ftrength and vigour. But he at laft put a ftop to their importunities by an obftinate filence. How- ever as the things he formerly took moft delight in, were now become odious to him, and he had no further hopes of being able to difpofe of them in France, he wrote to his friend Thevenot, who had again invited him to his houfe, that he would accept of his kind offer, provided he would immiediately difpofe of his curiofities for him, and permit him to live quite unkriown and retired. But here too our author was again difappointed, fo that at laft he advertifed a fixed day in the month of May following, mpcixxx, for the fale of his curiofities, article by article, to the beft bidder fo great a defire he had of getting rid of them, notwithftanding that he had feen that his father’s mufeum, when fold in fingle lots, had not»produced. above a fixth part of what his executors expeéted it ‘would have fold for. But whilft our author was taken up in this manner, his old diforder broke out anew with worfe fymptoms than had hitherto appeared, an emaciated countenance, hollow eyes, a flow continued fever which eating always increaféd, and a fwelling in his feet, legs, thighs and belly, attended with conftant and uninterrupted pains. All this time his friends durft not make bufinefs, but that of fervir joy was {oon interrupted, wh his mufeum to be difpofed of, came to her fhare, and the c the leaft mention before him of his former ftudies, nor did he himfelf ever fpeak a word of them; for he now utterly detefted as vain and. infignificant the things he formerly moft delighted in. Thevenot, informed of the languifhing condition he was in, offered him the jefuit’s bark, then greatly talked of for its efficacy in curing fevers, and Swammerdam defired he might fend him fome of it, and fome fpecific againft the dropfy, if he knew of any. But at laft finding himfelf grow worfe and worfe, he made his will the twenty-fifth of January mpcixxx, and left Melchifedeck Thevenot, for- merly the French king’s minifter at Genoa, all his original manufcripts belong- ing to the natural and anatomical hiftory of Bees and Butterflies, with fifty-two plates belonging to them, and ordered all thofe valuable papers then laid up in the houfe of Herman Wingendorp at Leyden, to be delivered to the legatee within a year after his death ; but earneftly recommended that his treatife on Bees The (Lal Boe tof JOHN SWAMMERDAM. —y Ps pe » — Bees fhould be publithed in Dutch as well as Latin, as difplaying the wifdom and power of God in fo particular a manner. The little portion of life, that he enjoyed after this difpofal-of his worldly concerns, he gave entirely to his {piritual ones, fpending his whole time in a@s of love and adoration of the Supreme Being, and thus ended his courfe the feventeenth of February follow-~ ing. He conftituted Magaret Volckers, wife of Daniel de Hoeft, doGor of phyfic, his heirefs, and her and Chriftopher Van Wyland his executors, but Van Wyland dying foon after, the truft devolved wholly into the hands of Madam. Volckers. As ‘foon as our author’s executors had performed the laft rites due to their deceafed friend, Mr. Ort at their requeft gave Mr. Thevenot notice of the legacy Jeft him in Wingendorp’s hands; for Swammerdam being little verfed in the Latin, in which notwithftanding he was defirous of feeing all his works publifhed, had given them to Wingendorp to tranflate into that language, as he had before done our author’s writings on the uterus, Thevenot on this wrote feveral times to dodtor de Hoeft, to defire he fhould immediately caufe his legacy to be delivered him; but Wingendorp, who was poor, and lived “by his tranflations into various languages, after endeavouring by a thoufand frivolous pretexts to°"make a property of what he had only been entrufted with, at laft openly declared he Would return nothing till compelled to it by due courfe of law. Upon this therefore a tedious and troublefome lawfuit enfued, in which however Thevenot at laft obtained a decree in his favour in May mpcixxxt1, when Swam- merdam’s papers in the hands of Wingendorp were delivered to Bureher de Volder, a celebrated profeffor of anatomy and mathematics, whom Thevenot had engaged as a friend to take his intereft in hand, and without whofe diligence and prudent management, it is poflible that Thevenot would have loft his legacy. As foon as Thevenot heard of his friend’s fuccefs, he gave orders to have the writings in queftion publifhed in Dutch, but foon altered his opinion, and fent for them. He then attempted fome alterations in them, as I could difcover by the erafements made here and there with his own hand; but in this he fell short: of an{wering Swam- merdam’s intentions; though probably"only for want of abilities fuitable to fuch a tafk. Be that as it will, this valuable tréefure, after Thevenot’s death, was purchafed by Joubert the king’s painter, whofe heirs afterwards fold it at the inconfiderable price of fifty French crowns to the illuftrious Jofeph du Verney, with whom they lay hid and diftegarded for a long time. At laft a report prevailing that the anatomy of infects was coming into great vogue, and that a hiftory of this part of the creation, compofed by the great anatomift juft now fpoken of, was upon the point of ap- pearing at Paris, I requefted William Sherard my gueft at that time, and mof{t intimate friend, to obtain fome certainty for me in regard to this feport, as he was then about making a journey into.France. Accor- dingly on his arrival at Paris, he wrote that Swammerdam’s works were in the hands of Monfieur du Verney, and even fent me fome copper- plates after the drawings of our author, which when I examined, ferved only to excite my ambition of afferting the right of my country to the honour of having produced the originals, and making without lofs of time all the inquiries I judged neceffary for that important end. At laft, by the affiftance of the reverend Mark Guitton, and the eminent William Roell, profefior of anatomy at. Amfterdam, both then refiding in Paris, I fo far fucceeded, that they were purchafed for me the twenty-fixth of d ; March, ie p of JOHN SWAMMERDAY : rins March, mpccxxvil, at the price of one thoufand five peso ert ee ee qe s foon as 1a , i ste the fame fummer. g and I received them complete mM inteie2 el i > examined them mor Jan ane A ar ae ied ‘tie fatisfa@ion of feeing that i and h g once, I. carefully digeited them, a é dothing was wanting except a few pages of the text in the treatife of xiv ‘Bees, which a note in the margin obferved was not to be repaired ; how- ever, on looking narrowly for them, I had sie ae eee. them elfewhere. Upon this, I fhould have publ for the infatiable avarice, and unbounded audacioufnefs of the sort who make nothing of reprinting things as foon as they ie menace great lofs of the firft publifhers. However, I have at se zat - in guarding againft fuch foul treatment, and return my ag than ; to all thofe who fo gencroufly contributed their affiftance on this occation. And now I muft own, that it is with the ereateft pleafure I find myfelf enabled by this valuable work to challenge all thofe nations, who fo liberally reproach us Dutchmen with a dullnefs that requires the inventions of others to fharpen it, to produce before able judges, any thing equal to this performance of one of our countrymen... This. inftance will, I believe, be fufficient to convimee mankind that we have among us uncom- mon geniufes, who have made the moft important difcoveries, and {pider- like, have furnifhed themfelves alone both the workmanfhip and mate- tials. However I muft in juftice own, there is now in France fuch another bright fun, who by his light not only fhews, but adds grace and dignity to every object he is pleafed to fhine upon. — I mean that prodigy of our age, and glory of his -country, the illuftrious Reaumur. God grant this great man life to go through, and many years to furvive, his great undertaking. I examined with the greateft care and attention all the letters, and other writings of Swammerdam, that I could lay my hands on, in order to find out the methods taken by him to perfeé thofe beautiful difcove- ries, by which he has fo far exceeded all authors in the fame way; and I fhall here candidly relate the fruits of my perquifition. For difle@= ing of very minute fubjects, he had a brafs table made on purpofe by that ingenious artift Samuel Mufichenbroek. To» this table were faftened two brafs arms, moveable at pleafure to any part of it, and the upper portions of thefe arms were likewife fo contrived as to be fufceptible of a very flow vertical motion, by which means the operator could readily alter their heigth as he faw moft convenient to his purpofe. The office of one of thefe arms was to hold the little corpufcle, and that of the other to apply the microfcope. His microfcopes were of various fizes and curvatures; his microfcopical glafles being of various diameters and focufes, and from the leaft to the greateft, the beft that could be pro- cured, in regard to the exaétnefs of the workmanfhip, and the tranf- parency of the fubftance. His way was to begin his furveys with the {malleft magnifiers, and from thence proceed by degrees to the greateft; and by nature and ufe was fo incomparably dexterous in the manage- ment of thefe ufeful inftruments, that he made every obfervation fubfer- vient to the next, and all tend to confirm each other, and complete the defcription. Thefe no doubt were talents very uncommon, though no lefs requifite in an obferver of fuch things. But the conftructing of very fine {ciffors, and giving them an extreme fharpnefs, feems to have been his chief fecret. Thefe he made ufe of to cut very minute objects, becaufe The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. XV becaufe they diffeted them equably ; whereas knives and lancets, let them be ever fo fine and fharp, are apt to diforder delicate fubftances, as in going through them they generally draw after them, and difplace, fome of the filaments: his knives, lancets, and ftyles were fo very fine, that he could not fee to fharpen them without the afliftance of the micro- fcope ; but with them he could diffecét the inteftines of Bees with the fame accuracy and diftin@nefs, that others do thofe of large animals. He was particularly dextrous in the management of {mall tubes of glafs no thicker than a briftle, drawn to a very fine points at one end, but thicker at the other. Thefe he made ufe of whenever he had a mind to fhew, and blow up the fmalleft veffels difcovered by the microfcope ; to trace, diftinguifh, and feparate their courfes and communications, or to injeét them with very fubtil coloured liquors. As to the infects them- felves, he ufed to fuffocate them in alcohol or fpirit of wine, in water, or fpirit of turpentine, and likewife preferved them for fome time in thefe liquids, by which means he kept the parts from putrefying, and confequently collapfing and mixing together; and added to them, befides, fuch ftrength and firmnefs, as could not fail of making the diffe@tions far more eafy and agreeable. When he had=divided tranfverfely with his fine {ciffors the little creature he intended to examine) and had care- fully noted every thing that appeared without further diffeétion, he pro- ceeded to extraét the vifcera in a very cautious leifurely manner, with other inftruments of equal fubtility; but firft took care to wath away and feparate with very fine pencils the fat with which infeés are moft plentifully fupplied, and which always occafions fome damage to the internal parts, before they can be extracted. This laft operation is beft performed upon infeds whilft in the Nymph ftate. Sometimes he put into water the delicate vifcera of the infe€@ts he had fuffocated, and then fhaking them gently, procured himfelf an opportunity of examining them, efpecially the air veflels, which by this means he could feparate from all the other parts whole and entire, to the great admiration of all thofe who beheld them; as thefe veffels are not to be diftincly feen in any other manner, or indeed-feen at all without damaging them. He often made ufe of water injeéted by a fyringe, to cleanfe thoroughly the internal parts of his infeéts, then blew them up with air and dried them; by which means he rendered them durable, and fit for examination, at a proper opportunity. Sometimes he has examined with the greateft fuccefs, and made the moft important difcoveries in infects that he had preferved in balfam, and kept for years together in that condition. Again, he has fre- quently made punctures with a fine needle in other infeéts, and after f{queezing out all their moifture through the holes made in this manner, filled them with air by means of very flender glafs tubes, then dried them in the fhade, and laft of all anointed them with oil of fpike, in which a little refin had been: diffolved, by which means they retain their proper forms for a very long time. He had fo fingular a fecret for preferving the very nerves of infects, that they ufed to continue as limber and as per- {picuous as ever they had been. As to Worms in particular, his way was to make a {mall punéture or incifion in them towards the tail, and after having very gently, and with great patience {queezed. out all their humours, and great part of their vifcera, inje@ them with wax, fo as to give and continue to them all the appearances of living, healthy, and vigorous creatures. He difcovered that the fat of all infects was perfectly diflolvible in Pies UF E) of. F-0H N SWAM ME RDAM. in oil of turpentine, and that they could not Se ES se and this difcovery he always made the greateft fecret of, sas ee 7 of infe@’s when melted, and then dried, looks like lime {cattere “dis ie parts, fo as to obfeure the vifcera, and make it utterly impoffible es meer them; but then, however confufed and immerfed they ray Pre ine before, they fhew themfelves after this procefs very plainly 2 get on being long and thoroughly wafhed with fair water. Very o _ e pie whole days in cleanfing of its fat in this manner, the body of a ingle Caterpillar, in order to difcover the true conftruction of that infeét’s heart. His fingular fagacity in ftripping off the {kin of Caterpillars that were upon the point of {pinning their nefts, deferves particular notice. This he eee by letting them drop by their threads into fcalding water, and fuddenly with- drawing them, fot by this means the epidermis peeled off very eafily ; and when this was done, he put them into diftilled vinegar and fpirit of wine mixed together in equal portions, which, by giving firmnefs to the parts, gave an opportunity of feparating them with very little trouble from the exivie or {kins, without any damage to the vifcera, fo that by this con- trivance the Nymph could be fhewn wrapped up im the Caterpillar, and the Butterfly in the Nymph. All thefe wonders he performed by. the light of the brighteftsmid-day fun, and had brought his arts to fuch per- fection, that-he¢ould exhibit whenever he thought proper, the manner in which infe@ts were enclofed in infects, and were to be extricated from their enclofures. He could at laft change the Caterpillar to a Chryfalis at his pleafure, and alfo could as he pleafed forward, ftop, and regulate its motions. He affirmed nothing but what he faw, and was able to demonftrate every thing he affirmed. He in good earneft followed Lord Bacon’s_advice; for his opinions were the fruit of his experience, and he could effect the very things, whofe exiftence he maintained. Obfervatioris alone, made with the moft wonderful patience by experienced fenfes, affifted with the fitteft inftruments, led him into the method followed by nature in all her opera- tions; and he fo ferupuloufly adhered to that great guide, that whenever he formed a rule from particular obfervations, he did it with fo much caution, as to let it include thofe particulars only, from which hewhad deduced. ity..andsextraéted his canon. In explaining the works of nature, he ufed to reafon by comparing his obfervations with one another, and never admitted the ufe of a general application of them upon any other occafion. Thus he began, carried forward, and perfected without any affiftance, in a private and middling ftation: of life, more difcoveries than all the writers of all the preceding ages. By thefe means he found there were little creatures that breathe at the tail, and others that govern themfelves in the water by the help of a little bubble of air, which they expand at pleafure to afcend to the furface, and comprefs in like manner, when defirous to fink to the bottom ; and can regulate it in fuch a certain manner, that they can fufpend themfelves in any part of the water they choofe. Some again he difcovered, who have their legs fixed to their jaws; and others in which the penis of the male receives in copulation the vulva of the female, and a few which are of both fexes at once, and aét reciprocally upon each other as fuch at one and the fame time. In fine, from fuch an infinite number of new and un- common obfervations, he formed a fyftem fuperior by many degrees to any thing of the kind that had as yet appeared. He even colleéted the materials upon which this fyftem was founded, rendered them durable, and dicefted them, in order to have always at hand undeniable vouchers for the truth of xvi every The LIFE of JOHN SWAMMERDAM. wii every thing he advanced. Such a fabrick had never been raifed before, yet it was raifed by him in fo mafterly a manner, that it might have ftood a ages. But, O hard fate of induftry! after having been driven himfelf to offer his curiofities to fale more like a beggar that had nothing to give than like a man who offered infinitely more than he afked, and this too without fuccefs ; his heirs, after his deceafe, made propofals of felling them all, his anatomical preparations, his infects, and his inftruments, for the trifling ae of five thou- fand florins, without finding any one intelligent enough to buy them for his own ule, or generous enough to purchafe them for that of the public. Alas, what a fate was this, never to be repaired! Thefe wonders of art and nature, by being feparated and {cattered into different hands, loft all their value, to the ireetricnalite difhonour of an age, the moft remarkable of any that had as yet ever been for ftudies of this nature. As for you, my rea iders, 1 muft inform you of the obligations you owe, on the prefent occafion, to the great Gaubius, who from his fincere love to the republic of letters, tranflated all the works I now prefent you, from the original Dutch into Latin, that the curious of all nations‘might have-the better chance.of reading them ; and perhaps it would have been a hard matter, if not impoffible, te eo. another tranflator equal to the tafk. The facts I have here related are colle&ed from the hiftory of the times, from a repeated perufal of Swammerdam’s works, and from the letters written or received by him. An accurate and well- renee {ted col- lection of all thefe papers fupplied me with materials for writing es lis ife, and I intend to depofit them all, as well as the original drawit ngs ma ide by his own hand in the moft elegant and mafterly manner, in the public libr ary a the univerfity, there to remain as an eternal monument of our author’s merit, and of my exaétnefs and integrity in writing his life, and publifhing his labours; and, in fine, that fuch as take delight ; in things “ this kind, may dy this means have an eafy opportunity of fatisfying their uriofity. It was thus I acted in regard to the pofthumous works of celebrated. Vail- ant. Farewel reader. LEYDEN, 17%5*35. HERMAN BOERHAAVE. * Dee eeeuamensurasmeasiaremnerT ital dit nn cali llc A lh —— _ - — — ——a — sets A — _ : = 2 a SS ae ee a ws —— ; = — an pa — " Ce MaTOET CER ee Oe ge eee m. aan sak rs : pea \ ee eT re a STR wr Ss See SS Pe MEAs Lk SEN bel «5a ee ean te : : ean pgs! - - = . sas jovial aE ee ee ee ap TINTS te ares eels wage ie z - pe Sg eet. : CR Nigger ns atheroma a eae tide i 22 aera a ST AUTHOR'’s PREFACE. URIOUS reader, before I proceed to lay my obfervations before you, I muft moft humbly requeft, that you will not be difpleafed, if in all this work I have only made ufe of my own obfervations, as a folid and immoveable foundation to build upon, and that from them I have deduced certain conclufions, folid theorems, and claffes digefted in due order. For as long as neither nature herfelf exhibits any thing in oppofition to thefe theorems, nor other writers produce experiments to contradi@ them; we may reft affured of the truth of what I have delivered; but then we muft not wander beyorid the limits of fuch obfervations, nor by ftraining them too much, make them extend to things not as yet fufficiently difcovered. Otherwife, as nature is utterly inexhauftible, we fhould be in danger of fall- ing into errors; and indeed it is generally our own fault that things of them=. felves fufficiently clear and evident, become obfcure; and even impenetrable to us. Thus a perfon would be guilty of a great miftake; who, after running over all the animals he knew, never to be at once male and fe- male, fhould from thence conclude, that both fexes are never found in one and the fame fubjeét ; whereas the conttary appears in Snails; which are all a of impregnating as males, and éoriceiving as females, but with this reftriétion, that the fame Snail cannot aét tipon itfelf; fo that a mutual inter- courfe of two is requifite to carry on the bufinefs of propagation, as I many years ago demonftrated before a numerous company. As therefore all the experiments I have hitherto made, agree perfeally together, and mutually fupport each other, there is the lefs reafon, till fomething appears in the nature of things to break the thread of my fyftem, to be ftartled at the objections of others; who never made the fame obfervations, and are not perhaps properly qualified to make the fame experiments. But if hereafter any thing fhould occur, that I may have reafon to think deferves to be added to what I have already advanced, or exceeds the bounds to which I have confined myfelf, or appears repugnant to my former obfervations; I promife faithfully to publifh them, though they fhould abfolutely deftroy the prin- ciples I have laid down, provided that they ferve to confirm and illuitrate the truth. And I moreover earneftly requeft all thofe who love truth as I do, and are equally anxious to find it out, to affift me on this occafion with their favour and advice. But as the moft eminent amongft the ancient writers on this branch of natural hiftory, have propofed two different manners in which infects un- dergo their mutations; one known by the name of Nymph, and the other by that of Chryfalis, calling Nymph that change of the Worm, under which it-exhibits the form of the infeé that is to iffue from it; and Chry- falis, that other change which fhews no figns of the future infect; I muft forewarn The AU THO R's PREFACE. o means admit two. different fpecies of n the Chryfalis, as well as in = forewarn my readers that I fhall by n changes, as I can plainly and diftinétly difcover 1 the Nymph, all the parts of the future infect, and can even give ocular proof of their exiftence. And as to the parts not appearing externally in the Chry- falis as clearly as they do in the Nymph, and the former having a gold co- lour, which I never obferved in the latter, it 1s not a thing of confequence enough to make me alter my opinion. — But perhaps the reader, as yet a novice in the hiftory of infectsy may_not rightly underftand what I mean by the words Nymph and Chry‘falis, I muft refer him to the figures of this work, where he will find the Nymph of the Ant reprefented under number v. Tab. XVI. and the Chryfalis of the noc- turnal Butterfly, under the fame number’ v. “Fab. XXXL. For-the fake of greater perfpicuity, I obferve the fame otder in Tab. I. XT: and XXXVIM. where I place before my readers other fpecies of Nymphs that fhall be de- {eribed in their proper places, and afterwards fummed up under one view, in the general éompatifon of mutations, with which I intend_to. coticlude this work. Farewell. pei Tone ren. °F ' - ‘ - CONTENTS ' Es iat aig ; ! it ug + j ' i n 4 i “pai og RE Te ae SE an = PON Bao Oc RE OM D. JOANN LS SWAMMERDAM IT, M.D. Naturz Infectorum Indagatoris indefefli, incomparabilis. Allocutio ad: Harveum * “aay. LOS & honos Anglie: gentis, quo, judice Pheebo, Nil quicquam, eximius terra Britanna tulit ; Artis delicium noftra, quo. fofpite quondam. Sidera tangebat. vertice celfa fuo ; Define jam gemitus, tua jam fufpiria ceffent, Quod multa, abftulerit ter fcelerata manus, Quéis miranda tibi levium fpeétacula rerum Scripta, atque in varios corpora verfa modos: Queis tibi Nympharum & fulve Chryfallidos ortus Depicti, & Gryllus papiliogue fuit ; Ecce alium, data damna tibi qui farciet olim Inventifque addet non tibi vila tuis, Non hunc parva latet magni Formica. laboris, Angufto quamyis tramite carpat iter, Hic quis amor, quis Hymen illis, queque ofcula novit, Qua foveant natos fedulitate fuos : Non fugit hunc mifera & male nata Diaria, quamvis Vix detur medium vivere pofle diem ; Quz poftquam teneris volitavit in ere pennis, Seevis preda avibus, pifcibues efca cadit. Nec Scarabeus aque, feu pervolat ille paludem, Seu celer, ad fundum, mox rediturus, abit ; Sed bulla, mirum vifu! rediturus inani, Quam villofa intus caudula clufa tecit. Nec tu, dire Culex, mediis feu degis in undis, Aera feu pinna liberiore petis. Novit Apum fexus, ortus, connubia, novit Quam telam in cera fedula fingat Apis. Et negat ulla novas Infe@ta affumere formas, At vermi inclufas delituiffe docet. Quam ftupui, quando narrantis ab ore pependi, Cum mihi monftraret plurima quam ftupui ! Gaude, Vegta, tuis illum quod vexeris undis, Et quod capta tuo flumine preda fuit. Non Aldrovandos jam clara Bononia jactet, Nec mihi Moufetos Anglus ad ferat : Gefneros etiam fileat Germania tellus, Nefcio quid majus Terra Batava dabit. Cecini amico amicus MATTHAUS SLADUS, M.D. £ > cseiey tile LLEIC CELE LPL OLD AG 7 ee é 2 af 5 Eig SQAMMEPAAMON are Egnnées eres Bieri éxd 10 eee TIpts dvayasny. f f. i} Tiy 0° Grav yrons x avayrvenc, Pie, BibAo, Sova pmecdapecg viv Téxev Lupendéws, "Eyljcou i o¢ Quay cAAcMoEIS TE didaoxes *"Huap t@ ogelégn Debeey Ereoyupslny- i 3 ~ 3 . My xalayivers ys advov dul. @AAZ eeaylov Trai, % guts wy poavev Zonprteios. Idem utcungue Latine redditum. Ad Lettorem. Videris ut, Lettor, librum&Seperlegeris, ingens Quem Swammerdamm cura laborque dedit 5 Quo tibi natura Infeéte more/que patefcunt, Unica cui nomen donat habere dies. Weglhigere illius curam fuge. Nofcere at ipfum Te cupe, quamgue fugax ipfe brevifque fies. M. Stapus, M. D. CONTENTS. ares ate Ln SU BS X I iV, nt e IN ii iVE Fy Ov His Royal HighnefSs GEORGE, Prince oF Wa es. His Royal Highnefs The DUKE. His Royal Highnefs Prince EDWARD. B. Boop Ellifon, Efg; | Mr. Ertcourt. HE Right Honourable the | my. Shs Countefs _ tae Bleffington. The Right Honourable the Earl of H. Bute. = Mr. Brandenburg, Apothecary. Baronet de Bae Mr. Barber. Mr. Charles Ha f Paddington, Mr. Benjamin Booth, Fleet-Street, Timothy Hollis, BY; Charles Hinuber, Efq; Dr. i de Hillmer. Dr. E la In ar Mr. Harfcher. Mr. Britland. Mr. Baker. Mr. Banks. Mr. Bates. Mr, Brown John Hannam of the Middle Teni- ple, Efq; Cc. Williar m Harris, Kig ss Mr. Hilfon. The Right Honourablé the Earl of | Mr. ‘T. Harris Carlifle. | Mr. Piauiemn The Right Honourable Lord Charles Cavendith. Henry Coddington, Efq; Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Carter, “ Mr Cape Mr. W. King. Mr. Clay ton. | Mr. Collins, i Mr. Cooper. | Mr. Cooke. | Mr. Cutler, | | | | The Reverend Mr. William Lang- horn, of Cumberland. Lloyd, Efq3 Mr. Lloyd. M. Long. Mr. Laws: Mr. Levet: Mr. Leeweni D. Mr. David{fon. Mr. Charles Davidfon, Mr. Davids. Mr. L. Day. M. —— Mafon, E{q; Mr. Earle. Mr. GC. O. Mencke, at Drefden. ——Ellis, Efq; * N: SU BSCR N. ~—— Norton, Efqs P: Mr. Payne, Mews-gate. Ar. John Piggot of Iflington. Mr. John Poyner, Apothecary at Iflington. Mr. J. T. Pierce. =~. Porter, Eiq; William Porter, Efq; George Porter, E{q; R. John Richards, E{q; Mr. Richards. —— Richardfon, Efq; William Rivers. Mr. Read. 5. The Right Honourable Lord South- well. The Honourable Mr. Tho. George Southwell. — Sands, Ef{q; Dr. Smellie. Mr. Sweighaufer. Scot, Efq; Mr. Scot. Mr. J. C. Seyffert, at Drefden. Mr. Strange. Mr. Saunderfon. 3 Taylor, Efg; {BERS NAMES. Mr. Taylor. Mr. ‘Turner. Mr. Townfend. Mr. Tomkin. Mr Mr Wright, Efq; John Wright, E{q; -, William Wright. . Winfton. . Williams. +, White. . Wills. . Wilkifon. . Wilton. . Wilfon. Mr. Williamfon. — Wats, Elq; Mr. Wats. Mr. Wilkey. Mr. Watfon. Mr. Watkins. Walker, Efg; John Walker, Efq; Mr. Ward. Mr. Warton. x John Younge, Efq; Mr. Young. Mr. Yeates. Mr. Younger. f E \HE defign and diftribution of the work. page I GsH A Pest G-H A P.Ih The fingle foundation of the changes obferv- able in known infects, fhewn to be the Nymph ; with an explanation of the man- ner in which Worms and Caterpillars be- come Nymphs GH A Pedi 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 illu- {tration of the fubject, and an entire reftitu- tion of its original truth ‘ 10 © H. AP ay: Of the four orders of natural changes, to which we refer, nearly, all the fpecies of infeéts, as having the fame fole principle of change 17 THE FIRST ORDER. Of the natural changes, or flow accretions, of the limbs 18 A catalogue of the infects which are referred to in the firft order of natural changes, called the Nymph-Animal 20 The natural changes of the firft order of in- feéts, exemplified in the Loufe ; with an explanation of what relates in general to the other three.orders 29 A letter to Mr. Thevenot, containing the diflection of the Human Loufe 30 The external parts ; ib. The internal parts 31 The conclufion of the letter to Mr. Thevenot Si An explanation of the changes of the firft order, which are exhibited to view, by the aflift- ance of figures, for which the Loufe is pro- duced as an example 3 Of the arborefcent Water-Flea 39 A particular treatife on the Scorpion, which likewife belongs to the firft order of natural changes a ) Q 20 Al The natural hiftory of the covered Snail, illu- {trated by accurate drawings 43 Of the thell and foft part of the Snail in general, and particularly of the four horns which {pring from the upper part of its head, and of the eyes that appear in them ; with a defcription of the conftruction and motion of thefe parts 44. GH A-P...: I. Of the lips, mouth, teeth, tongue, palate, cefophagus or gullet, and certain mufcles of the Snail 48 C H AcBeealil, Of the tafte, fmell, and certain actions of the Snail at) G H AP, IV. Of the ftruéture and ufe of the verge or. lip of the Snail, and of its refpiration and found, with other experiments : ds veffels, and. what it has feet alfo of its f J olands, in the piace or , 50 C.H A P,_V. Of the aétions, ftrength and life of the Snail. . How it is to be killed for diffec- tion, with further experiments ; and an ac- count of the effect that Salt has upon this creature Le; CH. AP. Vit Of the internal parts of Snails; and firit of the And alfo of the blood, circulation. Of the difference of the flimy humour from the blood of the cavities of the verge, andealfo of the facculus calcarius, or bag ‘of alkaline eemathalewd and its To which is.ad- ded, a curious experiment, taining to the motion of the muicl 5a Cc HeAsP. .. Vil. Of the: bile, ftomach, intefti veflels of the Snail GUE, t VLA Of the:genitals, penis, uterus, tefticles, ovary and other parts fubfervient C H-A-=P. 3 Of the manner in which Snails mutually per- forming the bufinefs of coition 58 OF: Se a Of the brain and nerves, and in what-manner thofe parts have their mufcles, whereby they are moved backward and forward, in -the body.;.a wonderful particular not hitherto known in any animal 60 a a ) 7 T Xu ii Se rae o Of the mufcles of the body and fhell, matter S. which is the bone of the Snails» in what a won il - derful manner this fhell is formed on ‘the infide, and how it is increafed and: noursfh- ed. Laftly, how the Snail moves im its eee : Of C BA I. Of the Hermit-fith, and Pinna, Marina. Of the inward turnings or conyolutions of, the turbinated fhells.- Of the Voluta or Cylincer, the Concha Veneris, and Pencil, and fome other fhells of the Snail kind 66 The little Turbo Oe) The {mall flatted Snail 69 The.oval Snail ib. — CHAP. XIII. Of the garden Snail, the es of fields or path-ways Of the garden Snail Wf Of the common houfe Snail 71 Of the field or path-way Snail 72 C.F A> Perry. 1 Of the common water common and viviparous king of a a g and ro es itp c eee Ona, avo Of an un- uzater Snail - Water onal ia is | i i3f - / i i | f = ipa tt S 6397 oN 1 snd -of the flatted water Snail, and the mutcles of the river Vecht. Alfo a remark- able obfervation on the common Snail 73 The common water Snail ib. The wonderful viviparous cryftalline Snail 75 Of that fpecies of the Sea Snail, called by the Hollanders Aliekruyk 8 Of the fmall water Turbo Of the umbilicated marble Snail The flatted Snail The {mall flatted Snail Of the frefh water Mufcles, found in the rivers in Holland ib. The method of cutting various images in fhells 86 A Letter from the author‘ to the moft illuftrious Mr. Thevenot, on the anatomy of the Cancellus or Bernard L’Hermite 86 The external parts of the Cancellus or Hermit 7 The internal parts 89 THE SECOND ORDER, OF the natural changes, or flow aceretions in the limbs and parts of infects 92 A Catalogue of the infects, which are referred to the fecond order of natural changes ; called the Nymph-Vermicle 93 An example of the fecond order of natural changes, which I call the Nymph-Vermicle, in the Dragon-Fly 97 Of the Nymph-Vermicles of the Dragon- Fly 99 Of the flying water Scorpions, which belong to our fecond order 1O1 The external parts ib. ‘The internal parts 102 The natural hiftory of the infeé& called the Hemerobios, Ephemerus, Diaria, or Day- Fly, extracted from J. Swammerdam’s ac- count of it, formerly printedin Dutch, under the title of the life of the Ephemerus 103 en AP. k The Ephemerus is produced from an egg ib. Ona PS a. | The egg of the Ephemerus produces a little Worm with fix legs, called the bank-bait by fifhermen 104 C41 A-P,- Til. OF the life of the Vermicle or Worm of the Ephemerus, when out of the egg, and of its food 105 ioe AP AV: “ How long the Vermicle or Worm of the Ephemerus is winged, why it is called the efca or bait; and how long it lives 106 CH ASP ) Defcribes the external parts of the efca oxebait, its colour, and the difference in its mafiners and difpofition 107 @ CHAP. VI. "The anatomy of the internal parts of the Ephe- merus 108 CH A Po Vi. ‘\ The figns by which to difcover, whether the Ephemierus is to fly in a fhort time ;- as alfo E what may prevent it, and to what order of natural changes it belongs 113 @ HA P.. VII. How and in what a wonderful manner the Worm is tranformed into an Ephemerus ib. C'H-A P. IX. How long the Ephemerus lives, and what — haftens its death 117 CHAP. X. That the Ephemerus kind flies three days, and fometimes four: certain other fpecies are alfo defcribed r18 THE THIRD ORDER. Of the natural changes or flow accretions of the parts of infects 119 A catalogue of the infects which belong to the third order of natural, changes, called the Nymph - i21 ‘The third order or clafs of natural changes, according to the firft {pecies or method, which we have called fimply the Nymph, exemplified in the Ant 126 Of certain other kinds of Ants, fome of which {pin like Silkworms i30 A very curious hiftory of the Rhinoceros or horned Beetle, illuftrated with accurate figures 131 C YAR 1. Of the places wherein thefe Beetles live, of their generation, eggs, Worms, and food ; how long they are feeding; with various other uncommon incidents. 132 CH # Pas. The name of the Worm out of which the Rhinoceros Beetle is produced, alfo its external parts, difpofition, and motions ; that it loves heat, and that it caftsa fkin, with other inci- dents tending to illuftrate this fubject 134 CHAP. Ill. The anatomy of the Coffus. The manner in which it is to be killed, sits blood, heart, ~ fat, pulmonary tubes, throat, ftomach, {pinal marrow, and the nervus recurrens. Whether the Coffs is eatable. How it may be {ea- foned or preferved, with fome uncommon obfervations 136 Cay aor, IV. The manner wherein the Worm is changed: how its inward parts are transformed in their increafe and growth, and the wonderful metamorphofis of the Worm into a Nymph. Alfo the method whereby the points of ref{- piration, or breathing holes, are tranfpofed ; to which are added, many uncommon obfer- vations 139 CHAP YN, In what manner the Nymph is filled with a fuperfluous moifture, which afterwards eva porates. The anatomy of the Nymph. How, on cafting off its fkin, it becomes a Beetle; with fome wonderful difcoveries in natural hiftory 144 a CH A- PSR The difference between the male and female . > aa ae Rhinoceros Beetle, after the Nymph cafts its qs fizin 1K1N, O:- 9: (Nee {kin, and is changed into either of them. Of the points of refpiration, the eyes, the brain, the optic nerves, the pulmonary tubes and pneumatick bladders. Of the heart, and of the’ genital organs of the male: and female ; with a moral conclufion 146 VA particular treatife on the Culex or Gnat, which likewife belongs to the firft method of the third order of natural changes called the Nymph 153 Po AK Catalogue of infects, which are teferred to the fecond method of the.third order or clafof natural changes, called the Chryfalis 1 fin example of the fecond fpecies or method of the third order of natural changes, called the Nymph-Chryfalis, or Aurelia, exhibiting that fpecies of the nocturnal Butterfly, or Moth, whereof the male is winged 5 The anatomy of the common diurnal and varie- gated Butterfly 10 o8 So a A defcription of the external parts of the Cater- pillar, anda diffection of the internal, fo as to give a fatisfactory account of the blood, mufcles, kidney-fhaped parts, ftomach, gul- let, clofed guts, filk-bags, fat pulmonary tubes, heart, brain, and nerves II C Ti, AP :tb The manner in which the Caterpillar is changed into a Chryfalis or Aurelia, with the true explanation of what the Chryfalis is. This chapter contains alfo fome anatomical obfer- vations, and fome other curious remarks con- cerning the Chryfalis and Butterfly 13 The anatomy of the:Chryfalis two days after it has caft its fkin 16 The fame at fix or eight days old 17 At twelve or thirteen ib. At fixteen or feventeen ib. In what manner the Aurelia affumes the form of a Butterfly 18 CHAP. Ul. Containing a defcription of the internal parts of the male and female Butterfly, defcribed in the preceding chapters 21 An animal in an animal, or the Butterfly hidden in the Caterpillar ; which is a third particu- lar example, ferving as an additional illuftra- tion to the fecond method of the third order or clafs of natural changes 24. THE FOURTH ORDER. Of natural changes, or flow accretions of the limbs 30 A catalogue of infeéts referred to the fourth order or clafs of natural changes, called the Vermiform-Nymph 34 A fingular example of the fourth order of mu- tations, exhibited ina Fly; whofe metamor- phofis,. or natural accretion into the firft form of its limbs, and other parts, is called a Vermiform-Nymph 38 Baa ORS te, A treatife on the hiftory of Bees, or an acct rate defcription of their origin, generation fex, oeconotny, labours, and ufe A delineation of the trunk or fnout of the Wafp, as feen from underneath The firft, fecond, and third obfervation on female Bee The fourth The fifth Some peculiar obfervations relating to the hi- ftory of Bees T If, The furprifing hiftory of the infect called Mufca Tabanus, or more properly, the Afi- lus or Gad-Fly. 43 oS a ay oa The external figure of the Worm, from which the Gad-Fly is produced, reprefented in its natural fize, alfo as it appears when mag- nified by the microfcope ; with the manner of its carrying its legs, by a moft wonder- ful contrivance, in its mouth, and of its breathing by the tail 4.4 CAP. 1. a Of the actions or motions of this Worm, the places where it is found, its food; and the manner of killing the Worm for diffection ot AP Se The anatomy of this Worm, giving an account of its teeth, ftomach, inteftines, falival veffels, pulmonary tubes, fat, heart, brain, and muj{cles 48 ott 7. eS ae The wonderful-manner wherein this Worm paffes into a Nymph, and of the parts that are feen in the Worm, when it is ftript of its skin; and the fame parts afterwards I clearly fhewn in the I 5 The anatomy of the Nymph, the fat, the pul- monary tubes, the ftomach, and inteftines : the wonderful changes obferyable in the ovary, mufcles, {pinal marrow, and other internal parts which infenfibly come in fight £ 53 C A Pc Va Of the true manner in which the Nymph breaks out of its outer and inner coats, fo that, by a kind of vifible refurrection, the creature afterwards aflumes the form of a Fly. Alfo of the pulmonary tubes and inteftines, the coats of which are drawn off, and left in the exuviz 57 CHAP. VII. Treating very particularly of the Gad-Fly, and its external and internal parts, as well male as female 60 A letter written by the author to Mr. Theve- not, on the nature and anatomy of the Worm bred in rotten cheefe, or the Acarus, and called by us the Mite; and of the Fly produced from it 63 Lu saline: eae aero he est Be aie, 0 aie al CLT IROL: 6 Gs hs 7 Of the difpofition of the Mite An anatomical defcription of the parts Sig boom apes if An account of the mannet by which Mites get into cheefe, and caufe it to rot, inftead of being caufed by or formed themfelves out of rottennefs; with many other uncommon obfervations 68 The manner in which Mites are changed into Nymphs ‘a The manner in which the Nymph of the Mite breaks from its membranes; and affumes the form of a Fly S74 Of the genital parts of the male and female Mite-Fly, and the manner of their coupling 73 The manner in which thefe Flies lay their eggs, with an account of the membranes they throw off, on leaving the Nymph flate 75 The hiftory of the Worms found in the tuber- cles and {wellings of the leaves of the Wil- low ib. In what manner the eggs of. thefe little creatures come into the leaves of the Willow tree 79 OF other infeéts found in the tubercles of Wil- lows, and how they come there 82 A particular defcription of certain infeéts, which live between the firft and fecond coat of. the Willow leaves, and which are changed into Beetles 83 An account of fome fmall Worms that are bred within the new and tender leaves of Wil- lows, and afterwards change to Flies — 85 Of Worms which are found enclofed in tuber- cles like rofes, which appear on the tops of Willow branches, and likewife in many of the dwarf Willows that grow upon heaths and commons 86 Of certain Worms without fect found in the Hazel-nut 87 Of Worms found between the two coats or {kins of the Alder leaf ib. The fame fubjeét continued, hiftories of infects that are found in fruits, tubercles, or warts, and leaves of plants. An obfervation on the common Thiftle growing in the fields of Holland 89 Of Worms found within the tubercle or fwell- ings of the ftinging Nettle go Of the Worms which are found in the downy excrefcences of Oak trees gI Of fome little infeéts which are found con- cealed in the tubercles or fwellings of Oak leaves, in fo artful and wonderful a man- " ; are The external parts of the Mute 3 t net, that the foregoing relations muft yield the preference to their. hiftory 92 OF certain Worms that feed within the fpongy excrefcence of the Dog-rofe 95 An. obfervation made on the black’ Poplar, 1674 ib. OF the footlefs Worms of Cabbage leaves, which properly belongs to the fourth order of na- tural changes 98 Of the Worms called Moths 99 OF certain Worms that, like Moths, live in cells, feeding on the leaves of Pear trees, Apple-trees, Plumb-tree:, and Cherry-trees 100 Of certain Vermicles or Worms, whofe eggs are lodged in the bags wherein mufk is brought to us Lol OF certain Worms which lie in little tubes or cells 102 A particular treatife on the Frog and its young, exhibiting its hiftory,, and comparing it with infects ; 103 Mari himfelf compared with infe@ts, and with Frogs 104. A particular treatife on the generation of Frogs 105 Of the manner in which young Frogs or Tad- poles grow in their parents eggs, and are in due time hatched or delivered from them 112 OF the circulation of the blood in a full grown Frog 120 Experiments on the particular motion of the mufcles in Frogs, which may be alfo in ge- neral applied to all the motions of the mufcles in men and brutes 122 A comparifon of the changes in the Clove July-flower, with thofe in Infects during their Nymph ftate 122 A general analogy or comparifon of the mu- tations and accretions, as to. parts and limbs, as well in Eggs, Worms, and Nymphs, as in Infeéts themfelves: and alfo in thofe mu- tations, andaccretions, which we obferve in an animal of the red blood fpecies, and of a vegetable clearly exhibited at one view 138 At Pe ND IX: The anatomy of the Sea-Sepia, or Cuttle-Fith, infcribed to the moft excellent Francis Redi, phyfician to the Great Duke of ‘Tufcany ; a moft indefatigable fearcher into the miracles of nature 39 A treatife on the Phyfalus I 50 An epiftolary differtation on the Felix Mas, or Male Fern of Dodoneus 160 I BOOK of O R,; tS: T Ok & NATURE: Fakii.8 of INSECTS. Gre ce Poasgzdp The defign and diftribution of the work: F TER an attentive examination of the nature and fabrick of the leaft and largeft animals, I cannot but al- low the lefs an equal, or perhaps fupetior degree in dignity. Whoever duly con- fiders the conduét and inftinét of the one, with the manners and actions of the other, muft ac- knowledge all are under the direction and ‘controul of a fupreme and fingular intelligence ; which, as in the largeft, it extends beyond the limits of our comprehenfion, efcapés our re- fearches inthefmalleft. If, while we diffect with care the larger animals, we are filled with won- der at the elegant difpofition of their limbs, the inimitable order of their mufcles, and the regular direGtion of their veins, arteries, and nerves ; to what an height is our aftonifhment raifed, when we difcover all thefe parts arranged in the leaft, in the fame regular manner. How is " it pofflible but we mutt ftand amazed when we refleét that thofe animalcules, * whofe little bo- dies are fmaller than the fineft point of our diffeéting knife, have mufcles, veins, arteries, and every other part common to the larger ani- mals? Creatures fo very diminutive, that our hands are not delicate enough to manage, or our eyes fufficiently acute to fee, them; info- much that we are almoft excluded from ana- tomizing their parts, in order to come at the knowledge of their interior conftruction. ‘Thus, what we know of the fabrick of thofe creatures reaches no farther than to a fimple enumeration of the parts which we have be- fore obferved in larger creatures. We are not only thus in the dark, in attempting a difco- very of the conftruétion of the leaft animalcules, but we even gain very little knowledge of the wonderful texture of the vifcera of the largeft animals: for as the point of our diflecting knife is not minute enough to feparate the tender parts of the {mall animals, it is not lefs unfit to be ufed in difcovering the extrem ties of the nerves and veins in the larger. As our knowledge of both fpecies of ani- mals is fo far limited by our ignorance, and as we have not hitherto had fuch a fufficient number of experiments as are neceflary to form a proper judgment of their elegant ftruc- ture, and the admirable difpofition of their parts, we may eafily fee how rath and precipi- tate their opinion is, who-efteem the larger creatures only as perfect, and the lefs as fcarce worthy to be clafled with animals; but, as they fay, produced by chance, or generated from putrefaction ; rendering, by. fuch rea- foning, the conftant order of nature fubject to chance. But as it happens to the {malleft of animals, for inftance, to thofe produced from the egg of the Acarus which is fo minute, as {carcely.to be vifible, fo alfo it is with the largeft animals ; their origin is not more obvi- ous or more vifible, perhaps it is rather more obfcure,. and they derive their being from a lefs vifible beginning. Nor let any man ima- gine that I fay this withoat conviction, fince I have found by diligent inquiry that the largeft animal is not in its firft formation bigger than the rudiment of an Ant; and therefore, unlefs the Great Creator had fet certain bounds to the erowth of every kind, which it cannot ex- ceed, I fee no reafon why the Ant might not furpafs in bulk the largeft. Perhaps, their fizes proceed in proportion to the greater or lefs ftrength of the heart, by which the parts mult be exténded, again{ft the preflure of the at- mofphere. Notwithftanding the fmallnefs of % We are accuftomed to ufe the word animalcule, to exprefs thofe minute’creatures in particular, which are only feen by the affiftance of microfcopes ; this author applies it to fimall animals in general, and is its more proper, meaning. which was its original, B Ants, 8 Ants, nothing hinder’ Gur preferring them to the largeft animals, if we confider either their unwearied diligence, their wonderful ftrength, or their inimitable propenfity to labour 5 or; to fay all in one word, their amazing and in- comprehenfible love to their young; whom they not only carry daily to fuch places az may afford them food, but, if by accident they are killed, and even cut into pieces, they, with the utmoft tendernefs, will carry them away piecemeal in their arms. Who can fhew fuch an €x- ample among the largeft animals, which are dignified with the title of perfect? Who can find an inftance in any other creature, that may come in competition with this? But in the entrance of this work it is not my inten- tion to explain the form and wonderful pro pagation of animalcules, which feem to be exanguious or to have no blood: I fhall treat in general of the mannet of their furprifing metamorphofes ; and at the fame time thew, that they not only refemble other animals in the increafe of their parts, but that they ex- ceed them by infinite degrees. This being done, the particular obfervations concerning thofe animalcules hall be fully explained in their proper order and place. But before I proceed to them, it will be neceflary to prefix a general differtation on their nature. That I may make good the promife which, twelve years ago, I made to the public in the preface to my book of Refpiration, (and which I have been unhappily hitherto hindered from ful- filling by ficknefs, and other impediments, ) Iam now to thew the particular change of the Ca- terpillar into a Chryfalis; as alfo, the nature and various forms of thofe animalcules, which are faid to be exanguious, before and after their change anto Nymphs: but I judge it ex- tremely neceflary to eftablith firft fome certain propofitions, and to explain the order of their changes. This, fully underftood, will contribute to aclear and diftin& perception of the irre- gular and various appearances of infects; fup- plying the place of a pencil, and reprefenting, as it were, in their true colours, the variations of them; fetting each in a juft light, and in their native drefs. Thus fome certain and fixed principles will be fupplied to the ingenious, who are curious in thefe things; and the obfervations, of which I fhall give a confi- derable number, will remain as a firm foun- dation and fure fupport for all thofe experi- ments that fhall be made concerning them, or all that poffibly can be made. Nor does it appear to mea matter of {mall moment to have difcovered rules and theorems in the nature of things, by the affiftance of which all thofe The BOOK of NATURE} of; metamorphofes of infeéts, which have the aps searance of fiction and fancy, and differ in form and ftructure infinitely from each other, are reduced to one foundation and kind only ; in- cluding in three or four orders of changes all the various fpecies. - This may be perceived in the firtt rudiments of thofe creattires which appear to us under the form of eggs. ‘"The true nature of the metamorphofes of thefe animalcules feems to have been fubject to the fate of fome valuable picture, which, by length of time, being foiled and clouded with dirt, no longer fhews the true form of its figures, but has an appearance altogether diffe- rent; fo that it muft be cleaned, and its origi- nal luftre reftored, if we would difcover its true appearance. In the fame manner here, be- fore we can explain the pofitions and the feries of the changes, and illuftrate them by particular examples, it is neceflary we fhould reftore this excellent appearance, or, if I may fo fpeak, that curious picture, exhibiting the natural forms of infects: which, by the learned as well as others, through length of time, has been fo foiled and obfcured, that the beautiful and genuine changes of thofe animalcules do not appear properly what they are, but rather fome- what elfe, or at leaft, are feen in a confufed manner. ‘Thefe muft therefore be cleared from the falfe traditions of philofophers, by our theo- rems, as by the genuine tinct of nature, and reftored to their native beauty. We {hall now proceed to the four diftin® things which are to be treated of in this work. In the firft place, we fhall confider the Nymph as the original ground of all the transformations of infeéts, or exanguious animals ; . but, left any one fhould miftake the ufe of the word trans- formation, I here add, that both in this, and in every other part of the enfuing work, I in- tend no more by that term, than the gradual and natural growth of thofe creatures. Se- condly, we {hall fhew by what means it has happened, that the knowledge of the Nymph, or original ground of thofe natural changes, has been fo obfcured and darkened. This we fhall take care to clear up and reftore to its for- mer ftate. Thirdly, we fhall eftablifh four feries or orders of thofe changes, taken from nature, to which all the metamorphofes of the exanguious animalcule may be referred, as_de- pending only upon one foundation. Laftly, the order of the natural changes of their parts will be confirmed by particular examples in the infects themfelves, together with the. figures of them, and the whole clearly and diftinctly explained. CHAP. The. H1I8 TORY. of PNS‘EC- T'S. C° HAP: ws II. The jingle foundation of the changes obfervable in the hnowht infelts foewn to be the Nymph; with an explanation of the manner in which worms and ey Caterpillars become Nymphs. HOUGH; amoneft all the mutations of nature which deferve our attention, none appears more furprizing to the generality of mankind, than that by which a Caterpillar affumes the form of a winged animal, it in reality deferves no more admiration, than any other change in the forms of Bees, or the tran{- formation obfervable in plants. This will evi- dently appear to any one, who, having. exa- mined the real nature of fuch metamorphofes, will obferve how exattly they agree, not only with the growth of animals which undergo no fuch change; but alfo with the hooting or bud- ding out of plants and flowers. Whatever dif- ficulty we find in this, is merely an effect of our dwn miftaken notions ; and our admiration arifes from our ignorance of the nature of the Nymph or Chryfalis. In this the little animal lies, like the flower in its bud. Before I pro- ceed farther on this head, it may be proper to obferve, that thefe words, Nymph and Chryfalis, fignify the fame thing, and that there is no dif- ference in the nature of the fubjects to which they are applied. To advance toward my purpofe, I muft re+ peat, that the reader is to take particular notice, that to acquire a fatisfaétory knowledge of the mutations which happen in the eggs of infects in general, as well as in the worms or Caterpillars in particular hatched from them, hemuft firft clearly and diftinély comprehend the nature of the Nymph, Necydalis, Chryfalis, or Aurelia. Though we muft allow that there appears, as it is generally called, fome accidental difference be- tween the plain unadorned Nymph, and that form of it, which, from its bright gold colour, isicalledan Aurelia, or Chryfalis ; upon muture confiderati- on, this will be found merely accidental, without any difference in the internal conftitution of their parts, fufficient to alter in them what is commonly called the effence of things. This great truth being once underftood of infects in general, may be afterwards applied to every particular fpecies of them: for inftance, to the Silk-worm, whofe Nymph or Necydalis is never called Nymph by naturalifts; but only Necydalis and Chryfalis, though it is in fact a Nymph, and is called Chryfalis merely on ac- count of the external difference in colour. That we may fucceed the better in examin- ing the nature of this Nymph, or Chryfalis, upon which, as upon an immoveable bafis, the doc- trine of all the changes obfervable in infects is fo evidently founded, that the jarring opinions of all the naturalifts who have hitherto wrote upon the fubject, muft appear utterly vain; it is neceflary to obferve, that the Nymph, or Chryfalis, is nothing more than a change of the Caterpillar or worth; or; to fpeak more pro- perly, an accretion, growth; or budding of the limbs and parts of the Caterpillar or worm, con- taining the embryo of the winged animal that is to proceed from it. The Nymph, or Chry- falis; may even be confidered as the winged animal itfelf hid under this particular form. From whence it follows, that in reality the Ca- terpillar, or worm, is not changed intoa Nymph or Chryfalis; nor; to go a ftep further, the Nymph or Chryfalis into a winged animal ; but that the fame worm or Caterpillar, which, on cafting its fkin, affumes the form of a Nymph or Chryfalis, becomes afterwards a winged animal: Nor, indeed, can it be faid that there happens any other change on this occafion; than what is obferved in chickens, from eggs which are not transformed into cock or hens, but grow to be fich by thé expanfion of parts already formed. In the fame manner the Tad-pole is not changed intoa Frog, but becomes a Frog, by an unfolding and increafing of fome of its parts. Hence it follows, that in the Aurelia, and more particularly in the Nymph, fo called by Ariftotle* with the greateft propriety, there are not onlyall the partsand limbs of thelittle winged animalitfelf; but; what is more furprifiing, though till now unnoticed by any author I have met with, all thefe parts, or limbs, are to be dif- covered, and may be fhewn in the worm itfelf, on ftripping off its {kin in a careful manner. If therefore we retain the name of Nymph, ufed by Ariftotle, the worm at this period may be confidered as marriagable, and; if we may make ufe of thefe expreflions, entering into the con- nubial ftate. We may further fhew this, by confidering that the worms, after the manner of the brides in Holland, fhut themfelves up for a time, as it were to prepare, and render themfelves more amiable, when they are to meet the other fex in the field of Hymen. Since therefore the word Nymph exprefies the nature of the thing better than any other, as will more clearly appear hereafter, we fhall adopt it on this occafion to avoid confufion, and to be the better underftood : for though the words Chry- falis and Aurelia are employed to exprefs the fame thing, they properly imply fome external differences, which we have already named, and fhall hereafter treat of more at large. That elegant difpofition, and diftinét fram- ing of parts, which I have mentioned, is parti- cularly obfervable in the Nymphs of Ants, Tab. XVI. No. v. Flies, Tab. XLI. fig. 11, and Bees, Tab. XXV. fig. vi. as will appear upon in- fpecting their figures in Tab. XVI. XLI. and XXV. For fome accidents, as they are | * Hitt, Anim. Lib. V. cap. 19. called, 4 called, fuch as colour, firmnefs of the parts, and the like excepted, thefe Nymphs reprefent €x- actly, and ina furprifing manner, the little wing- ed animals they are to produce 5 and even in the {pace of two or three days after they have caft a very thin fkin, all thofe parts appear 10 moft of them. i This accurate agreement, or rather this fame- nefs of the Nymph with the little animal it co- vers in the prefent form, has given room to fome who have written on this fubject, to call the Nymphs of Ants, Flies, and Bees, by the names of Ant-fhaped, Fly-thaped, and Bee- fhaped Nymphs. This we fee in Ariftotle, in the place above cited: He fays, “ When they «have received the out lines of the fhape which “ they are afterwards to wear, at this period «© they are called Nymphs.” Even the learned Mouffet, though in his book of Infects he be- {tows a particular chapter upon the Chryfalis, there denies that any diftinét parts are to be obferved in it, yet is not to be underftood as including the Nymph in that affertion ; he does not even make the leaft mention of it: and, indeed, thofe diftinct parts are fo evident in the Nymphs of infects, as fcarce to leave the leaft room in any to doubt, ‘but that they are the very animal which they fo evidently re- prefent. This certainly mutt be the reafon why the Nymphsare often call’d Chryfallides and Au- reliz by the fame author, in the courfe of his work ; though no defcription is given of them in the chapter we have here named. ~ As errors never are confined to thofe who firft fall into them, the incomparable Harvey *, by committing the fame miftake with Mouffet in his notions concerning the nature of the Chry- falis, has ranked the Nymphs of the Bees in the number of them. With the fame Mouffet, Ariftotleand Aldrovandus have explained the dif- ficulties which occur in following, by a nice exa- mination, the tranfmutations of this clafs of infeéts, by a fyftem more ingenious and fubtil, than agreeable to truth and the nature of things; ince both he and Ariftotle +, Aldrovandus, and numbers of other authors, have imagined, that the Nymphs of Bees are fo far from containing the parts of the future infects ; that they can only be looked upon as the eggs which are to produce them. : Tho’ there are fome flight external differences between the Nymph and Chryfalis, which we have already obferved, the Chryfalis notwith- ftandingought tobeconfideredasa Nymph ; there are alfo fome external differences amongft the Nymphs themfelves, which it is likewife proper to take notice of in this place. Thus, there is by far a greater agreement between the Nymph of the common Antand the Ant itfelf, than there is between the Nymphs of Bees, or of Flies, and thefe winged infects refpectively ; fo that there appears the fame difagreement between Nymphs of one kind and another, as between thefe and Chryfallides. Butasall thefedifferences are merely accidental, as will hereafter more plainly appear, little regard is to be paid to them; notwith- ftanding Ariftotle, who at the fame time that he afferts a fimilitude, in point of fhape, between In Lib. Gener. Anim. Exerc. 1 The BOOK a MATURE ' fallides have not this bright outfide 5 t In Lib, ii. Cap. §0de Chryfallide, of; the Nymphs and the little animals to be ex- e&ted from them, fo far denies fuch a pro- perty in the Chryfallides, that he reprefents them merely as the eggs of thofe infects to which they belong 7. That we may treat more accurately of the Chryfalis, or Aurelia, which is indeed nothing more than a gold-coloured or gilded Nymph, and neither is nor ought to be called fpecifically or diftinétly by this name, nor can at all times, feeing all the Nymphs which are called Chry- this Chry- fallis, I fay, in the fame manner as has been (hewn of the nymph, ‘ not only contains all ‘* the parts of the future animal, but is indeed that animal itfelf”’. This truth, however, is con- tradi@ted among the antients by Ariftotle, and among the moderns by Harvey, and number- lef other writers. As we have obferved that the Nymph of the Ant differs from that of the Bee; and this laft from the Nymph of the Bly ; we remarked alfo, that the Nymph generally known by the name of a Chryfalis, differs from all thofe beforementioned. That this may appear the plainer, for example, in the cafe of the But- terfly’s Chryfalis, Tab. XXXYV. fig. vi. and vil. it will be proper regularly to demonftrate, not only the differences by which the Nymphs of the Ant, Bee and Fly may be diftinguifhed from one “another’s, but thofe variations like- wife by which the Butterfly’s Chryfalis is dif- tinguifhed from thefe Nymphs; and the dif- ferences alfo, by. which all thefe Nymphs and Chryfallides vary from the infects they are to produce. By this means we fhall be enabled to attain a perfect idea of that moft remarkable property, by which they perfectly agree with each other. This property we affirm to confift in an exact reprefentation of the future animal, and of all its parts. The firft property then, by which the Nymph of the Ant, Tab. XVI. No. v. agrees better with the Ant, thanthe Nymphs of Flies, Bees, or Butter- flies, do with thofe infects refpectively, and by which property, of courfe, the Nymph ofthe Ant differs from the Nymphs of the three other infects before-mentioned, confifts in this ; that the com- mon Ant, which has no wings, but only anten- nz, or horns, and legs, affords as clear and diftin& a reprefentation of thofe parts, when hid un- der the form of a Nymph, as when it after- wards appears in its own proper and perfect vfhape ; excepting only, that the legs and horns, which in the Nymph are folded up ina delicate manner, fhew themfelves at large, and in ano- ther fituation, in the Ant itfelf. So that the dif- ferent difpofition of thefe parts, in the ant and its Nymph, which every one muft allow to be an article of little confequence, conftitutes ali the difference that there is between them. Neverthelefs, the overlooking of this truth, the moft important of all in the theory of infects, in the cafe of their Chryfallides, has been the great reafon why the true knowledge of the nature of this {pecies of Nymph has been buried to this time in obfcurity, to give way to a fancied me- tamorphofis, t Hitt. An. Lib, vy. Cap. ro. The Phe * ff £S~T* ORY The other difference, or that which is re- markable in fhape between the Fly, Tab. XLI. fig. 11. and its Nymph, and between the other infects already mentioned, and theirs, confifts chiefly in this, that the wings which in the common, or more fcarce Fly, appear {tretched out and expanded over the body, are folded up in the Nymph, and lie clofe along its fides, and between its legs. This is alfo the cafe in the common Ant; whereas both in the Fly and its Nymph, the horns, and probofcis or trunk, are almoft the fame in every refpec. The third difference, or that which is ob- ferved between the Bee and its Nymph, Tab. XXV. fig. vi. and the infects already named, and their Nymphs, is this, that the legs and Nymph of the Bee, which, befides horns, has four wings, and a little trunk turned up towards its body, carries thofe parts in a different po- fition, from that wherein they are feen in the Bee itfelf, and in a manner which makes it dif- ficult to difcern them. The wings, like thofe of the common Fly, Tab. XXXVIII. fig. iv. are folded up, and lie clofe along ‘its fides, and between its legs; but the little trunk, fo dif- ficult to be obferved in the common Fly and its Nymph, is very confpicuous in that of the Bee, where it lies delicately difpofed between the contra¢ted legs of the embryo. As therefore all the parts of thefe Nymphs may be eafily diftinguifhed in them, though -occafionally with fome accidental differences ; fo one thing is equally common to all of them, namely, that each of them clearly expreffes the infect which is to be expected from it, or is ra- ther already that very infect; which in the manner of the Caterpillar, the better to explain the difference between the Nymph and the future infect, is now preparing to caft off a fkin, to become from a Nymph, a winged animal ; in the fame manner as it had caft one off before, from a Worm, to become a Nymph. Thefe operations of nature Libavius* has fufficiently explained in the Silk Worm, and faithfully re- prefented in his elegant drawings. It is, moreover, worthy to be obferved, that the legs, wings, trunk, horns, and every other part of the animal, are covered with a mem- brane of equal thicknefs, in every place where they do not lie upon each other. This is the reafon why, in the Nymphs of infects, almoft all the members appear free, flexible, and ca- pable of motion; for there is a {pace between all thefe parts acceffible to the air; and they neither touch, nor can adhere to one another. This alfo is the reafon, why the free fpace produces a flight fhade between fome of the parts, affording the curious eye an opportunity of determining exactly the figure of the infect’s little body, and all its limbs; to this caufe alfo, we areto attribute, that the Nymphs become of a particular colour, as foon as they have gone through their neceflary change, and appear of a perfect milky whitenefs. * Obf. Hift. Bomb L. I.-C, 21. + Inf. Th, L. TI. C.-36, de Aurel. Cc of INSECTS, ¢ In the Chryfallides, fome of which, like the other Nymphs, affume this milky hue at the time of their change, but afterwards become {potted with gold, or entirely cloathed in that rich colour, it is a more difficult matter, on a bare furvey of their outfides, to diftinguith the parts of the infect one from another. Their legs, wings, and the reft are folded up, and as it were packed together in a moft intricate manner; and this difficulty has been the caufe, as will be hereafter fhewn, of the principal miftakes of writers on this fubject. It is likewife worthy to be obferved, that the Nymphs of all the three infects we have here taken notice of, the Ant, the Fly, and the Bee, immediately after their change become tender and flexible, and indeed fluid, in a manner like water itfelf; fo that they lofe all their former ftrength and vigour: this made Gaza, with great reafon, call them invalids, as the learned Aldrovandus has obferved, fince they remain in this condition almoft to the end of this period of their life. Mouffet feems to have taken notice of this foftnefs in fome Chryfallides, the caufe of which we fhall explain in its due place, with the neceffity there is for it. That author’s words are, -- ‘* When Pliny fays that ** the body of the Chryfalis is hard, I imagine he ‘*’ means the Caterpillar.” The {kins which are thrown off by the Nymphs here mentioned, are fo twifted and folded together, that, without a delicate hand, and a great deal of experience, it is a hard tafk to difplay them properly ; this will appear when we come to relate our ob- fervations upon Bees, the curiofity of which has a right to command the admiration of mankind. We now proceed to the fourth difference, or that which belongs peculiarly to the Chry- falis, and, like the reft, is only accidental, though a great deal more remarkable. That the reader may know what Chryfalis we are about to compare with its Butterfly, and afterwards with the Nymphs of the Ant, and the Fly and the Bee, and, laftly, with thefe infe@s them- felves; we are to inform him, that we ‘hall take for our prefent example that Chryfalis, of which Mouffet ¢ gives a drawing in number XII of his diurnal Butterflies, which is the fame with that defcribed by Goedaert, in the twenty- firft experiment of his firft part, and which I have reprefented feveral ways in Tab, XXXV of this work. The difference between this Butterfly and its Chryfalis, as well as between the other Nymphs heretofore mentioned, and their ani- macules, is as follows. The wings, which in the Butterfly arife from the fhoulders, are very large, and hang over the back of its body, in the Chryfalis, Tab. XXV. fig. vir. are gather- ed up and folded into the fhape and fize of half the nail of a man’s little finger, and are turned in towards the belly, againtt which they lie of an equal thicknefs, m m. {dnt Phe dae. The 6 The BOOK of The trunk, which in the Butterfly is con- tracted and curled up ‘nto the fize and fhape of the head of a {mall pin, and lies between its wings, appears in the Chryfalis beautifully expanded along its belly, between the two wings dd. In the Chryfalis alfo, the legs, j Js gg, by a moft inimitable contrivance, the caule of which, with the reatons for it, we (hall hereafter deliver in our {elect experiments, which are placed on both fides clofe to the s trunk, quite otherwife than in the Butterfly ; and finally, to compleat this {cene of wonders, the horns, 77, which in the Butterfly are ftretched out at full length over the eyes, lie over the legs in the Chryfalis ; fo that upon the whole, all the parts of the infect, the body, wings, horns, legs, and trunk, are to be found as well in the Chryfalis, as in the Nymph, in the former, indeed, the feet are lefs difcernable than in the latter; but the fame difference is equally obfervable in the refpective infects. The {kin which contains the Chryfalis, 1s much thicker in thofe parts which cover the limbs on the outfide, than in thofe which ferve only to keep them afunder ; befides, all thefe parts are fo evenly and elegantly fattened as it were to and upon one another, that they exhibit ap uniform and equable contiguity of parts. For this reafon they are, with the greateft difficulty, to be diftinguifhed from one another, and that only by a fingular_ method, which I fhall explain to the reader in its proper place. This difficulty not only pre- vented Mouffet from giving us an accurate reprefentation of the Chryfalis in the place juft cited *, but induced him to deny, with Arif- totle, that there are any parts in the Chryfalis difcernable by our fenfes. He fays, “ the Chry- « falis has neither mouth, nor any other part of « the fucceeding infect, that can be perceived.” Libavius, is under as great a miftake on this fubject +; for, though in treating of the Necydalis, he allows it fome traces of wings, and alfo of horns, he denies that any diftinct limbs are obfervable in it; his words are thefe, “ On the fore part there are marks © of legs and horns; and on. the back part, “< towards the fides, fome faint reprefentations “ of wings.” , But a little afterwards he fays, « You cannot perceive any diftinct limbs.” Goedaert is as much at a lofs as thefe authors, about the true nature of the Chryfalis. He is at great pains to make out in it fome refem- blance of the human face; and he gives a drawing of it, under this idea, in his figures of chryfallides. He fhould rather have given us that elegant form, which really appears in the Chryfalis, than have endeavoured to amufe his reader with idle {peculations, the more pro- ductions of his own fancy. Nor is this all his error ; he gives us an unnatural reprefentation of the caterpillar itfelf, in the place already * Inf. Th. L. II. Cap. 36. de Aurel. NuGAGT TER Bis got cited ; for that Caterpillar jis not covered with hair, but with little prickles, and is very nearly of the figure reprefented_ in his 26th experiment. As. the limbs of the Chryfalis, faftened together in the manner already mentioned, harden by degrees, oF its skin, which at firtt was foft and tender, gradually dries up, and becomes, as it were, of a horny fubftance, it gradually alfo changes the greenith hue which it had before, for a gold colour, and all the parts lofe their motion ; till at laft this Chryfalis, or pro- perly the Butterfly, which has lain its time under the form of this Chryfalis, cafting off ‘#3 hardened skin, breaks forth in the very fhape in which it lay hid under it, without having faffered any change during its confinement, unlefs. this, that its tender parts, which were fluid like water, and immoveable, through an excefs of humidity, have with time acquired frmnefs and ftrength; juft as it happens in the Nymphs already defcribed. When the Chryfalis has caft off its skin, the wings vifibly expand to their true dimenfions in a moft furprifing manner; and the legs and other. limbs unfold themfelves, and affume the dire@tion and form we fee in the But- terfly f. This expanfion of the wings being very fadden, and therefore difficult to be jufily ob- ferved, or underftood as it deferves, unlefs by perfons accuftomed to experiments of this kind ; it is no wonder that the moft happy geniufes, the immortal Harvey, for example, and num- berlefs others, fhould have fallen into an error on the octafion, affirming that this metamor- phofis is not external, or occafioned by any growth in the wings of the Chryfalis ; but that itis altogether internal, not only in regard to the wings, but to all the other limbs; in- fomuch that Harvey takes upon him to fay, that the Chryfalis affumes a new form in every refpect, and therefore calls it a perfect egg. The truth is, this fuppofed transformation does not take place either internally or externally in the Chryfalis; this is proved by the moft care- ful experiments, with which his doétrine totally difagrees. Nor does he fucceed better in ex- plaining, than he had, in imagining this me- tamorphofis, which by his denying any growth of the parts, and fubflituting an imagination of his own, becomes utterly incomprehenfible. Thefe remarks are to be confidered here as occafionally introduced; for as we intend to defcribe in our felect experiments, the manner in which thefe wings and the other limbs grow, and to demonttrate alfo what changes happen from day to day in the egg and Chry- falis of the infeét, both of which we have found to be of the fame nature, till the Cater- pillar iffues from the former, and the Butterfly from the latter, we fhall at prefent enter no further on this fubject. + Obf. Hift. Bomb. L. I. Cap. 21. { The time in which a Butterfly remains in the Chryfalis flate, is not limited by nature to any particular period, but d d > epends on external accidents. Reaumur fancied that he could kéep the Chryfalis entire many months beyond the ufual time of the difclo 1 - fare of the infeét, and thus add to thelength of the creature’s life, though in a condition wherein it had little enjoyment e ent, Let The Let any one attentively confider thefe ac- cidental differences, by which the Nymphs of infects differ amongft themfelves; the Chry- falis from its Butterfly, and the other Nymphs from their refpective infects heretofore men- tioned; as alfo, thofe qualities by which the Nymphs agree both with their animalcules, and amongtft themfelves ; and he will plainly per- ceive, that the Nymph and Chryfalis do not differ in the Jeaft in this nature, or as to the interior conftitution of their parts, fince both diftinétly and exactly reprefent the form of the infeé&t, which is to be expected from them. We allow this reprefentation to be more dif- tint and obfervable in the Nymph, than in the Chryfalis; but even this depends in a great meafure upon the good fight and dexterity of the obferver. An indefatigable examiner muft at laft reach the deepeft myfteries of this {cience ; and thus an afliduous application has rendered it familiar to me to exhibit, in every fpecies of “Chryfalis, all the parts of the fucceeding infect, But, left any oppofer fhould take it into his thoughts to object with the great Harvey, that there is in this cafe a perfect egg, which time may transform, and to which it may give limbs, we can an{wer, that we can perform this operation equally at different times, in the very inftant of the’change, or in the beginning, as eafily as in the middle and end of it; and even.on the very Worm, before it becomes a Chryfalis. There is no kind of Chryfalis, (however ftrange, unnatural and ludicrous the the figures may be, which Goedaert and others have found out for them, in the wild fallies of their imaginations) in which we are not able to demonftrate all the parts of the future infe&t ; and this as evidently, as in the true Nymph. It appears therefore to be beyond all doubt, that the Chryfalis differs from the Nymph only in colour, and the difpofition of its parts, or, as the philofophers term it, per accidens. But it will be asked, perhaps, how it happens that limbs fhould be more confpicuous in the Nymph, which is evidently the very infect itfelf, than in the Chryfalis, though equally worthy of that name? and why, in the latter, the parts are not fo faftened, as it were, to each other, as in the former. It may be demanded alfo, for what reafon the skins caft by the Nymph fhould be much thinner, than thofe thrown off by the Chryfallides, which part with theirs in the fame manner that the chicken leaves the fhell of its egg. To all this I can only anfwer, that thefe things are hardly, ifat all explicable ; the nature of them depending en- tirely on the pleafure of their Creator 5 and the reafons of this variation being hidden in his im- penetrable wifdom, whofe providence has be- ftowed on his animal produttions as great a variety of cloathing, as it has pleafed him to form diftinét fpecies of fuch beings. It appears therefore that in thefe and other as true re- HA3& TORY f FNS ECTS. - fearches,. we fhould endeavour, by all means, to explain difficulties by reafons drawn from the nature of things themfelves, not from the fcanty ftorehoufe of our imaginations. Ocher- wife, by deviating though ever fo little from that rule and order, which is firmly eftablifhed throughout the whole creation by the all- wife, and powerful author of it, it is impoffible we fhould not go aftray at every ftep, and lofe ourfelves at laft in the wrong paths, directed by our own feeble and imperfect reafon. As the foregoing queftions deferve great at- tention, I fhall propofe that folution of them, which nature herfelf feems to authorize and fupport. We may obferve, that the Nymph of Ants, Flies, and Bees have a much {flenderer body than the Chryfalis before fpoken of; and from this it appears reafonable to fuppofe, they fhould havea much tenderer skin. The Nymphs, befides this, are always confined to moift places, where their exterior covering cannot readily harden: do not the Nymphs of Ants lie hid under the earth? and thote of Flies in putrid flefh, the excrements of animals, and other moift places. As for the Nymphs of Bees, they are always found furrounded with mot- ture, inclofed in wax, and covered befides, like Silkworms, with a thin membrane: be- fides this the Nymphs of Bees, at the time when they enter upon their period of change, have all their. parts fo exceflively moift, that fometimes they weigh twice as much as the Bees that are produced from them. It is obfervable, indeed furprifin; the humours conftituting this moifture muft be diffipated by infenfible perfpiration, before the milky limbs of the infect can move them- felves in the leaft; .and all this while the crea- ture difcharges no excrement. This Ariftotle has remarked in exprefs words *. On the other hand, the Chryfallides of diur- nal Butterflies (I {peak here in general, and do not confine myfelf to one kind of Chryfalis) go through their changes in the open air, with > the greateft part of their bodies deftitute of any webb to protect them again{t the inclemencies of the weather; for this reafon their outer fkin will naturally grow hard, and therefore may be caft off, as has been already taken notice of, without being liable to fhrink up, C any thing of its original form. Befides, the fkin of the Horned Beetle, Tab. XXVIII. fig. VI, VII, vilt,-which is likewife found un- der the earth, is fo very fine, that in point of thicknefs it is greatly exceeded by the coat of the common Chryfalis. If any one fhould afk, if it is for the fame reafon that the Chryfalis itfelf grows hard, and the Nymph continues in its former ftate of of foftnefs? and why, on the one hand; the Nymph is covered with a thin fkin, and its limbs adhere but little to each other; where- as, on the other hand, the Chryfalis is fur- rounded by a kind of hard fhell, and all its * Hitt, Anim. Lib, V. Cap. 19. 8 Th BOOK of NATURE; o; parts are in @ manner faftened together, fo as to form one fubftance? I muft acknowledge, that I cannot fatisfy his curiofity. For as the Nymphs of Bees, when expofed to the open air, die as foon as it begins to harden their fkin ; and on the contrary, the Chryfallides fare no better when confined to a moift fituation I cannot be brought to think, that things, which are produced by nature every year, 1 a moft wife, regular, and conftant manner, fhould be left fo dependant upon chance, and the (tate of the air and weather: I willingly grant, however, that it is moifture alone which hin- ders the Nymphs from growing hard, and that the Chryfallides cannot but harden in an open, airy, and dry fituation. But if, after all, we confider, that the fkin in which the Chry- falis is wrapped up, is not throughout of the fame ftrength, but thicker in thofe parts which are expofed to the air, than in thofe which are out of the reach of its influence, as ferving only to cover the inner furfaces of its mem- bers ; whereas it is the reverfe in the Nymphs, whofe covering is throughout nearly of the fame thicknefs, and therefore lefs able to pro- teét the enclofed infect from the drying qua- lity of the air; thefe things, I fay, being duly confidered, I cannot by any means allow, that the prefervation of moifture, of the hardening of the Nymphs and Chryfallides, juft taken no- tice of, depend at all upon chance ; unlefs [ fhould be fatisfied to give up my reafon fo far as to imagine, that the very being of thefe little animals depends upon chance likewife 5 _ and that they {pring {pontaneoufly from corrup- tion; and in this blind manner wilfully doubt of nature’s great attention and wifdom, fo con- fpicuous in her manner of preferving and cloathing this part of the creation. I conclude, from all this, that there is no effential diffe- rence between the Nymph and the Chryfalis ; and that the variation w ich appears, confifts only in this, that the fkin of the former is more thin and tender, and that of the latter thicker and harder; to which I may add, that in the Nymph all the parts of the future in- feé& may be eafily feen, whereas in the Chry- falis they are lefs diftin@. That thefe are the principal differences, will appear evidently hereafter, when I treat thofe fubjects feparately, and in a more ample manner. The manner in which Worms and Caterpillars become Nymphs. EF AVING laid down the fole founda- tion of all thofe changes which are ob- fervable in infeéts, and fhewn that this con- fifts in nothing but the Nymph, into which, at their proper feafons, all the Worms of flying infects and Caterpillars are changed, or, to fpeak more properly, from which they fhoot out or bud; a change which appears in all, ex- cept fuch infects as remain in their eggs, till, without pafling through any intermediate ftate, they have acquired their full vigour, and at- tained their proper degree of perfection ; to which may be added, thofe infects alfo, which, hiding the real fhape of the Nymph under the refemblance of an egg, iffue from it complete animals, as fhall be hereafter explained. Thefe things being proved, it appears neceffary that, before we pafs to the other propofitions, we fhould enter upon and explain the manner in which this change is produced, illuftrating it with the figures of thofe infects that are the fubjects of it. But as in the forms of thofe infects which fhoot out or bud into Nymphs, there is not only an amazing, but in a manner an infinite variety ; and confequently it would be imprac- ticable here to defcribe them all; I fhall par- ticularize only thofe, which differ moft remar- kably from each other, and confider them as they have, ‘or have not legs. We obferve, that of thofe infects which be- come Nymphs or Chryfallides, fome have no legs, Tab. XVI. fig. 11. fome have fix, Tab. XXVII. fig. v. and others a greater number, Tab. XXXIV. fig. 11. and Tab. XLIV. fig. 111. And as this difference between the various {pecies of infeéts is particularly remarkable, if we compare them together; fo there occurs a no lefs obvious difference on account of the various number of legs in thofe we have ranked under the third fpecies, viz. that of infeéts which have more than fix: but in thefe many feeted infects, the fix foremoft deferve our chief attention, as does in the infects that have no legs, that part of their body, which in other animals is called the cheft. That it may appear upon what grounds we have adopted this method of claffing infects, according to their having or not having legs, and according to their having fix or more, it will be very proper to obferve, that in thofe Worms which have no legs, that part of them, which we have called their cheft, never un- dergoes any change, or alters its fituation ; and that in the Worms and Caterpillars which have legs, be the number more or lefs, the fix foremoft never come off, or change their places in any fenfible manner ; Goedaert, in direct op- pofition to truth, would have us believe they do, but experiments fhew the contrary. In moft Worms and Caterpillars, not to fay in all, the fix foremoft legs are conftantly preferved by the infect, and that without the leaft change in their pofition : and what is yet more fur- prifing, in feveral Worms which have fix legs, the alteration in their legs is fo {mall at the time that they fhoot out into Nymphs, Tab. XX. fig. v. that it cannot by any means be dif- tinguifhed or obferved, whatever metamorpho- fes the former naturalifts, without any excep- tion that I know of, have idly and extrava- gantly imagined on this occafion, As The 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 mott 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 inféts that have no legs. As we have tefolved in this work not to depend upon in- duétions 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 {peak 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 would afterwards of itfelf aflume, Tab. XXV. fig. v. Hence it is, that we can with little trouble produce the legs, wings, horns, and. other arts 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 {hewn 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 diftinétly in the original Caterpillar. We have fince dif- covered alfo a method of changing, at pleafure, the Caterpillar into a Chryfalis. To comprehend 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 fpeak 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- “© ting view of all thofe parts.” This change, which has been prepofteroufly called a tranf- formation, or metamorphofis, and by fome a death and refurreétion, is no more myfterious or furprifing, than what happens, when “ one a a Mi Sh. GQkyy of INSECTS. 9 « of the meaneft plants, defpifed and trodden under foot, gradually fwells on every fide ; «© and after producing a bud, by burfting the *€ little cafe containing it, prefents an elegant “© and beautiful flower.” P We might likewife compare, in this place, the fanguiferous animals with infeéts; as in refpeé&t 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 amonegft 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 confpiring 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 {peaking: 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 refurreétion 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 amongft 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 infeéts. His words are: ‘* Moreover, if D « animals sa st a a RR nad te See - = ete me anion 10 © animals are tranfmuted, why may not me- « tals be tranfmutable ?” To finith this inquiry, as it is much more eafy tocom prehend the change of the fix-le gged Worms, than that of the Worms without legs, of which we have hitherto been fpeaking ; 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, diftinct, and gradual manner with the correfponding parts of plants and flowers, fo as to agree more perfectly with fuch vegetation, and with the change fpoken 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 of NATURE; OF, which they are performed ; fubftituting all along, to a fimple but elegant {cene of wonders, the wild flights of their unnatural fancies. Hence it is, that the doGtrine 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 (o 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. sf IIT. Lhe manner in which the true knowledge of the Nymph, the real foundation of all the natural changes obfervable in infeéts, has been obfcured and corrupted , with an illufiration of the fubjeét, and an entire reftitution of tts original truth, [ AVING 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 contradiction, 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 infe@, by the power which fwells 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 oppofing and overturning falfhocd ? However, as Mouffet’s elaborate performance on this fubject, is in a manner univerfally read by thofe who fludy the nature and the changes of infects, and is not only founded on the ex- poner of the author himfelf, and of his ee forty authors of whi i So Ae a thors, ch the learned Aldrovan- * Tof. The, Lib. Il, C.-1. dus is one; and as the author follows fo feru- puloufly the rules laid down by Ariftotle, that he fcarce 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- feéts; 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 sr $5 performed by means of an Aurelia, the « Silkworm’s head becomes the Butterfly’s e 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- « selie.” 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 diftinc limb.” Now as all thefe notions are directly oppofite to the clear and diftinét obfervations we have made, and already delivered, it would be {pending 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, e 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. I. C. 36. the ne ee Th HIS TORY of DNS £9C-T's. the Chryfalis is not the ege of the Caterpillar: His words are: “* To conclude, what is there *« here in common between an ego and an Aurelia? The former has neither life nor motion, and. is difcharged from another animal ; the latter is not difcharoed | cc €¢ * oy any animal, but is only changed from one thing into another.” However, though Mouffet denies that the Aurelia is an ege, he has not courage enough ‘to call it an animal; he ‘con- fiders it only as a kind of medium, or mean condition, between two animals; or as a third being between the Caterpillar and the Butterfly ; faying; “ It appears neverthelefs by ** what I have already faid, that the Aurelia is not an egg; the truth.is, that it is to be called a kind of tranfmutation, and -not'a ge- neration of the Caterpillar into an Aurelia; and of the aurelia into a Butterfly.” But as this difficulty, contrived by his own ima- gination, has rendered utterly inexplicable what otherwile might, be ery eafily explained, he has recourfe, as is ufual.infuch cafes, to the immenfe power of the Creator, and after this concludes the fubject in the following words : << J well know how the Ariftotlians perplex * themfelves in this cafe with’ a wonderful transformation, and. at-laft are obliged’ to refer us to God’s indeterminate power.” But we leave to the wildnefs of their own genius; thofe learned men, who rathly affirm that the true notions of every thing that appear in, infects, as well as in other bodies, are to be found in the eminent writers of antiquity. Na- ture, that indulgent ‘parent, exhibits, all that relates to them, to us, every fummer, if the plaineft and fimpleft manner; nay, the gives us an opportunity of demonttrating thofe her pro- ceedings, and that in the moft fatisfactory manner, in the very depth of winter, by the help of the artificial heat of a ftove, or any like continuance. Let us rather take a fpecimen ot two of the unworthy manner, by which the genuine reprefentations of thefe changes, which are no more than the natural fhootings of the limbs, that at laft thereby come to make their appearance, have been confounded and ob- foured, even by men who have fpent their whole lives in refearches into the nature of animal generation in general; and have ap- plied themfelves more particularly to find outthe nature of thofe changes obfervable in infets. The firft I fhall mention, is that fecond De- mocritus, the celebrated Harvey, who, againit the current of the moft convincing experi- ments, boldly affirms with Ariftotle, that the Chryfalis (though it be indeed the very in- fect) is a perfect ezg, from which of courfe the infect may, by the help of transformation, be afterwards expected to {pring. Take his own words: * ** Such are likewife the feeds of “« many infects, (called worms by Ariftotle) *« which being at firft produced in an imperfect ** ftate, fearch out their food ; by which being * Lib. de Gen. Anim. Exerc, II. § Exerc. LXXII. de Hum. Primig. tc cc