§I.

Man was created with the intention to contemplate the things created by divine workmanship and to acknowledge its creator, while admiring creation. This was once said by the most learned Ray,Footnote ³⁰ which sharpened my attention to such a great extent, that I wished to examine nature with all my effort. For this natural obligation is very useful in all circumstances, and, through its huge variety of miracles, it is an exceptional delight without which there would be solitude everywhere. Therefore I have collected insects not unwillingly and in these very small animalcules,Footnote ³¹ I have seen the greatest miracles of the very powerful Creator who made nothing in vain and who created nothing without a purpose and use. Not long ago, when our Noble Lord, the President,Footnote ³² was busy examining the seeds of Ustilago,Footnote ³³ he showed me very clearly that these seeds are moving and racing about like fish,

p. 386

that they are indeed living animalcules, which afterwards become silent and immovable bodies (according to a law of nature unheard of until now and which surpasses the total understanding of man, so that many people would say that it could not possibly happen, unless they could see it with their eyes and touch it with their hands). This offered me, who was about to publish my first Academic work, the opportunity to reflect upon the exceptional advances of the natural sciences in the present age, through attention to very small natural objects, which the older generation did not regard as important and which are not seen by the general public, but these small things are no less worthy of observation, or admiration, or less necessary than are the larger things. At first, when we came into light,Footnote ³⁴ the biggest and largest animals offered themselves for study, and as a result of this everyone wanted to write his own natural history to describe Horses and Dogs, since these animals are among the first to become known to us. Unlearned people who undertook a journey to the Indies, in their diaries and itineraries, hardly fail to mention the very big Elephants, Rhinoceroses, Camels, Crocodiles, Whales, even tall Palms, Baobabs, Cucumber Trees, Cedars, etc.;Footnote ³⁵ but too seldom do they pay attention to very small Mosses, to Algae, Mites, Hydras, and similar things which deserve no less attention than the bigger animals. Therefore I have decided to rouse the interest of othersFootnote ³⁶ in the very small natural bodies which either the common people don't see or don't know that they exist, and I perceive these things just as an INVISIBLE WORLD in the visible one which includes only those small bodies that can be observed with armed eyes or through microscopes. And there will be two headings for this discussion:

1. I. About Better Known things, but recently discovered.

2. II. About More Obscure things, to be entrusted to the diligence of men in the future, as above all it is my wish to encourage them to apply their minds to it.

p. 387

§II.

MICROSCOPES, well known from ancient times until the present, have given us a way of closely examining the smallest bodies that are near to us, just as Telescopes provided Astronomers the opportunity of observing larger celestial bodies existing far away from us. Recently Microscopes have been improved and strengthened so that they can provide more illumination when used. And in this regard Lieberkühn,Footnote ³⁷ not to mention others, acquired immortal fame for himself with his lenses. In past years, Zoology has been investigated by Gesner, Aldrovandi, Willughby, Ray;Footnote ³⁸ botanical science has been studied by L'Obel, Dodoens, L'Ecluse, the Bauhin brothers, Tournefort, Ray and others,Footnote ³⁹ and you would think that, at least in Europe, numerous things in the natural sciences have been discovered and pondered. But this Age has presented us with almost double the amount of miracles of nature than the previous one had seen, because it will be accessible to him who reads about the plants of Plumier, Browne, Jacquin, Burman, Rheede, Rumpf and others;Footnote ⁴⁰ the birds of Edwards and Brisson;Footnote ⁴¹ the insects of Réaumur, Rosenhoff;Footnote ⁴² the shellfish of Rumpf, Bonannus, Lister, d'Argenville Footnote ⁴³ and the sea fir of Ellis,Footnote ⁴⁴ not to mention the rest. The Museum of nature stood before me like a palace, having by far the most vaults filled with the Creator's astonishing works of art and miracles, in which individual genera have their own place. The first entrance to the biggest amphitheatres of Nature is accessible to anyone, but the smaller ones are often closed. Skill is necessary to open little by little the door of a specific chamber where a new, as it were, inner world presents itself to the eyes. After the doors of flower- and fruit-bearing plants were opened by Gesner, the Thread of AriadneFootnote ⁴⁵ for the whole field of BOTANY was found to be beyond expectation. He who first flung open the door of the chamber of ELECTRICITY through rubbing amber, did not at all think that a whole science, now a delight to all curious people, was locked inside such a room. No one would have believed that a few strange monstrous flowersFootnote ⁴⁶ could unlock the chamber

p. 388

of the PROLEPSIS of plants,Footnote ⁴⁷ which created a large benefit to posterity, or that the Aconitum would open the chamber to the BREAD OF EUROPE.Footnote ⁴⁸ However, Microscopes offered a special key to open up the bolts of the Palace which had been closed through all the ages. MOSSES had indeed been investigated by the Englishman, Ray, and his contemporaries, but they weren't studied sufficiently, until Dillen Footnote ⁴⁹ intentionally undertook to collect, to reveal, to describe, to delineate and to name the Mosses and Lichens, and he alone produced a large array of more than 600 species. But not all of them can be perceived and defined with the naked eye; therefore, microscopes were absolutely necessary for both their description as well as their illustration. With the microscopes they now at last were brought into the open, so that they could be easily and thoroughly examined and their uses could become evident in the art of Dyeing, Medicine, with regard to Food, Bedding,Footnote ⁵⁰ Buildings, Horticulture, and recently especially in the Economy of Nature,Footnote ⁵¹ such that a region would be very unfortunate to be robbed of Mosses. Nowadays, no wise man would dare to say that those who collect mosses and fliesFootnote ⁵² accomplish nothing and are wasting their valuable time, in that they contemplate the wonderful works of the Creator and teach us how to turn them to appropriate use.

§III.

TrembleyFootnote ⁵³ saw with a microscope an animalcule in the water, resembling a mucous spot, which would be impossible to see with the naked eye; he observed that it extends its tentacles to collect food with them; he saw that these tentacles, after they had been removed with the help of small scissors, grew back; and that this little body itself, when cut apart with scissors, formed two animalcules. This simple experiment in 1739 opened the door of the chamber of POLYPS,Footnote ⁵⁴ which delighted attentive and interested people with the greatest miracles. While this created much work for the immortal Réaumur, the pride of France, soon after it was discovered, the illustrious botanist Bernh. Jussieu set out for the coast of Normandy and

p. 389

the brilliant Guettard to the coast of Scotland for this reason.Footnote ⁵⁵ Baker, Ellis, Baster, Roesel, Ledermüller, Schaeffer Footnote ⁵⁶ and many others found here a wide open field to which to apply their attention and diligence with microscopes. Many Hydrae, VorticellaeFootnote ⁵⁷ and other kinds of worms,Footnote ⁵⁸ which had not been known to anyone before, were discovered. These were found here in almost all water, either invisible to the naked eye or like very small mucoid spots, but with microscopes they were observed to be more often complex animalcules, equipped with branches in the manner of plants, where the single spots represent complete animals. It was observed that they could be split up so that from each simple animal or branch, more animals could be formed and that when a tentacle is removed with a pair of scissors another complete body is immediately formed, so that the separated little arm would grow again into a whole Animal. It seemed that these bodies were enlarged by branches or gemmae,Footnote ⁵⁹ in the manner of vegetables, and even if divided they fused, so that the half of a dissected body, joined with another one, would grow together into a whole animalcule. One single opening was found in these simple bodies, which simultaneously fulfilled the role of mouth and anus, in such a way that they would return things which had been swallowed and were often bigger than themselves, after the juice had first been extracted, from the same opening through which they had been taken in. But that surpasses all ideas of Physiology, because if a Polyp is twisted and inverted inside out, it nevertheless lives and is nourished as before; not to mention that these animalcules dry out in the streams when the water dries up during summertime, and then die but revive again when the rainwater flows in, and they regain their former vitality, just like Mosses which dry out during summer, like dust, but regain activity in autumn and winter. Who would believe it, unless he had seen it? In the meanwhile, this matter is indeed so certain that if someone doubts it, he could himself see all these things through microscopes. I refrain from mentioning Noctilucae marinae, Nereids so small

p. 390

that they escape being seen, but nevertheless are so plentiful that they illuminate the whole ocean at night and make it possible for ships to sail at night as if under the brightest fire; and these animals would perhaps have been unknown to this day if Vianellio had not discovered those microscopes.Footnote ⁶⁰ Yes indeed, Volvox and Proteus, with their wonderful characteristics, would still have been concealed without the help of microscopes.

§IV.

Previous authors used to consider the CORALS as a kind of rock, and because they resembled lime, they believed that they came into being in the manner of Diana's tree,Footnote ⁶¹ until Colleague Marsigli started to examine Corals from the Mediterranean Sea.Footnote ⁶² These were (it seemed to him) living flowers, furnished with eight petals, eight stamens and one pistil, but so transitory, that they immediately contracted when lifted into the air, but unfolded again once dipped in water. The enquiring man had no choice but to relate these Corals, thus described and outlined, to the plants of the world, and indeed when Peyssonnel,Footnote ⁶³ a Doctor from Marseilles, told Réaumur in the following year that corallia were formed by animals, he could not persuade anyone of such a strange matter and perhaps the miracle would still have remained hidden, if Trembley had not opened up the entrance through the discovery of Polyps.Footnote ⁶⁴ While everyone was studying Polyps, that very sharp, inquisitive and truly immortal John Ellis Footnote ⁶⁵ began to examine mosses on the sea floor with microscopes, in the same way that DillenFootnote ⁶⁶ had examined his terrestrial mosses, and to describe and delineate them in an incomparable work about Corals. He saw that these showed an animal at the individual protrusions,Footnote ⁶⁷ similar to an attached flower which is spread out in the form of a Polyp, seizing impure particles from the water with its tentacles and moving them to its mouth; he saw that it contracted when touched, but when left alone, it expanded and moved as before; furthermore when this flower withered,

p. 391

it finally swelled up into a little capsule, which eventually opened up and dispersed its seeds. Indeed, he who contemplates these things has no choice but to be struck with amazement at the wonderful works of the Greatest Creator. If a thing of that kind had been produced in an organism of larger size and on nearby land, no one, in my opinion, would have been so uninterested that he would not have undertaken long journeys, and at great speed, in order to go and look at this phenomenon. Could you imagine, interested Reader, a tree, which instead of leaves, had flowers or gemmae, and from each of the gemmae a small head of a bird or of some other animal was clinging to a neck which could be extended or drawn in? And imagine that these individual heads are in continuous action chasing insects with their beaks and acquiring food for themselves in this way. Who would not regard it worthwhile to turn his eyes to examine these things? Who could be so foolish that he could disregard these things with contempt? But of such a nature are not only all the ZOOPHYTAFootnote ⁶⁸ which grow like forests on the seafloor; of such a nature are also the Soft Corals, Sea Fans, Tubulariae, Leafy Bryozoans, Corals, Bryozoans and others like them.Footnote ⁶⁹ And so, when they who had examined the Polyps so accurately saw the polyp-formed flowers, it was indeed very difficult to perceive that not only were Polyps Animals produced by Corals, but also that Polyps were able to establish a body so regularly, such as can be seen in the Venus Sea Fan, the branched Alcyonium, Isis Hippuris and others.Footnote ⁷⁰ Therefore, it was enough for them to believe that these animated flowers or Polypi were invaders, clinging to Zoophytes so that they could feed on them, just like the larvae of insects on their plants. But this opened the circumstances for a more troublesome controversy, especially discussed between two very diligent men, Ellis and Baster,Footnote ⁷¹ until my Lord President settled the matter in Systema Naturae 10th edition, that indeed these were Zoophytes, that the plant was vegetable but the flower animate,Footnote ⁷² as a result of which the concept of Zoophytes

p. 392

also became clearer.* {*Footnote in the original text: But as far as I know, the Illustrious Linnaeus firstly and rather boldly presented this theory about most Zoophytes in his tenth edition of the Systema Naturae. Influenced by the expressed publications of Linnaeus, the very bright Baster, who until this time had stood in opposition to Ellis and the other advocates of the earlier opinion, gave in to the evidence of the other side and with the most glorious example, he rejected his earlier opinion and started to zealously defend the true Theory.Footnote ⁷³ Pallas Zoophyt. 20.} But he who wants to understand this, has to form for himself the idea of composite animals from the Tapeworm,Footnote ⁷⁴ which is a worm of very many segments each of which has all the requirements of life, with a medullary origin,Footnote ⁷⁵ digestive system,Footnote ⁷⁶ mouth, etc., in such a way that, if singular segments are torn off, any part would nevertheless constitute its own organism, just as the individual segments will produce individual plants if you cut off the root of Triticum repens.Footnote ⁷⁷ The Creator has placed the marrow, the seat of life in most of the other animals, inside a bony crust which cannot be extended further once it has hardened into solid bone, but in the case of Worms, where there is no obstacle to the marrow, it multiplies itself into more animals, and the same in the case of plants, where any branch becomes a new plant, or vegetable life which can also be separated and bring forth roots when entrusted to the earth, be grafted onto other trees and be propagated. Here I shall give a word of caution that those people who seemed to have observed the Head at the thicker end of the Tapeworm have made a mistake since anyone could scarcely find a head in any small worm; much less will a head be able to exist on the thinner end, which grows every day with new articulations.Footnote ⁷⁸ CORALS are especially related to Zoophytes, and the boundaries between them are no less than between the other kingdoms of nature, but in the smallest things that are very difficult to find; and in order to establish these boundaries, Mushroom Corals should be taken into account.Footnote ⁷⁹ It is an animalcule, produced out of its own egg, and if I'm not mistaken, an annual one; it lays a coralline basis under itself and when it dies, it leaves the corallium behind.Footnote ⁸⁰

p. 393

So it is an animal that builds under itself, just as a shellfish builds outside itself, and it cannot be said that the coralline stem is animate in Zoophytes, no more than a shell of Shellfish grows out into the animal that it encloses. If the animal of the Mushroom Corals is indeed compound and sends out branches like a Hydra, then every branch of the animalcule builds its own base, such that the Mushroom Corals become compound. The same applies to the Fire Corals Footnote ⁸¹ which therefore should not at all be confused with zoophytes. I refrain from mentioning the very small NAUTILUS of the Mediterranean Sea, from the coast of Ariminum, like Calcar, crispus, Beccarii, rugosus, umbilicatus, obliquus, Raphanus, Granum, Radicula, Fascia, Sipunculus, Legumen, which were collected by Beccarius, Plancus and others, which are smaller than Sand and hid themselves from the eyes of men until our times.Footnote ⁸²

§V.

Many things should still be said about the world hidden from the eyes of ordinary people if I would bring myself to contemplate INSECTS which common people greatly despise including older people from whom you would expect better, who think of them as children's playthings and magic tricks, even though they are the works of the very wise Creator who clearly created nothing without purpose. We have seen in our time, after attention was given to these animalcules, that through them an equilibrium is kept in the plant and animal kingdom of nature, in such a way that not any one of these things could just be eliminated without removing the effects of Nature's Police.Footnote ⁸³ For these organisms, more than the very big animals, operate with their huge number compensating for their size, not to mention their wonderful economy, in transformation and other properties. Bees, Silkworms, Ants and Aphids all have exercised the diligence of very clever men. Then, with their eyes now open and the diligence of more people aroused, fifty times more insects have been discovered during our age than in the whole period before us. But microscopes were marvellously useful in this regard

p. 394

without which Aphis, Chermes, Coccus, Thrips, Podura, Acarus, etc.Footnote ⁸⁴ could never have been so accurately examined. My Lord the President has a Phalaena occultella Footnote ⁸⁵ moth so small that it could scarcely equal the extreme top of a hair,Footnote ⁸⁶ and no one without a microscope would believe that it is a Phalaena, unless it moves. We observe the smallest flowers in the plant kingdom and their STAMENS and PISTILS, which are in very many instances so minute, that they escape the sharpest vision, using armed eyes.Footnote ⁸⁷ These optical instruments have shown to us the FORM OF THE POLLEN of the anthers, which just like the form of Seeds, differs infinitely, and not so long ago the very interested Guettard examined the covering of plants with his eyes artificially improved and he saw that the simple surface of the plants was so skilfully formed into diverse kinds that it seemed as if complete forests with particular forms were depicted on single leaves.

§I

The inclination of a Magnet towards the Boreal and arctic Pole, a trifling thing indeed, opens the way for man to both Indies. That rubbed Amber or sealing Wax attracts small pieces of paper has taught man to draw down thunder from the clouds. The Polyp cut with scissorsFootnote ⁸⁸ has shown the way to the knowledge of composite animals and Zoophytes. The chain of nature comes and returns in a circle, and each link leads to another; therefore, one truth laid open by experiments brings about a long series of consequences and affinities. One unclosed door of nature, which was not accessible to anyone up to this point, has shown the greatest number of prodigies. The immortal Baron OTTO MUNCHHAUSENFootnote ⁸⁹ has truly opened such an entrance for us. Up to now, many stationed at the door with us, with hairs standing on end and with astonished mind, have wished to pry into so many hidden treasures in this chamber: but no

p. 395

one as far as I know, has dared to enter; but nevertheless this discovery, more accurately pondered, will give much light and illumination to the curious.

§II.

There are several authors called MICROGRAPHERS who, with the best microscopes as with a lamp, have been busy penetrating into the dark corners of nature. Such were e.g. Joblot, Hofer, Hooke, Leeuwenhoek, Grindell, Cuno, Adams, Baker, Needham, Walker, Hill, Roesel, Ledermüller, Schaefer, etc.Footnote ⁹⁰ Many of these, with the aid of microscopes, examined various liquors, such as wine, vinegar, infusions of pepper and of other things, and there they observed diverse bodies, swimming with a varying motion to and fro, but they did not observe whether they were true Animalcula infusoria of that kind with living bodies furnished with organs, or whether something else salty, oily etc., and they indeed did not dare to insert them into the system of animals.

§III.

Just as the older scholastic sciences have waned especially in our age, so the practical sciences, such as Astronomy, Natural Science, Mechanics, Medicine, Chemistry, and the Manual arts, have been cultivated with greater zeal*. {*Footnote in the original text: See the Illustrious Suhm's ‘The Character of the Present Age’, in Acta Societatis Nidrosiensis, Volume 3. } Never has Economic science been propounded more solidly, in my opinion, than in the book which was anonymously produced under the name Der Hausvater, and which again appeared in two volumes in an octavo edition in Hannover in 1766.Footnote ⁹¹ The inestimable author of the work is the above-lauded Freiherr Baron Otto Münchhausen, Provincial Governor and coming from the Noblest families of Hannover. This highly distinguished Man wrote to Our Lord President a decade before, that he had found that Ustilago Hordei Footnote ⁹² consisted of living animalcules. Now at last, in the work named above, he states that

p. 396

not only is the black flour in ustilago of Barley and Wheat mere eggs; but also that the similar flour in Puff Balls, Mushrooms & other Fungi, that the dust itself of Mucor Footnote ⁹³ is indeed nothing other than the seeds of fungi; but that these seeds, when put in tepid water for some days, germinate into real little worms, clearly visible with microscopes, and at length weave a small web, to which they stick firmly and grow into the Fungi to which they owe their origin. From there the question arises whether Fungi ought to be categorized as vegetables or indeed as animals? Or even whether a new kingdom of nature ought to be formed, which might be called neutral or chaotic.Footnote ⁹⁴ Should the Polypi be included here? Should living Molecules, called animalia infusoria, be included here? And this closely resembles fermentation or rotting itself. Let us transcribe the very words of the most Illustrious Author and afterwards admire the discovery itself with which the chamber, about to reveal the greatest miracles of nature, is opened to the expert priests.Footnote ⁹⁵ We indeed regard this discovery as so great that if no other monuments of this highly distinguished Man existed, this alone would still furnish immortal glory to this most illustrious author. The words of the Author are:

Footnote ⁹⁶ USTILAGO is often so abundant that it occupies a third or quarter part of the land and that all the grains are filled with a black powder instead of white flour. A more accurate examination through the microscope and experiments carried out more than one hundred times, taught me that this powder consists of nothing but small, transparent globules with small black spots inside, which are the eggs of infinitely minute insects, or rather of little worms. When these eggs are placed in a humid place and at a warm temperature, an egg-shaped animalcule, which ruptures at the extremity and leaves a big quantity of eggs behind, comes out or is pushed out.

When Wheat is threshed, most grains infected with ustilago are crushed and the eggs cling

p. 397

to the bearded top of the wheat grain and so when sown, they are planted with the wheat itself.Footnote ⁹⁷ The animalcules which are driven out slowly move up the shoots;Footnote ⁹⁸ they grow with the grain stalks using the nourishment of the grain seeds planted in the soil. They consume the marrow which is still humid and finally leave eggs behind.

Therefore in order to take precautions against ustilago, it is best if the Wheat is sown when not infected by small eggs of that kind. For when there are no eggs, the animalcules can neither live nor multiply there.Footnote ⁹⁹ But if you cannot get hold of clean Wheat, the eggs, which are there, should at least be destroyed and should be rendered unsuitable for reproduction. If powder of this kind, which has already lasted for a year, is examined, dried out little balls can be seen inside, and so no reproduction should henceforth be feared and no other remedy is needed provided that the Wheat was dried properly and kept safe from humidity. But if the wheat needs to be planted soon, there is nothing more efficient against these animalcules, than ordinary brine, dissolved in water, by which they are immediately destroyed. Therefore grain should be moistened with lye prepared from limestone and brine. Through this method I have not seen ustilago in my wheat after twenty years, even though sometimes a third of the harvest of my neighbours was destroyed by this pest. Because I am prescribing only a basic and very simple remedy against ustilago, this will not meet the approval of most economies. Vol. 2. p. 329 where more things can be read on this matter.

Footnote ¹⁰⁰ When fungi become old and especially Puff Balls and all mucor, they shed a blackish dust. If we examine this with good microscopes, little semi-transparent balls are found, full of little black dots on the inside and not different from the structure of a younger polyp. I have immersed this dust into water and placed it in a quite warm place, where the little balls immediately swelled and changed into moving egg-shaped little animalcules. These animalcules move swiftly around here and there in the water; on the second day it is observed that

p. 398

masses of a harder texture or fungi form. When the fungi begin to grow, at first veins, which are turning white, appear, which are commonly regarded as their roots: but in truth they are nothing other than channels in which the polyps move, which a little later build a big structure. If we would examine the inner substance of the fungi, especially of the dried out and prepared fomes,Footnote ¹⁰¹ it appears that it only consists of the finest texture of very small elements clotted together and of complicated small channels, which were the openings of the polyps while they were alive. Space prevents us from lingering longer on these things. For me it seems indeed certain that all Corallia, Fungi, Mucores, Lichenes, Ustilagines, yes indeed almost every Fermentatio (S. 634.)Footnote ¹⁰² might have their origin from polypiform creatures, which I do not yet recognize as declared animals, but which will nevertheless give me the opportunity to consider the matter further. Munckh.Footnote ¹⁰³

Servetus, Aquapendens and CaesalpinusFootnote ¹⁰⁴ looked closely at the circulation of blood; Harvey,Footnote ¹⁰⁵ however, who exposed this same matter to the public light, took the honour. Leeuwenhoek saw the Polypi thirty years before Trembley did, but the glory of the discovery deservedly fell to the latter who brought the nature of these same things to light. Already for a long time, very many people have seen animalia infusoria; however nobody succeeded in unravelling the mystery itself before Baron von Münchhausen.

§IV

USTILAGO in Triticum, Hordeum, Scorzonera, Tragopogon pratensis and in some others, often shows a black powder with the seed matter destroyed instead of bearing fruit.Footnote ¹⁰⁶ The farmer knows that when the corn ears of this kind are crushed through threshing, the uncorrupted grain are infected by this black pollen, which then when planted, produce nothing but ears with ustilago, which increase until a great part of the corn is corrupted. Therefore the corn, destined for sowing is washed to remove the black dust,

p. 399

or even replaced with cleaner corn obtained from elsewhere. Truly this is contagion in the plant kingdom. The Author asserts that, after this dustFootnote ¹⁰⁷ is immersed into water and exposed to summer heat for a few days, real animalcules are driven from the eggs. We have seen this experiment repeated by our Lord the president when I saw with the microscope of CuffFootnote ¹⁰⁸ many thousands of these things (otherwise invisible to the naked eye). These animalcules looked white in glass-green water, oblong, fairly blunt more to the front, swimming like playing fish, sometimes leaping; it looked as if they give way to one another, but mostly gather together in a swarm*. {* Footnote in the original text: These little worms are very similar to the vermiculi infusorii, so that I first doubted whether they were of a different species until they grew into fungi, or even mere infusorii multiplicati, since I could not continue the experiment. } After a period of a few days, it seemed as if some were beginning to build a web at the bottom, to the anterior part of which, if I have observed correctly, they were clinging, with the rest gradually approaching to be attached to the web in a similar way, like mucor. We could not clearly see how the small worms were producing movement here; for there was no forward movement with the help of a tail like a fish, and there was no snake-like movement as in the case of Muraenae and GordiiFootnote ¹⁰⁹ and they were not propelled by an intestinal movement like the larvae of flies. However, I presumeFootnote ¹¹⁰ that there are some organs of movement under the anterior part. I could not observe any feet, but it is not a wonder, since Volvox,Footnote ¹¹¹ one hundred times bigger, is observed to be rotating very fast in water, with however no organs of movement visible, unless it can be concluded from the related Beroe,Footnote ¹¹² which, being one hundred times bigger than the Volvox rotator, moves with very short hairs, arranged in rows. These kinds of things would still have been obscured by much darkness if that most Famous Münchhausen had not made such good progress with his experiments, if he had not seen that after the black flour of the Lycoperdus Footnote ¹¹³ was taken and at once immersed in lukewarm water

p. 400

and changed into an animal form, that these animalcules changed again into fungi, that is, that they lost their voluntary movement and where there was enough humid nutriment, grew into bodies with the shape of a head,Footnote ¹¹⁴ and if he had not in this way showed us the chain leading us into the whole system of fungi. FUNGI certainly differ a lot from other plants and they have roots which are scarcely worthy of the name, since they only produce a meagre, irregular mass which only absorbs a little moisture from the damp earth. And they don't have leaves, and they don't have something similar to fruits and flowers, like mosses and ferns. Mushrooms have even dust between the lamellae, similar to the seeds of Puff Balls, which is brought to life at once in lukewarm water. Boletes Footnote ¹¹⁵ are similar in that they have something like flour in the pores. In the case of Peziza lentifera,Footnote ¹¹⁶ which generally lives on fences and produces big lentil-like seeds in small cups, a way could not be conceived how its heavy seeds could be transported from one place to another:Footnote ¹¹⁷ but this enigma could perhaps be solved through these affinities which had been uncovered and through its wonderful reproduction. Natural philosophers wondered why fungi grow mostly on their own and especially in autumn, but now the reason is clear: because the seeds of these fungi require humid and tepid conditions in order to drive out the eggs; during spring and summer time, this happens with greater difficulty as a result of the wind drying out the moisture; for then the rain is absorbed quickly by the earth and evaporates on the surface: but in autumn when the air is cooling off a little, the earth, although it retains some of the heat of summer, stays humid longer after the rains, and so it is more suitable to foster the seeds. And hence it even happens that the more humid autumns produce a bigger yield of fungi than the drier ones. The illustrious AuthorFootnote ¹¹⁸ even relates Mucor to this, as being very similar to fungi in its whole nature; it grows into a stalk, terminated by a small head or heads, which are ruptured or crack open into seminal dust, which is sown spontaneously and destroys the body to which it sticks.

p. 401

For we see that the smallest point of mucor multiplies itself on Lemon and consumes the whole Lemon in a short time.Footnote ¹¹⁹ And so, what should we think about the fungi of buildings, the Byssum Septicum and Mucor Septicus, commonly known as unctuous fungi which can reduce the hardest beams of timber to dust in a short time?Footnote ¹²⁰ This field will certainly be wide open to exercise talents through experiments, until all these things have been explored. Erysiphe,Footnote ¹²¹ which grow on plants, honeydew Footnote ¹²² as it is usually called, with which the leaves of Maple, Hops, Galeopsis, Lithospermum tinctorium, etc.Footnote ¹²³ are stained especially in a more humid place, is without doubt a result of the mentioned cause, and seems to descend with dew because it covers the upper sides of the leaves. Because of its incomprehensible subtlety, perhaps another day will teach us how it rises into the air or evaporates from the earth like other humors.

§V

This argument will also lead doctors to the cause of exanthematic Footnote ¹²⁴ and contagious fevers, which they earlier found had such a great analogy with living matter, to the extent that they are warded off or attracted by cold and heat, by perfumed and smelly things, sweet and bitter things, and yes also by mercurials. He who has considered that only one small part of ustilago flour is multiplied through all the ears of that same Wheat or Barley plantFootnote ¹²⁵ will find a considerable analogy. Many have examined the pustules of Smallpox to see whether they contain any living animalcule. But it was in vain. He who has seen that the small worms of ustilago driven out in tepid water are so small that they cannot be perceived even by the sharpest eyes, will acknowledge that more exact experiments are required here, and that the pus should be dissolved in tepid water and that it should then be examined by the best microscope. At least someone with an inquisitive nature, suffering from Syphilis or gonorrhoea, should have, through experiments, searched in his foul dripping seed to see whether and what kind of animalcules it contains.

p. 402

Earlier Leeuwenhoek had discovered seminal vermiculi in all fertile seed,Footnote ¹²⁶ an experiment which now needs to be carried out, as it were, by other eyes;Footnote ¹²⁷ he said that these Little Worms were absent or found dead in syphilis patients, something which is however doubtful;Footnote ¹²⁸ he affirms that these (worms) become people, or that it constitutes the keel of Malpighi in the conceived egg, but this issue has not yet been clarified.Footnote ¹²⁹ Nobody denies these seminal corpuscles are present in the seed; whether they are indeed vermiculi of the same character as vermiculi of fungi has to be decided through experiments. It cannot be doubted that the seminal animalcules are analogous to the pollen in the anthers of flowers.Footnote ¹³⁰ It is further evident that the pollen of the anthers does not enter the stigma or the style,Footnote ¹³¹ especially in the Mirabilis plants,Footnote ¹³² where the pollen is almost bigger than the style and remains on top of the stigma. We see in most cases that this pollen is destroyed by contact with the moisture of the genital stigma and that it sends out a pollen tube,Footnote ¹³³ which is absorbed by the style and descends to the seed. Needham saw with the aid of microscopes that this vestige or imperceptible minute substance contained inside the pollen was expelled from the rupture of the pollen, as if out of an embolus, and that it consisted as it were of the finest spirals. Lord TurraFootnote ¹³⁴ made further progress, discovering that the pollen tube is absorbed by the tubular pubis of the stigma. Time will show if these are analogous to the previously mentioned.

§VI

We have seen during summer, just as Reaumurius saw, that small, as it were ethereal little clouds stayed there, of one or two ell in width,Footnote ¹³⁵ hovering in the air, two or three ell above the ground, quite often between the tenth and eleventh hour, especially in the month of flowering when the sun is at its brightest, and it seemed as if we have seen particles out of which this cloud consists, moving like a swarm of bees. If these would be animalcules, as we suspect not without reason, then they certainly have a similar character with those mentioned earlier.

p. 403

Some regard delicate Anguillae,Footnote ¹³⁶ which are observed in vinegar through microscopes, as the larvae of an infinitely small fly: which will not find acceptance, if it is true what Ledermüller says, that when dissected with scissors, these (Anguillae) are found to be filled with living offspringFootnote ¹³⁷ which move about actively when exposed to moisture. Moreover, these themselves, which are present in almost all gluten,Footnote ¹³⁸ have the characteristic that if the gluten is dried out for a whole year, they come to life again when that same gluten is moistened; and it seems that it does not correspond to any larva of a fly, but rather leads to this new family.

§VII

CHAOS Proteus,Footnote ¹³⁹ which Roesel discovered and which consists of a mucous point, invisible to the naked eye, without a fixed form but changeable into all regular and irregular shapes, angles and branches at any moment,*{* Footnote in the original text: Roes. ins.3. t. 101. s. A.T. Ledermüll. micr. t. 88. s. 48 } will also belong to this invisible world. Among Wheat Seed, imperfect kernels are often found, almost similar to half a kernel; these kernels, though they have been dried out for several years, soon after water has been poured on them, send out a corculumFootnote ¹⁴⁰ resembling a little worm. I would not dare to say whether it has animated life or not, and this will be a very worthy object of study for interested people one day.

Footnote ¹⁴¹ ANIMALCULA INFUSORIA appear in all water, especially in stagnant water or water allowed to stand for some time. Various and quite numerous numbers of these are obtained when liquids are poured on the powder of pepper and other Indian spices, according to the most common practice of Micrographers.Footnote ¹⁴² But it is not really clear from where these Animalcules originate. Are they from the seeds of Mucor, disseminated into these spices, during their long preservation in closed and humid containers?

p. 404

Or were all these animalcula infusoria disseminated in ordinary water by the seed of Mucor, which fly around everywhere with the air, in the same way as in bread, meat and other food where Mucor flourishes every day?

These animals will truly one day bring the investigators of nature to the origin of the animate in animals, since it seems as if the first animated molecules are perceived here. Because Animalia Infusoria and their species have been studied more carefully now, infinite conclusions promise to be drawn about things which are still lying buried in the most dense darkness. From this we are led to consideration of the MEDULLARY substanceFootnote ¹⁴³ of plants, whether it may become animated like that of animals, although it doesn't have nerves and cannot show clear voluntary movement, being imprisoned inside a hard cortical layer. Meanwhile, the ORDER FUNGI now seems to be so distinct from the order of plants and the order of Zoophytes, that they are indeed at least on the border between the animal and plant kingdom, in such a way that no one could until now capture the whole sweep of natureFootnote ¹⁴⁴ to see to which of these kingdoms this province should be rightly attributed. For if seeds are changed into living animal foetuses, if these are later transformed into plant fungi, they can almost be thought of like the Progallica insects of ReaumuriusFootnote ¹⁴⁵ or the Coccus of the Ilex coccifera,Footnote ¹⁴⁶ which are in the first place insects, running briskly this way and that, but the female immediately after copulation attaches itself to the cortex with its beak, located on the chest; it lives immovable and only draws nourishment through the bark with its beak; it swells day by day to the size of a pea, similar to a red berry (on account of which it was regarded by the old writers as a real berry, from which it is called the Ilex baccifera);Footnote ¹⁴⁷ inside she is full of real little eggs, which are produced inside the mother and consume her totally. In a word: just as Zoophyta flourish from a plant into small little animals, so according to an opposite law of nature, if this origin of Fungi could be confirmed, Fungi grow from Animalcules into plants.Footnote ¹⁴⁸

p. 405

§VIII

There was a belief in Spontaneous Generation from ancient times, indeed in such a way, that it was thought that the smallest insects and larvae were generated out of decay and rottenness. For it could not be easily perceived how little worms could enter cheese or a dead body, just as Harvey could only with difficulty persuade those with sharper vision that every living thing comes from an egg, and the public even to this time are not adequately convinced by this idea. When the wondrous metamorphosis of insects was first observed – how the creeping, multi-footed, gluttonous fat caterpillar is turned into the active, fluttering, dainty butterfly – as different from its precursor as day is from night – this metamorphosis seemed more wondrous than Ovid's fictions. Once the metamorphosis of insects was understood, it was observed that the fructification and bloom of plants is nothing other than pure metamorphosis: the leaves of the artichoke are turned into the beautiful flower of the Echinopsis, Gundelia, or Morina;Footnote ¹⁴⁹ simple leaves into the loveliest Amaryllis, Gloriosa and Leonurus;Footnote ¹⁵⁰ so that it seemed as if the sanctuaries of nature themselves were being entered when uncovering this basic pattern, transformed by a kind of pre-determination.Footnote ¹⁵¹ When Gorgoniae, Sertulariae and other Zoophytes were first observed to have Polyps, nothing could be decided for certain, until they observed that these, just like plants, were changing into animals through metamorphosis, in the same way that plants changed into flowers. And this last discovery scarcely satisfied the admiration of interested people, before another act of nature was played out here, when, with the order inverted, the metamorphosis of animals into plants took place. If these things, therefore, as our most illustrious authorFootnote ¹⁵² believes, lead all the way to decay and fermentation, it should be granted that amazing things are happening in the meantime in very small living molecules. It will further be a labour of many years to investigate the living seeds of all fungi and the manner of their transformation, and also the laws of generation and vegetation. When we see that the seminal little worms of Fungi

p. 406

are so delicate, that there can be thousands of them in a drop of water and that they still cannot be observed with the eye, in water earlier thought to be clean and clear, we easily notice, that in mucor itself, where the whole plant is scarcely visible without a microscope, that the seed is proportionately infinitely smaller. And so the smallest animals are so delicate that they can scarcely be imagined.Footnote ¹⁵³ Therefore it is no wonder that these things which are a hundred times smaller than the smallest dust particle,Footnote ¹⁵⁴ which flit around in the rays of the sun, hover in the air and are carried wherever possible and disseminate themselves everywhere. When we also observe that fungi and mould are only growing in humid places, and that mould sticks to meat, bread and to all nutriments which are moist or exposed to humid air, it is clear that these only thrive in an undisturbed and humid place. A very little piece of fungus (Mucor septicus)Footnote ¹⁵⁵ grows so fast in buildings, that the growth could almost be noticed with the eyes, and it is wholly broken up into an infinitely copious seminal powder, from which it is easily concluded that no living thing is procreated and multiplied more abundantly than these very delicate animalcules; and it is therefore no wonder that they could be sown and be present everywhere. From this incredible septic power of Mould and Fungus, we see that their seminal animalculesFootnote ¹⁵⁶ wear away any humid things they meet, just as Termites Footnote ¹⁵⁷ in the Indies; for united, their forces work stronger.

From this we believe that infinitely many animals are not known to us, so that we could duly say with Sirach: We see only a few things of the divine works; many things bigger or smaller than these remain hidden.Footnote ¹⁵⁸ And so we must certainly speculate and investigate whether diseases, for example intermittent and exacerbating fevers, etc.,Footnote ¹⁵⁹ which are prevalent during autumn, the season which is for the most part humid, tranquil and cloudy, owe their origin to infinitely small animalcules, these or closely related ones, which are contained in air of this nature. Thus a semi-tertian fever is more common in the lower and humid areas; and all

p. 407

fevers turn into Tertian FeversFootnote ¹⁶⁰ during the warmer spring and summer, but in autumn they often cause exanthemata or petechiae,Footnote ¹⁶¹ originating from very small animalcules of perhaps the same kind, but in greater numbers than them. But these ills, if not on an epidemic scale, are then endemic amongst almost all people living in a climate suitable to fungi and moulds of that kind, especially amongst those living in cellars; and PthisisFootnote ¹⁶² and several other diseases could be attributed to this. An estate, in which Söderberg (*) observed that scarcely any inhabitants there were living longer than ten years, but that all who moved there were immediately seized by diseases, had houses located in a low-lying and humid area, and their walls were covered at the base by fungi, mould and moss.* {* Footnote in the original text: Söderberg in Actis Holmiensibus 1750, p. 298, publishes a very remarkable observation about a very simple dwelling of one farmer in Skalltorp, from the Dals-Ed parish, where all the people were pale, asthmatic and suffering from hectic fever, Footnote ¹⁶³ so that many died between 16 and 30 years; many were suffering from tuberculosis and not one healthy person was found there. And therefore servants could not be obtained, since they most certainly would have fallen ill in a short time and most of them would have succumbed. He observed that the house was situated in a valley between small mountains, and there was rock under its foundation, with the result that the water could not drain away. And then it was covered with sticky white clay, out of which the water, which was held back, immediately gave off a stinking noxious vapour. Thence there was a suffocating stench in the house; therefore the foundations and the hard floor were covered and badly infected with Flies, Moulds, Agarici and Lycoperdons. Therefore no place was better suited to chaotic worms of fungous bodies. } It seemed the best and the healthiest in any age therefore to live on high, dry, well-ventilated places; so much so, that intermittent fevers are scarcely found in some places. Hence the smallest animals perhaps cause greater destruction than the biggest; and they probably destroy even more than all the wars. But I cannot bear to proceed further with my conjectures. Another day and the diligence of a longer lifetime will bring these and more things to light.Footnote ¹⁶⁴

p. 408

SCHOLIAFootnote ¹⁶⁵

Why would Fungi appear in autumn?

Why would Mucor Septicus destroy wooden houses in certain places?

Why are Endemic Diseases more common in Autumn?

Why do those who live in the cellars of a house get more Diseases?

Why are Shivering and Semi-tertian Fevers Footnote ¹⁶⁶ more common in spring and autumn and worse in the cellars?

Why are dwellings in well-ventilated elevated places healthier?

Does Contagion also take place in Plants and how?

Does Contagion exist in Animals in the same way?

Do Fungi belong rather to the Animal Kingdom than to the Vegetable?

Could the Metamorphosis of Fungi and Zoophytes occur in the reverse order?Footnote ¹⁶⁷

Are there still a great number of hidden Animals, which are so small that they escape our eyes?

Are Animalcula infusoria disseminated out of the Seeds of Mould?Footnote ¹⁶⁸

Should Contagious diseases be attributed to that kind of Animalcules, and exanthematic diseases as well?

Are those very small animalcules, called chaotica, merely medullary,Footnote ¹⁶⁹ and almost without an organicFootnote ¹⁷⁰ body?

Glory to God Alone