Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 1 of 2).djvu/382

 most satisfactorily, what remains for us contemplating such great and important processes but that we exclaim with the poet : l

Tis innate soul sustains ; and mind infused Through every part, that actuates the mass.

And although the rudiments of eggs, which we have said are mere specks, and have compared to millet seeds in size, are connected with the ovary by means of veins and arteries, in the same manner as seeds are attached to plants, and consequently seem to be part and parcel of the fowl, and to live and be nourished after the manner of her other parts, it is nevertheless manifest, that seeds once separated from the plants which have produced them, are no longer regarded as parts of these, but like children come of age and freed from leading-strings, they are maintained and governed by their own inherent capacities.

But of this matter we shall speak more fully, when we come to treat of the soul or living principle of the embryo in general, and of the excellence and divine nature of the vegetative soul from a survey of its operations, all of which are carried on with such foresight, art, and divine intelligence ; which, indeed, sur- pass our powers of understanding not less than Deity surpasses man, and are allowed, by common consent, to be so wonderful that their ineffable lustre is in no way to be penetrated by the dull edge of our apprehension.

What shall we say of the animalcules which are engendered in our bodies, and which no one doubts are ruled and made to vegetate by a peculiar vital principle (anima) ? of this kind are lumbrici, ascarides, lice, nits, syrones, acari, &c. ; or what of the worms which are produced from plants and their fruits, as from gall-nuts, the dog-rose, and various others ? " For in almost all dry things growing moist, or moist things becoming dry, an animal may be engendered." 2 It certainly cannot be that the living principles of the animals which arise in gall-nuts existed in the oak, although these animals live attached to the oak, and derive their sustenance from its juices. In like manner it is credible that the rudiments of eggs exist in the ovarian cluster by their proper vital principle, not by that of the mother, although they are connected with her body by means of arteries

1 jEneid. vi. z Arist. Hist. Anim. lib. v, cap. 32.