acquire clear ideas of the Author's penetrating forces, his internal moulds, or of the nature and functions of his organic particles. Accordingly the Author here too gives the reins to his imagination; though he pretends to found his theory on actual experi

ments.

6

In his microscopical obfervations on the femen mafculinum of animals, we meet with a defcription of appearances very different from fuch as have occurred to ourselves, or to any other obfervers with whom we are acquainted. In a drop of the feminal fluid, the Author, at firft, only perceives certain large filaments, fometimes fpreading out into branches, and having an undulatory motion. They appeared compofed of globules which touched one another, and refembled a chaplet of beads. From certain protuberances, small globules iflue, which have a vibratory motion, like that of a pendulum; and that are attached to the filament by little threads, which gradually become longer as the globular bodies move. At length, the globules detach themselves, and trail after them the little threads, which refemble tails,' but which impede their motion. When the liquor has become more fluid, the filaments disappear; and the little bodies, though they cannot be animals †,' are nevertheless faid to make confiderable efforts to difentangle themselves from their incumbrances,' or their threads. After this, they move with great vivacity, and refemble thofe pretended animals which are feen in oyster water, on the 6th or 7th day.' On more than one occafion these fame inanimated globules are defcribed as proceeding in troops from one fide of the drop; marching in lines of feven or eight in front, and fucceding each other without interruption, like the defiling of foldiers ;—or going in flocks, like sheep.'

In this account, extracted from feveral of the Author's microscopical obfervations, or rather vifions, few obfervers, we believe, will recognife the appearances which have been prefented to them, on viewing the femen mafculinum of animals. They will, we apprehend, declare, that thefe undulating filaments, refembling chaplets of beads, and the round bodies fufpended from them by little vifcous threads, have never occurred to their view. They have generally, though not perhaps in

Thefe filaments,' fays the Author, are perhaps of a vegetable nature; but the moving bodies which proceed from them cannot be animals; for we have no example of vegetables giving birth to animals. Moving bodies are found in all animal and vegetable subftances promiscuously. They are not the produce of generation. They have no uniformity of Species. [This is not true. Numerous fpecies of microfcopical animals have been arranged into claffes by fyftematical writers.] They cannot therefore be either animals or vegetables.

variably,

variably, feen in the feminal fluid of animals, what was before feen by Leeuwenhoek and Baker ;—living animals, endowed with fpontaneous motion, and with tails, which they preferve till they die; nor do they lofe them then, till putrefaction takes place; at which period, a more numerous race of ftill fmaller animalcules, which are non-deferipts, fucceed to them; as happens in infufions of almoft all animal and vegetable fubftances whatever.

We could not refift the temptation, prefented to us on the prefent occafion, of throwing out thefe remarks; efpecially as we have never yet met with any work in which the truth of the author's vifionary experiments on this fubject has been queftioned. Nothing can be more illogical than M. de Buffon's conclufions from fome experiments of another nature, on which however he lays much ftrefs, in fupport of his theory. To ascertain,' fays he, whether the moving bodies which appear in infufions of flesh were real animals, or only, as I had imagined, organic moving particles, Mr. Needham thought that an examination of the jelly of roafted meat would determine the queftion; because, if they were animals, the fire would deflroy them; and if not, they would still be perceptible, in the fame manner as when the flesh was raw.'-He accordingly put the gravy of various kinds of roafted meat into vials, which he carefully corked; and after fome days infufion, he found in the whole of the liquors an immenfe number of moving bodies;' which a person ignorant of the Author's fyftem would, he tells us, certainly have apprehended to be real animals,

Had the gravies above mentioned been microfcopically examined while they were fcalding hot, or very foon after they were cold, and thefe moving bodies had been then found in them, the Author's conclufions might perhaps be admitted. But certainly it does not follow that thefe moving bodies were not real animals, because the fluid, in which they were feen, had been expofed to a ftrong heat fome days before; although the vial had been carefully corked.' We can furnish M. de Buffon, with fome experiments still more to his purpose ; but which, nevertheless, we do not think are by any means decifive in favour of his system.

Several years ago, the Reviewer of the prefent Article poured an ounce of boiling water on a quantity of dried millepedes, contained in a two ounce vial, which was immediately corked. On opening the vial four hours afterwards, animalcules were feen in the liquor, in fmall numbers, by the greateft magnifier of Wilfon's microfcope, refembling those threadlike animalcula painted by Baker, Vol. I. Plate 7, Fig. 4, found in pepper-water. The largeft were lefs, in breadth, than the tails of the animalcula in femine mafculino, and did not exceed one

December 11, 1753. W. B.

third

third of their length. On the following day their numbers were greatly increafed, and their fize augmented.-Two days afterwards, a fimilar experiment was made with cantharides; and in four hours, great numbers of animalcules were perceived in the infufion, not fenfibly differing from thofe in the former experiment; except that thefe laft appeared to be as large after an infufion of four hours, as the former, after an interval of 24 hours. -To perform this experiment unexceptionably, a tube fhould be connected with the mouth of the vial, and the extremity of the tube fhould be hermetically fealed, at a time when every part of the vial and tube are fo hot, that it cannot reafonably be fuppofed that any living animals, or their ova, can exist, in a ftate of life, in the cavities of either.

Having given a pretty large fpecimen of the present tranflation, it would feem fcarce neceffary to add any thing further concerning a work, the original of which has been fo long in poffeffion of the public. It is to be obferved, however, that M. de Buffon, in the year 1776, publifhed a fupplemental voJume, containing feveral interefting additions, relating to various articles contained in the former volumes. Thefe additions the Tranflator has properly inferted under the articles to which they respectively belong. An extract or two from this new part of the work cannot fail of being acceptable to our Readers in general. We shall only premife that the hiftory of particular animals commences towards the middle of the third volume, and is continued to the end of the work; and that the Author does not, like other naturalifts, arrange quadrupeds into claffes, orders, and genera; principally becaufe, as he more than once affirms, there are not, in the whole habitable earth, above 200 fpecies of animals, even including forty different fpecies of monkeys; and therefore a very indifferent meniory is able to retain their names.'

One of the most interefting additions made to this work is perhaps the article relating to Mules. In the former editions of the original work, under the article Dog, the Author related fome experiments made with a view to procure an intermixture between a dog and a wolf; in which all the precautions employed for that purpose were abortive. Since that time, however, the Marquis de Spontin- Beaufort has fucceeded in producing the junction of a dog with a fhe wolf, and in procuring a progeny from this intermixture. The fact can be attested by two hundred perfons at least.

The Marquis bought this fhe wolf when the was only three days old. By proper treatment fhe had been rendered to tame and familiar, that he hunted with him at the diftance of a league from his houfe; to which the would occafionally return, of her own accord, at night. He gave her, as a companion, a

dog

dog of nearly the fame age; of whom, as well as of other dogs, fhe was very fond; though, at the age of twelve months, the fhewed figns of ferocioufnefs, and had a strong defire to attack fheep and bitches. She was now chained, in a garden fituated in the centre of the city of Namur, where no male wolf can be supposed to have had any communication with her. As foon as the came in feafon, fhe difcovered fuch an affection for the dog, which was returned by her gallant; that each of them howled frightfully when they were not in company with each other. She was firit covered on the 28th of March 1773, and twice each day, during a fortnight. Three weeks afterwards, her pregnancy was perceptible; and on the 6th of June, fhe brought forth four young. One of them was black, with a white breaft, which was the colour of the dog; and indeed the colours of them all feem to have been derived from the dog, who was black and white. From the moment of littering, the growled and attacked all who approached her, and would even have devoured the dog, if within her reach.

M. de Buffon very plaufibly accounts for the fuccefs of the Marquis's trials, and the failure of his own. His wolf and dog were always confined. His dog, detached from his equals, and from the fociety of men, had affumed a favage and cruel character; which the bad humour of the wolf, likewife in a ftate of flavery and difguft, ferved only to augment; fo that, during the two latt years, their antipathy role to fuch a degree, that they defired nothing fo much as to devour each other. Whereas the wolf of the Marquis had been reared in perfect freedom and familiarity along with the dog, fo that he had loft his repugnance to her, and fhe became fufceptible of attachment to him. She therefore received him with cordiality, whenever the hour of nature ftruck.'-Befides, the proper moment for this unnatural union was feized. The wolf felt the impreffion of love for the first time.'

A fimilar fact has been communicated to the Author by M. Bourgelat, on the authority of Lord Pembroke; who informed him that he had feen a large maftiff copulate with a she-wolf.

An animal merchant has had, at four different times, mules produced by a wolf and dog. He alleges that the wolf is only a wild dog; and in this opinion he is joined by the celebrated anatomift, Mr. Hunter. He thinks differently with regard to

the fox.'

The Author fucceeded in producing nine young birds, which were the progeny of a gold-finch and a Canary bird. Of these, fix were males. He was equally fuccefsful in effecting an amorous intercourse between fome ewes and he-goats: he obtained nine mules, feven of which were males. In another attempt of this kind, eight mules were produced, fix of which were males.

From

From the defcription of one of thefe mules, among other particulars, it appears that the four legs, the fuperior part of the neck, the breast, and the belly, were covered with white coarfe hair; that there was a fmall quantity of wool upon the flanks only; and that even this short, curled wool was mixed with a great deal of hair. From the great majority of males produced in these and other mixtures of animals of different fpecies, the Author concludes that the male, in general, has a greater influence on the produce of generation than the female; becaufe he tranfmits his fex to the greatest number, and because the number of males augments in proportion to the remoteness of the fpecies who intermix.

In

The mules produced between the afs and the mare have generally been deemed incapable of generating or conceiving. a former volume of our work, we gave an account of a shemule, in the island of St. Domingo, which brought forth a living mule. This account is here confirmed; and we are told that the skin of the young mule is depofited in the Museum of the Royal Society. But the Tranflator adds an inftance of the prolific powers of a fhe-mule, even in our northern climates. The fact is judicially attefted by the owner, Mr. Tullo, of the parish of Newtyle, in Scotland, and by two of his neighbours.

We fhall conclude our account of thefe eccentric amours, with two narratives of the Author's, relative to this fubject. At his eftate of Buffon, the miller kept a mare and a bull in the fame ftable, who contracted fuch a paffion for each other, that, as often as the mare came in feafon, the bull covered her three or four times a day. Thefe embraces were repeated during several years, and all the inhabitants of the place, as well as the Author, were witneffes to the fact. But though the owner of this couple conceived great hopes that fome offspring would be the refult of their repeated embraces, he was difappointed.

The other heteroclite congrefs is of fo obfcene a nature, that none but a profeffed Naturalift can decently listen to the narrative. In the fummer of 1774, a large fpaniel discovered a violent paffion for a fow, which was in feafon, on the premifes of the Count de la Feuilleé, in Burgundy. They were fhut up together for feveral days; and all the domeftics were witneffes of the mutual ardour of thefe two animals. The dog exerted many violent efforts; but the diffimilarity of their organs prevented their union. The fame thing happened fome years before at Billy, near Chanceau in the fame province.

In the additions made to this work, many curious particulars are related respecting the Hamfier, or German Marmot, a moft fierce and deftructive animal, living under ground, and which is of the rat kind, but in fize not much less than a rabbit. On account of its fur, and its depredations, in collecting and hoard