Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c. — John Shaqi
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
This seminal liquor was at first very thick, but by degrees it became
more fluid; in less than an hour it was almost transparent; and in
proportion as this fluidity increased, the phenomena changed, as I
shall relate.
II. When the seminal liquor attained more fluidity, the filaments were
no longer to be seen, but the little bodies appeared in great numbers;
they have for the most part a motion like that of a pendulum, and they
draw after them a long thread, which it may clearly be perceived they
want to get rid of; their motion forwards is very slow, vibrating to
the right and left. The motion of a boat fastened in the midst of a
rapid stream to one fixed point, pretty well represents the motion
of these bodies, excepting that the boat remains in the same place,
whereas they advance by degrees; but they do not always keep the
same parts in the same direction; but at each vibration they take a
considerable rolling motion; so that, besides their horizontal motion,
they have one of a vertical balance, which proves that these bodies
are of a globular figure, or, at least, that their lowest part is not
sufficiently extended to maintain them in the same position.
III. At the end of two or three hours, when the liquor was more fluid,
we saw a greater quantity of these moving bodies. They seemed to be
more free; the threads were shorter; their progressive motion was more
direct, and their horizontal motion was greatly diminished; for the
longer the threads are, the greater is the angle of their vibration;
and in proportion as these threads diminish in length, the vibratory
motion lessens, and the progressive motion increases. The vertical
balance still subsisted, and was always plainly perceptible.
IV. In five or six hours the liquor attained its utmost fluidity. Most
of these moving substances were entirely disengaged from their threads;
they were of an oval figure, (_fig. 4._) and moved progressively
with great swiftness, and by their various motions had a stronger
resemblance than ever to real animals. Those who had their threads
still adhering, were not so brisk as the others; and among these that
had not threads, some seemed to change their shape and size, some were
round, some oval, and others thicker at their extremities than in the
middle; the balancing and rolling motion was still observable.
V. At the end of twelve hours a kind of gelatinous matter was settled
at the bottom of the bottle: it was of an ash-colour, and of a
tolerable consistency; the liquor that swam above was almost as clear
as water, with a kind of bluish tint, resembling water in which a
little soap had been dissolved; nevertheless it still preserved its
viscidity. The moving bodies had then a great activity, were loosened
from their threads, and moved in all directions. I saw some of them
change their form, and from oval become round; and others separate,
and from one oval form two. As they became smaller, their activity
increased.
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