Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1824-11-03
VOU are hereby cited tn q,
CITE Arts a2GG sCteuces.
From the London Literary Gazette. !

.uH TICK.
M. Bory de Saint Vincent has lately
read to the Society of Natural History,
and to the Academy of Sciences at Paris,
a curious memoir on Matter, considered
with reference 10 Natural History.
In consequence of the great errors
which result from the use of micros-
copes of more extensive power, M. de
St. Vincent has confined himself in his
observations TO microscopes which mag
nifty thousand times. In penetrating
by these instruments into the invisible
world Ito use his own expression mat
ter has constantly presented itself to
him in FIVE states, perfectly distinct;
states which he by no means considers
as primordial and elementary, but
which however they may be them
selves-eonstituted, form, by their COM
bnations, the greaterpar of existing be-
Jugs. To each of these classes of cor
puscula, he gives Characteristic name,
comfortable TO lis most remarkable
properties, and classes them in the fol-
lowing order Mucous MATTER, LIVING
MATTER, VEGETABLE MATTER, CRYSTAL
LINE MATTER, EARTHy MATTER.
Mucous MATTER shows itself in water
submitted to the prolonged operation of
air and light. 1t coats the stones which
lie at the bottom of brooks and rivers,
and renders them very slippery. 1t is
sensibly unctuous 10 the touch; and
sometimes acquires the consistence Of
jelly. Aquatic animals are more or
less covered with it; and NJ. Bory de
ST. Vincent thinks that the viscidity Of
sea water is chiefly attributable TO it,
LIVING MATTER, according to M. de
Saint Vincent, is composed of globules,
perfectly round, which are monas termo,*
Of Muller. These globules are in con-
slant agitation, and move with the
greatest swiitness. Their appearance
precedes, by shorter or a longer time,
that of the animals called intusoireS.
They incorporate themselves with mu-
cous mater, give il certain concis-
tence, and convert it into membranes
which seem to require nothing, in order
to constitute living bodies, but a nervous
network, the manner of the introduction
of which is a mystery which will proba-
bly, never be discovered.
VEGETABLE MATTER dlscloses itself in
all kinds of water, even in distilled. II
colours with an agreeable green the
liquid in which it is formed, and the
bodies which are immersed in that Iiq-
uid. M. Bory de Saint Vincent attrib-
utes TO it the greenish hue of packed
oysters. The particles of vegetatiYe
matter are compressible, oval, and
transparent, but of greenish hue, mo-
tionless, preserving their colour, but
losing their form III drying.
CRYsTALLIsABLE MATTER is the fourth
result of the spontaneous decomposition
which takes place in infusions. 1t is an
assemblage of translucid particles, hard,
angular, and fiat; which approach one
another by molecular attraction, and not
by any motion belonging to themselves
EARTHY MATTER is composed of hard,
opaque, polyedrous or rounded MOLE
cules; the form and colour Of which
are not changed by alterations Of wet
and dryness.
Nj. Bory de Saint Vincent thinks that,
| with this small number of materials, en-
lowed with invariable properties, ma
ture IS enabled to produce the prodig-
ious variety Of beings which people the
universe, all subjected TO simple and
uniform laws. He entirely denies the
transformation of animals into vegeta-
oles, and reciprocally, even in micro-
SCOPE beings.
The smallest and most simple of the mi
croscopic eings at present described.