_ in those
very veins of Sand, those Buttons or Nuts, sticking to a little loose
stick, that is, not belonging to any live Tree, and some of them also free
by themselves._
_Four or five of which being then open'd, some were found to contain live
Insects come to perfection, most like to flying _Ants_, if not the same; in
others, Insects, yet imperfect, having but the head and wings form'd, the
rest remaining a soft white pulpy substance._
Now, as this furnishes us with one odd History more, very agreeable to what
I before hinted, so I doubt not, but were men diligent observers, they
might meet with multitudes of the same kind, both in the Earth and in the
Water, and in the Air, on Trees, Plants, and other Vegetables, all places
and things being, as it were, _animarum plena_. And I have often, with
wonder and pleasure, in the Spring and Summer-time, look'd close to, and
diligently on, common Garden mould, and in a very small parcel of it, found
such multitudes and diversities of little _reptiles_, some in husks, others
onely creepers, many wing'd, and ready for the Air; divers husks or
habitations left behind empty. Now, if the Earth of our cold Climate be so
fertile of animate bodies, what may we think of the fat Earth of hotter
Climates? Certainly, the Sun may there, by its activity, cause as great a
parcel of Earth to fly on wings in the Air, as it does of Water in steams
and vapours.
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