Polyps D HWIM 04 021

2024-02-26T00:00:00Z

Polyps D "The story of the Phoenix who is reborn from its ashes, fabulous as it is, offers nothing more marvellous than the discovery of which we are going to speak. The chimerical ideas of Palingenesis or regeneration of Plants & Animals, which some Alchemists believed possible by the bringing together and the reunion of their essential parts, only leads to restoring a Plant or an Animal after its destruction; the serpent cut in half, & which is said to be rejoined, gives but one & the same serpent; but here is Nature which goes farther than our chimeras. From one piece of the same animal cut in 2, 3, 4, 10, 20, 30, 40 pieces, & so to speak, chopped up, there are reborn as many complete animals similar to the first" (p. 7). Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, année 1741. qtd in Dawson, Virginia P. Nature's Enigma: The Problem of the Polyp in the Letters of Bonnet, Trembley, and Réaumur. American Philosophical Society, 1987. https://archive.org/details/naturesenigmapro0000daws/page/n5/mode/2up