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Show ·coNTENTS. I. Brevity of Life 1. Reproduction 13. Animals improve 3 1. . Li~ and Death alternate 37.. Adonis emblem of Mortal L1fc 45. II. Solitary reproduction 61. Buds, Bulbs, Polypus 65. Truffle; Buds of trees how generated 71. Volvox, Polypus, Trenia, Oysters, Corals, are without Sex 83. Storge goddess of Parental Love; First chain of Society 92. III. Female sex produced 103. Tulip bulbs, Aphis 125. Eve from Adam's rib 135. IV. Hereditary diseases 159. Grafted trees, bulbous roots degenerate 167. Gout, l\1ania, Scrofula, Consumption 177. Time and N atnre 185. V. Urania and the !\1use lament 205. Cupid and Psyche, the ~lei ties of sexual love 221. Speech of Hymen !239. Second chain of Society 250. Young Desire 251. Love and Beauty save the world 257. Vegetable sexes, Anthers and Stigmas salute 26~. Vegetable sexual generation 271. Anthers of Vallisneria float to the Stigmas 279. Ant, Lainpyris, Glow-\'Vorm, Snail287. SilkWorm 293. VI. Demon of Jealousy 307. Cocks, Quails, Stag·s, B.oars 313. Knights of Romance 327. Helen and Paris 333. Connubial love 341. Married Birds, nests of the Linnet and Nightingale 343. Lions, Tigers, Bulls, Horses 357. Triumphal car of Cupid 361. . Fish, BiHls1 Insects 371. Vegetables 389. March of Hymen 411. His lamp 419. VII. Urania's advice to her Nymphs 425. Dines with the Muse on forbidden Fruit 435. Angels visit Abraham 441-458. CANTO II. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. I. '' How short the span ofLrFE! some hours possess'd, Warm but to cool, and active but to rest!- The age-worn fibres goaded to contract, By repetition palsied, cease to act; Hozv short the span if' Life, 1. 1. The thinking few in all ao-es have complained of the brevity of lif6, lamenting that mankind 0 are not allowed time sufficient to cultivate science, or to improve their intellect. Hippocrates introduces his celebrated aphorisms with this idea;." Life is sh?rt, science long, opportunities of knowledge rare, expenments fallacwus, and reasoning difficult. "-A melancholy reflection to philosophers! Tlte age-WO'I' JZ fibres, 1. 3. Why the same kinds of food, which enlarge and invigorate the borly from infancy to the meridian of life, and then nourish it for some years unimpaired, should at length gradually cease to do so, and the debility of age and death supervene, would be liable to surprise us if we were not in the daily habit of observing it; and is a circumstance which has not yet been well understood. Before mankind introduced civil society, old age did not exist in the world, nor other lingering diseases; as· allliying creatures, as soon as they became too feeble to defend themselves, were slain and eaten |