es sur l'Organisation des Corps vivans_ (1802).
He begins by referring to his statement in a previous work[111] that
life may be suspended for a time and then go on again.

"Here I would remark it (life) can be produced (_preparee_) both by
an organic act and by nature herself, without any act of this kind,
in such a way that certain bodies without possessing life can be
prepared to receive it, by an impression _which indicates in these
bodies the first traces of organization_."

We will not enter upon an exposition of his views on the nature of
sexual generation and of fecundation, the character of his _vapeur
subtile_ (_aura vitalis_) which he supposes to take an active part in
the act of fertilization, because the notion is quite as objectionable
as that of the vital force which he rejects. He goes on to say, however,
that we cannot penetrate farther into the wonderful mystery of
fecundation, but the opinions he expresses lead to the view that
"nature herself imitates her procedures in fecundation in another state
of things, without having need of the union or of the products of any
preexistent organization."

He proceeds to observe that in the places where his _aura vitalis_, or
subtle fluid, is very abundant, as in hot climates or in heated periods,
and especially in humid places, life seems to originate and to multiply
itself everywhere and with a singular rapidity.

"In this high temperature the higher animals and mankind develop and
mature more rapidly, and diseases run their courses more swiftly;
while on the other hand these conditions are more favorable to the
simpler forms of life, for the reason that in them the orgasm and
irritability are entirely dependent on external influences, and all
plants are in the same case, because heat, moisture, and light
complete the conditions necessary to their existence.

"Because heat is so advantageous to the simplest animals, let us
examine whether there is not occasion for believing that it can
itself form, with the concourse of favorable circumstances, the
first germs of animal life.

"_Nature necessarily forms generations, spontaneous or direct, at
the extremity of each organic kingdom or where the simplest organic
bodies occur._"

This proposition, he allows, is so far removed from the view generally
held, that it will be for a long time, and perhaps always, regarded as
one of the errors of the human mind.

"I do not,