Extract from Draft Versions of 'The Queries'

Generation is nothing else then separating a branch from the tree & giving it better nourishment. If a separated branch takes root in the earth & or a separated twigg or bud by grafting or inoculation {illeg} is nourished from y^e root of a young stock, it grows into a \new/ tree as big a the f|t|ro|e|e from w^ch it was separated being better nourished from a young root then from an old one. The seed of a tree while it grows upon the tree has the nature of a branch or twig or bud, {where} it while it grows upon y^e tree it has the nature of is a part of it like a bud {illeg} the tree: but if separated & set in the earth to be better nourished, the embryo \or young tree/ conteined in it takes root & grows into a new tree. \like manner/ The egg of a female \w^th the embryo formed in it/ while it grows in the ovarium {illeg} seed is a part \branch/ of y^e mothers body but the Embryo formed in it \& partakes of her life, {illeg} \&/ The embryo/ is as capable of growing great being separated from the mother & growing great by due nourishment as a branch or twigg or budd or seed \of a tree/ is of being separated from the tree & growing into a new tree. For by the act of generation nothing more is done then to ferment the sperm of the female by y^e sperm of y^e male that it \may/ thereby become fit nourishment for y^e Embryo. For y^e nourishment of all animals is prepared by fermentation \\& the ferment is/ taken from animals of the same kind , being {illeg} \& makes the nourishment/ subtile & spiritual. thereby/ In adult animals the nourishm^t is fermented by the choler & pancreatic juice, & much more ought y^e nourishem^t of an Embryo to be prepared by fermentation & this for yet \both w^ch come from the blood. The Embryo not/ being able to ferment its own nourishment {illeg} \w^ch comes from the mothers blood has it/ fermented by the sperm w^ch comes from y^e fathers blood, & by this nourishment {bec} |it| swells, drops off from & Ovarium & begins to grow with a life distinct from that of y^e mother. And in Oviparous creatures if the sperm of the female {illeg} be not an ingredient of the egg \fermented with the sperm of the {f}|m|ale/ the white & y^e yelk {sic} \of the egg/ will |not| be fit nourishment for the Embryo. [So then generation is nothing else then the the Embryo grows upon the body of the mother before generation as a twig grows upon a tree & \all/ generation is nothing else than the preparation of due nourishments for the Embryo to grow with a distinct life distinct life when separated. from th]

Now in all fermentation w^ch generates spirits, the ferment abounds w^th a supprest acid w^ch being more attracted by the other body forsakes its own <235v> to rush upon & dissolve y^e other & by the violence of the actions breaks both its own particles & the particles of y^e other body into smaller particles & these by their subtilty volatility & continual digestion {illeg} resolve y^e whole mass into into as subtile parts as they \it/ can be resolved by putrefaction. [And by this means bodies \must/ lose their old form & texture before they & be \destroyed &/ broken to pieces into the last parts before they can be formed.] For as an old house must be pulled {illeg} down & its stones separated before they can be put together in another manner a new house can be be {sic} built out of their its materials: So \natural/ bodies must be \dissolved/ broken & separated into {illeg} their least parts by fermentation & putrefaction & lose their \old/ form \& texture/ before they can be formed anew a new \natural/ body can be formed out of them.

And when the nutriment \nourishment/ is thus prepared by dissolution \& subtiliation/, the particles {illeg} are of the body to be nourished draw to themselves out of the nourishment the particles of the same density & nature w^th themselves. For bodies particles of one & the same nature draw one another more strongly then particles of different natures do. And when |And {sic} therefore in the bowels of the earth {illeg} particles of the same nature are apt to assemble in the same masses & those of different natures in different masses. And when| many particles of the same kind are drawn together out of y^e nourishment they will be apt to coalesce in such figure textures as the particles w^ch drew them did before because they are of the same nature because as we see in \the particles of/ salts w^ch if they be of the same figure kind always crystallize in the same figures. And b for faciliating this assimilation of y^e nourishment & presering the nourished bodies from corruption it may be presumed that as electric attraction is excited by friction so the electric {atr} it is {excited} \invigoted|ra|ted/ also by the vegetable {life} life so it may be invigorated also by some other causes & particularly \by some agitation caused in the electric spirit/ by the vegetable life of the |particles of| living substances: & the ceasing of this vigour upon death may be \the/ reason why |y^e| death \of Animals/ is accompanied w^th putrefaction.