[25]. Ælian, lib. 17. cap. 1.
We read of monstrous Dragons, particularly two Draconic Monsters mentioned by Alexander’s Ambassadors, seen by them in their Return from the Kingdom of Abisaris, one of 80 Cubits long, the other 140[[26]].
[26]. Strabo, de situ orbis, lib. 15. βιασαρου χωρα Bisari, alias Abisari Regio.
In places adjacent to Batavia, a Dutch Settlement in the East-Indies, we read of Serpents 50 Feet long; and the Skin of one, which was 20 Feet long, that swallowed an Infant, is shewn in Batavia, the Metropolis of the Dutch Empire in the East-Indies. In America also are Serpents of prodigious Bulk, from 25, to 30 Feet long[[27]]; but this Subject will be further considered in the Second Part of this Book.
[27]. Atlas American.
On the other hand, there are Serpents, as remarkably little as the Amphisbæna, Gallic Viper, and some of the Lizards, that are not above four or six Inches long. Most of these Minutillos vary in outward Form.
And here, I can’t but observe that as the Magnitude of some other Animals is very wonderful, so, on the contrary, the Minuteness of some is equally astonishing, if not more so: There are some very little Insects that are conspicuous to the Eye, but more that are invisible without the Help of a Microscope, which is an optical Instrument, that magnifies Objects, and makes them bigger than really they are; it helps to discover minute Particles, of which Bodies are composed, and the curious Contexture of them.
To those who are not used to a rigid mathematic Proof, this may be illustrated by the Smallness of many organized Bodies. There is a Plant called Harts-Tongue, ten thousand Seeds of which hardly make the Bulk of a Pepper-Corn. Now the Cover of the true Body of each Seed, the parenchymous and ligneous Parts of both; the Fibres of those Parts, the Principles of those Fibres, and the homogeneous Particles or Atoms of each Principle, being moderately multiplied one by another, afford a hundred thousand Millions of formed Atoms in the space of a Pepper-Corn, says the learned Dr. Grew[[28]].
[28]. Cosmologia Sacra, B. i. chap. 3.
The same is yet more evident from the Stupendous Smallness of some Animals, especially in the Sperm of smaller Insects; which have been observed by Mr. Leeuwenhoek, to be some Millions of times smaller than a grain Sand. This learned Gentleman has observed more of them in the Spawn of a Cod-fish, than there are People living on the Face of all the Earth at once[[29]].