Polypodies

Meaning

Polipodes are named among the growths of decaying wood, followed separately by little creatures and vermin, bestions & vermines. The example supports the claim that life-bearing spirit continues to act when a former body decomposes; visible bulk is not the full measure of the productive principle. The separate wording should be retained rather than treating “polypodies” as another name for the vermin or assigning a precise modern species. Nor does the example independently verify the passage’s estimates about the relative weight of substance and excrement. Its office is to show continuing production in matter whose previous form has broken down.