Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 6.9.2

6.9.2

I remember that I also questioned them on the nature of the Lengue-cherire, which some of their authors admit; but I could elicit no more from them than what I had long before learnt from our Pendet; namely, that the seeds of plants, of trees, and of animals do not receive a new creation; that they have existed, scattered abroad and intermixed with other matter, from the first creation of the world; and that they are nothing more or less, not only in potentiality, as it is called, but in reality, than plants, trees and animals entirely perfect, but so minute that their separate parts only become visible when being brought to their proper place, and there receiving nourishment they develop and increase; so that the seed of an apple- or pear-tree is a Lengue-cherire, a small apple- or pear-tree, perfect in all its essential parts; and the seed of a horse, of an elephant, or of a man is a Lengue-cherire, a small horse, a small elephant or a small man, which requires only life and nourishment in order to its visibly assuming its proper form. In conclusion, I shall explain to you the Mysticum of a Great Sect, which has latterly made great noise in Hindoustan, inasmuch as certain Pendets or Gentile Doctors had instilled it into the minds of Dara and Sultan Sujah, the elder sons of Chah-Jehan.