Contemplant Spirits! ye that hover o'er With untired gaze the immeasurable fount Ebullient with creative Deity!

He also mentions the property of cleavage of the specular stone (lapis specularis): 'The specular stone, which deserves also to be called a stone, is sectile (sectilis) and can be cut into slices as thin as can be desired....

"Gin ye hae your appetite wi' you we'll eat, Mr. Montagu, for I'm a wee thingie hungry my nainsell (myself).

Or was the opposite true—a duck was created with an inherent element of duckiness that informed its growth from the egg itself?