in Anatomy, the first rudiments of the heart in the formation of the fetus, where a throbbing motion is perceived. This is said to be easily observed with a microscope in a brood-egg, wherein after conception, we see a little speck or cloud, in the middle whereof is a spot that appears to beat or leap a considerable time before the fetus is formed for hatching. See the articles FOETUS and ANATOMY.

PUNCTUM flans, a phrase by which the schoolmen vainly attempt to bring within the reach of human comprehension the positive eternity of God. Those subtle reasons seem to have discovered that nothing, which is made up of parts, whether continuous or discrete, can be absolutely infinite, and that therefore eternity cannot consist of a boundless series of successive moments. Yet, as if such a series had always existed, and were commemorated in duration with the supreme Being, they compared his eternity to one of the moments which compose the flux of time arrested in its course: and to this eternal moment they gave the name of punctum flans, because it was supposed to stand still, whilst the rest followed each other in succession, all vanishing as soon as they appeared. We need not waste time or room in exposing the absurdity of this conceit, as we have elsewhere endeavoured, in the best manner we can, to ascertain the meaning of the words eternity and infinity, and to show that they cannot be predicated of time or space, of points or moments, whether flowing or standing still. See METAPHYSICS, Part II. chap. 7. § and Part III. chap. 6.