30 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



while the numerous figures accompanying these descriptions will in most 

 instances scarcely compare favourably with those handed down to us by 

 Perty and Dujardin. Taken as a whole, it is but too evident that De 

 Fromentel's volume is published prematurely, the author possessing but the 

 most superficial acquaintance with his subject. As a consequence, and 

 notwithstanding the fact that many new forms of high interest are embodied 

 in his volume, the reader closes De Fromentel's book regretting the fine 

 opportunity lost and that so much valuable space and expenditure of 

 time should have been bestowed upon a work so inadequately representing 

 our present comparatively advanced knowledge of infusorial morphology. 



A few names only are now wanting to conclude this list. With the 

 exception of Stein's most recently issued volume, 'Der Organismus der 

 Infusionsthiere/ Abth. iii. Heft I, 1878, containing a general account of the 

 Flagellata, with twenty-four magnificently executed plates referred to 

 at length in the introductory portion of Chapter VII., no works of primary 

 importance remain to be enumerated. At the same time various authorities, 

 through the exhaustive investigation of special representatives of the in- 

 fusorial world, have considerably extended our knowledge and appreciation 

 of the structure and affinities of the group as a whole, contributing largely 

 towards the establishment of that solid basis of practical evidence from 

 whence future exploration must depart. Hertwig, Biitschli, Sterki, Ernst 

 Zeller, Wrzesniowski, Mereschkowsky, and C. Robin are more especially 

 deserving of mention in this last-named category, their respective publica- 

 tions receiving due notice in both the subsequent Bibliographic list and in 

 association with the systematic descriptions of those specific types that 

 formed the more immediate subject of their investigation. 



This chapter may be concluded with the citation of one other prominent 

 and most worthy name. John Tyndall, the talented physicist and contri- 

 butor to the 'Philosophical Transactions' for the years 1876 and 1877 f 

 two most important papers treating upon the optical deportment of the 

 atmosphere in relation to the phenomena of putrefaction, and upon the vital 

 persistence of putrefactive and infective organisms, has beyond question, 

 through his most carefully conducted experiments and philosophic deduc- 

 tions, as hereafter reported in extenso, furnished some of the most crucial 

 evidence yet adduced towards the subversion of the now well-nigh aban- 

 doned doctrine of Heterogeny, or, in other words, the production of 

 Infusoria and other lowly organized animal and vegetable types out of 

 inorganic elements. 



