I70 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of generation was also a subject of discussion. There were two parties 

 in the academy, the ovists and the spermatists, and the differences be- 

 tween them were not removed for a century and a half, or till it was 

 discovered that fertilization is through contact. Frangois du Petit, one 

 of the physicians in the academy, devoted himself to the study of the 

 brain and the eye. He was an anatomist from the cradle. It was a 

 common saying that he listened to the lectures of Littre when he was 

 only seven years old, and was able to prepare bodies for dissection at 

 the age of nine. He was a man of vast knowledge and acquired great 

 fame. Antoine Ferrein entered the academy in 1741. He advocated 

 the theory that the circulation of blood is controlled by the heart. 

 Winslow, a pupil of Duverney and unsurpassed as an anatomist save by 

 Albinus of Leiden fifteen years his junior, confined his attention to the 

 outside of the body, to monstrosities and to the dangers arising from 

 certain kinds of dress. Discussions and differences in the academy 

 increased and grew warmer with every addition to scientific knowledge, 

 for the ability to harmonize the discoveries which were made nearly 

 every year with what was already known seemed to be entirely lacking. 

 Men had not yet learned how to compare one science with another. 

 The study of comparative anatomy was in its infancy. Of paleontology 

 almost nothing was known. This science did not receive attention 

 in France till after 1725 when A. de Jussieu read his paper in the 

 academy on the imprints of fauna and flora on certain rocks. These 

 imprints he refused to consider and treat as whims of nature. 

 De Maillet did not dare at this time to have his book on geology 

 printed in France. It was not till Buffon's " Essay on the Epochs 

 of Nature " appeared that men were willing to study nature from 

 what was then called the modern point of view. Prior to 1740 the 

 teachings of the church as to the origin of the earth were every- 

 where accepted. The entrance of philosophy into the academy 

 added interest to its discussions. There were sharp differences of 

 opinion as to what were living and what were dead forces. Leibniz had 

 affirmed, Voltaire had denied, that the measure of force is as its mass 

 multiplied by the square of its velocity. In this discussion Voltaire and 

 Maupertuis took part. Every change in motion, said the latter, is 

 brought about by the employment of the least possible amount of active 

 force. The theory was attacked in the Berlin Academy by Samuel 

 Koenig, with whom Maupertuis quarreled, and, although he was sus- 

 tained in his contentions by the academy, it is now generally admitted 

 that Koenig was justified in his criticisms. From the results of this 

 quarrel Maupertuis never recovered. 



As the discussions in the academy increased in intensity, and appar- 

 ently in importance, public interest in its opinions increased also. In 

 science its decisions were received as authoritative. Prior to the revo- 

 lution not much attention was given to scientific studies in the schools. 



