40 Scientific Reviews. 



placed it by the side of the vertebrated animal, and examined the 

 relative situation of the prts. 



" Passing successively in review the respective position of the head 

 and of the diiFerent parts which it contains, the larger vessels, and 

 the organs of generation, the author concluded, from a very detail- 

 ed comparative examination, that the analogy which the authors 

 of the memoir thought that they had observed, is every where illu- 

 sory. 



" He thought that it would even be easier to establish some 

 analogy of situation, by supposing the animal to be bent in an op- 

 posite direction to the hypothesis ; then, indeed, the brain, liver, 

 oesophagus, stomachs, and the great artery, would remain in the 

 same respective position as in vertebral animals ; but the hearts, 

 vein, branchiae, and organs of generation, would always be differ- 

 ently disposed, and the problem would not be resolved. 



" How, I ask," said M. Cuvier, after having demonstrated the 

 striking differences which were apparent in the structure of these 

 animals, " how can any one, after seeing these numerous and im- 

 portant distinctions between the cephalopoda and the vertebrata, 

 say that there is an identity, a unity of composition, without per- 

 verting the terms of language from their most manifest sense ! I 

 shall reduce the facts to their true expression, when I state that 

 the cephalopoda have many organs which are common to them and 

 the vertebrata, and which perform similar functions in each, though 

 these organs are differently disposed, and often constructed in a 

 different manner in the two classes ; — that they are accompanied by 

 many other organs which the vertebrate animals do not possess ;— < 

 whilst the latter have also many organs which are not found in the 

 cephalopoda." 



. Such are the opinions of M. Cuvier on this important question 

 in philosophical anatomy. His objections have, however, been met 

 by M. St. Hilaire, whose answer we shall give in our next number, 

 and then compare the results of a controversy which has arisen be- 

 tween the two first zoologists of the age. 



