722 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OV HENRV MILNE-EDWAKDS. 



this respect that had not beeu uiidei'stood when naturalists devoted 

 themselves chiefly to the study of vertebrates, the organic structure of 

 which is usually distinct and si)ecialized as to functions. In the lower 

 orders oflices become more and more simplitied, the common or.nan has 

 uuiltiple functions, tht.' essential cliaracter of these functions tending 

 to manifest itself more radically. 



While Milne-Edwards was pursuing his original investigations the 

 character of his i)rofcssorship at the " Facnlte des Sciences '' led liim to 

 embrace the whole animal kingdom in his range, and he kei)t in con- 

 stant touch with the fresh discoveries of zoologists. He thought it 

 expedient to build upon his i)rivate notes a more enduring work that 

 would rej)resent his method of instruction in a more definite manner. 

 To this feeling was due the conception of his great work, Lessons on 

 the Physiology and CotiiparaUve Anatomy of Man and Animals which 

 does the highest honor to his conscientious methods and to the scojie 

 of his intellect. The publication of this book continued in fourteen 

 volumes, over a term of twenty-four years, through critical periods in 

 Milne- Edward's ])ersoiuil health as well as in French society. 



In this masterwork the author apj)roaches first the study of all 

 organized systems destined to divers functioiis in the animal chain. 

 He proceeds to follow a method of historical and progressive explana- 

 tion that is full of interest and worthy to exemplify the march of the 

 human mind in the search for truth. Studying every organized system, 

 Milne-Edwards shows their innumerable transformations and the prog- 

 ress or degradation of organization among general types according to 

 the relative importance of the function to which the class is destined; 

 in short, he shows its adaptation to the varied conditions of existence. 

 In this connection he treats successively the great problems offered by 

 the study of life, its origin, and its manifestations ; problems that per- 

 haps no century has more incessantly and deeply agitated than our 

 own, Milne-Edwards might be reproached for a want of boldness 

 sometimes in the discussion of these great questions, his wise and T)ru- 

 dent mind preferring to lend itself to the solution of lesser ones. It is 

 certain that he did not refuse to recognize the evidence of facts and of 

 their relation to origin revealed to us by geology; but he would not 

 engage in the conjectural line of systems and theories by which the 

 attempt has been made to explain the descent of animals. A\'hile 

 recognizing tlu^ fact that living animals are derived from animals that 

 lived in the geological periods, he was promi)t to add that we could not 

 account for the production of organisms' capable of presenting a form 

 specifically new and suited for transmission to their progeny. If he 

 declares in fitting terms that he ''could not connect himself with those 

 who reijresent the Deity as moulding brute matter with his hands in 

 order to give form to a preconceived idea of one organized being or 

 another, and breathing into this still inert machine the principle of 

 life," to balance this statement he also adds that tlu' known properties 



