354 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



in Germany. Carried away by the theories of Oken*, he 

 was in early life, I have been assured, a follower of the 

 nature-philosophy ; but having speedily adopted other 

 views, he commenced a series of investigations on the 

 higher animals, undertaken from a purely physiological 

 point of view, which soon made his name celebrated, 

 and obtained for him the elevated position which he now 

 occupies. He has given a collected view of his doctrines 

 in his Handbuch der Phisiologie, which was regarded 

 as a standard work from its first appearance, and has 

 been translated into several languages. During the last 

 few years Miiller has devoted his attention to the lower 

 marine animals ; and with the view of better studying 

 them he has made several voyages along the shores of 

 the Baltic and the Adriatic ; and his researches on the 

 Amphioxus, on the family of the Myxinoidae, on the 

 larvge of the Echinoderms, &c., have acquired for him a 

 most eminent position among scientific naturalists. 



His son, Maximilian Miiller, appears to be following 

 in the steps of his father. Amongst other memoirs, he 

 has published a very interesting article on the anatomy 

 of several marine worms. 



The living physiologist, Johann Miiller, must not be 

 confounded with his namesake, Otto Frederic Miiller, a 



* Oken, a German naturalist, founded the school of Natur- 

 philosophie, the object of which was to refer the entire creation to 

 one a pi'iori unity. We owe to him several important anatomical 

 and zoological works, which, however, are almost always spoiled by 

 the exaggeration of his theoretical dogmas. The following anecdote 

 may show how far he carried his extreme views. Walking one 

 day with a friend, who informed me of the incident, he stopped 

 before a house, which was then being built, and exclaimed, with an 

 accent of the most intense indignation, " How is it possible that 

 men can continue to build four storeyed houses when they have 

 only three stories of their own, the belly, chest, and head ? " 



