NATURAL HISTORY OP ORGANIZED BODIES. 279 



form Viliicli it received from tlic Jussions. It was Autoinc Laurent do Jussien, 

 ill eti'ec't, ■\\lio first clearly apprehended and distinctly dciined the principle of 

 subordination of characters. He based his classification of plants on the anat- 

 omj^ of the most important apparatus in the vegetable kingdom — the apparatus 

 of reproduction. Hence the number of the lobes of the vegetable end^r^'o, 

 that is to say, of the cofyledonsAhc insertion of the stamens in thellower, l)ecame 

 the characters on which is still based the classification of plants. 



Since Cuvier and the Jussicus, zoological and botanical classifications have 

 ^continued to improve ; bat naturalists have, on the whole, respected the plan 

 which has been handed down to them. Itectifications have been made, and cer- 

 tain beings have been transferred from one family to another, with which they are 

 more closely allied by essential characters ; at other times it has been found 

 necessary to enlarge the zoological and botanical outline for the admission of 

 newly discovered individuals, but these partial modifications constitute but a 

 development of the fundamental idea which has remained unchanged : the 

 necessity, namely, of keeping constantly in view the classification of beings 

 according to the most important characters of their organization. 



Anatomy, which had produced these reforms, has itself advanced to nev/ con- 

 quests. Up to our present century it had remained purely descriptive — that is 

 to say, it was limited to indicating the form of the organs considered each in its 

 own mass. Thus it determined the fonn of the bones, of the mus'cles, of the 

 vessels, of the nerves, ifcc, whether in man or a lower species, or else it com- 

 pared the aiTangement of these organs in a succession of individuals of the zoo- 

 logical series. It Avas Bichat who impressed on anatomv a new character. He 

 created general anatovii/, in the sense that he studied the tissues which enter 

 into the composition of the organism. The extended emplo^-ment of the micro- 

 scope gave a vigorous impulsion to these studies. This instrument conferred the 

 power of discerning distinct and Avell-delined elements in those tissues which 

 had till then appeared homogeneous. Tlie globules of the blood, the animal- 

 cules of the sperm, the cellules of the ci)itheliura, the tubes of the nerves, the 

 acini of the glands, have been all revealed to ns by the microscope. The 

 knovvdcdge pertaining to these subjects constitutes ///s^ofo^///, henceforth insepara- 

 ble from general anatomy. Transferred to the domain of compaiative anatomy, 

 histology acquires a new interest; it shows us that certain elements of the tis- 

 sues undergo, like the organs themselves, very decided modifications when we 

 follov/ them up in animals or plants of different families. 



The microscope further conducts us to a discovery of great importance, that 

 of the development of the genns in animals and plants. Animal cnibrijQgcny 

 constitutes a new branch of science, Avith which are connected illustrious names, 

 almost all being those of coternporaries : Von Baer, Graaf, Purkinje, Coste. 

 Nor is vegetable endiryogeny less curious j the intimate phenomena of reproduc- 

 tion in the two kingdoms resend^le one another in a striking manner. The 

 surprised observer hesitates in pronouncing whether he has not under his eyes 

 an animal organism, Avlien he sees the antherozoid of certain vegetables agitated 

 as with spontaneous motion, seeking with persistence the orifice through which 

 it is destined to pass, or disengaging itself v»'ith apparent eflbrt from the im[)edi- 

 ments which obstruct it. The two kingdoms thus appear to be confounded in 

 the elements of their origin, while they deviate so widely one from the other 

 when we contemplate them only as complete beings. 



This collective view of organized nature, important as it is, still exhibits it to 

 us only luider one of its aspects. It makes us acquainted with existencies as 

 regards their form and structure, abstraction being made of what is most essen- 

 tial in them ; namely, life. We seem to have been traversing an immense 

 gallery of mechanisms of greatlj' varied combinations, some in appearance very 

 simple, others of an extreme complication j these of enormous mass, those of an 

 infinite delicacy. But everything here was mysterious in its immobility j the 



