INTRODUCTION. 39 
distance from the rocks whence they originally proceed.” 
Where the truth is not known, how plausibly can error be 
dressed up, so as to satisfy many, and keep them from search- 
ing for the truth ! 
But though error in various forms was more acceptable 
to many than truth, the glimpses of truth that had been 
obtained revived discussion, and set men to think and to 
observe. So long as there is no actual observation the war 
of words and of opinions may be carried on and victory 
claimed by the several disputants, though not one of them 
may be entitled to bear away the palm. In this instance, 
however, it was soon to be won by a member of the 
Royal Society, who though he could not fail to hear of the 
statements made by MM. Peyssonnel, Trembley, and others, 
does not seem to have been influenced by them, as he brings 
forward his own most important statements as the result of 
his own observations made when engaged in botanical pur- 
suits. The person to whom I refer was John Ellis, a Lon- 
don merchant, who from seeing the polypes in some of our 
British zoophytes, caught a convincing glimpse of the true 
state of the matter, and prosecuted the study with such 
ardent zeal that in 1755 he published a work entitled ‘ An 
Essay towards a Natural History of Corallines and other 
