Miscellaneous. 303 



knowledge, each enjoying an indefinite, though possibly a corre- 

 lated scope in its own domain. The indestructibility of both matter 

 and force imjilies a fixed coefficient of force for matter in equi- 

 librium ; but how great is the contrast offered in this respect by 

 such energies as life and will ! 



Now, if this reasoning be correct, we may have in this class of 

 energies that middle term, so earnestly desired and so intensely 

 needful, which unites the phenomena of matter with those of spirit, 

 and forms the connecting link between science and religion, their 

 harmonious conjunction aff'ording the highest system of philosophy. 

 It is this class of energies Avhich, controlling the forces of matter, 

 guides and governs their modifications and transformations. It is 

 this, moreover, which, inseparable from mind, is exerted by all con- 

 scious organism. The mystic play of coequal, but, to ou.r senses, so 

 dissimilar forces, and the equally recondite mutual action of the eye, 

 the brain, and the nerve, alike demand agencies transcending all 

 our science, yet implicitly obeying physical laws. The highest 

 manifestation of these agencies is in will ; the highest agent is the 

 Almighty. Thus the dictum of faith, that the universe exists only 

 by virtue of the continued will of its Creator, represents a palpable 

 scientific fact ; and we may see that the pantheist, the materialist, 

 and the spiritualist (I will not be debarred from this noble word by 

 the associations of its misuse to-day) have been contemplating the 

 same exalted truth from different aspects, with limited ranges of 

 vision. — SiUimmi's American Journal, March 1870. 



On the Constitution and Mode of Formation of the Ovum of the 

 Sacculinae. By M. Balbiani. 



In a note inserted in the ' Comptes Rendus ' of the 29tli No- 

 vember last, M. E. van Beneden undertook to show that the inter- 

 pretation given by M. Gerbe to the facts observed by him in his 

 investigation of the mode of formation of the ovum of the Saccidinoi 

 is incorrect. At the same time he presents a very different expla- 

 nation of these facts, and he concludes by rejecting as unfounded 

 the inductions which M. Gcrbe had drawn from his observations 

 with regard to the constitution of the ovum in a great number of 

 animals. In his memoir M. E. van Beneden also criticizes the 

 opinions that I have put forward as to the nature and physiological 

 function of the peculiar body first seen in the ova of certain spi- 

 ders by some German observers, and which I subsequently made 

 the subject of a special memoir, presented to the Academy in 1864. 

 I shaU endeavour to reply hereafter to those of M. E. van Bene- 

 den's assertions which concern me ; but in the meantime it is not 

 without interest to inquii"e which, M. Gerbe or M. van Beneden, is 

 in the right in the explanation proposed by him of the facts ob- 

 served by him in the SaccuUn<T. 



Let us first recall in a few words the manner in which these facts 

 were detailed by M. Gerbe. According to this observer the ovum of 



