38 MEMOIR OF BARON HALLER. 



study of the animal economy. Irritability is a pro- 

 perty entirely different from all those which were 

 known before in the body ; and being essential to 

 all animals, as perhaps likewise to all vegetables, it 

 will henceforth be justly reckoned amongst the 

 principal qualities of organized bodies. It must 

 appear very surprising, and at the same time not a 

 little mortifying to mankind, that a property which, 

 as Zimmerman says, constitutes perhaps the very 

 basis of life, should have escaped the eyes of all who 

 imagined themselves to be observers, and some of 

 whom were actually such. Perhaps it would not 

 be impossible to assign the reason for this, but all 

 that we shall say is, that it resembles other instances 

 of a similar kind : attraction, and the weight and 

 elasticity of the air, showed themselves to the senses 

 every day, but it required a Toricelli and a Newton 

 to illustrate them. As the whole animal economy 

 revolves on this principle, it is easy to imagine what 

 a change this discovery must produce. To England 

 we owe philosophy, and to Switzerland physiology, 

 the immovable basis of which is irritability." 



Much praise is undoubtedly due to those, who, 

 neglecting their own aggrandizement, endeavour to 

 augment the popularity of others by introducing 

 their works to notice, whether as translations from 

 a foreign language, or by bestowing commendation 

 and publicity on memoirs calculated to promote the 

 progress of science, or in reviving discoveries which 

 run a risk of being forgotten. This labour, less 

 brilliant than useful, is one of those to which Hallcr 



