MEMOIR OF BARON HALLER. 31 



which truth would permit in combating Ms opinions. 

 But M. Hamberger's sensitiveness was extreme. At 

 Jena, he had established a little empire, and the 

 applause of his numerous students made him regard 

 my arguments as so many premeditated insults. 

 He defended himself with asperity, and the more so, 

 as Gottingen was enjoying a popularity which could 

 not be shared by many of the German universities." 

 This discussion led to a very keen and widely ex- 

 tended controversy, in which many of the eminent 

 men of the day took a part. It led Haller, and his 

 friends and pupils, into numerous and varied sets 

 of observations, which have in a great measure 

 formed the foundation of the opinions now univer- 

 sally received. We quote one passage on the point 

 from his Physiology : " Is air contained between 

 the lungs and the thorax ? Is this air rarefied in in- 

 spiration, and afterwards becoming condensed, and 

 compressing the lungs, does it cause expiration ? 

 Is this opinion confirmed by the analogy of birds, 

 of which it is strictly true ? Every thing concurs 

 to confute this opinion : behind the pleura in man 

 and quadrupeds, living and dead, the naked lungs 

 are visible, without any intermediate space betwixt 

 them; and on perforating the pleura, the lungs 

 retract towards the spine as soon as the air conies 

 in contact with them. In birds, the lungs and 

 their coverings being pervious, admit the air through 

 large holes into the cavity of the thorax. But in 

 these there is a manifest space betwixt the lungs 

 and the pleura, which would be equally manifest in 



