20 LECTURES 



very well show the trend biologic philosophy was takin ? 

 in some directions at the very beginning of the present 

 century. 



It is very important to trace back, here and there first 

 glimmerings as light that illuminate such laws, and take 

 cognizance of their source, for the idea is far too prev- 

 alent, even yet, that the demonstration of the origin of 

 organic life in this world arose in any one man's mind. 

 That demonstration had been a growing one for many 

 years prior to 1859, and has come up in the same way 

 that other biologic truths have come up. And, in this 

 connection, you will remember that even as early as 

 Cuvier's time, that great savant wrote of the eminent 

 French naturalist, Buffon, that he had "the merit of hav- 

 ing been the first to point out clearly that the actual con- 

 dition of the globe is the result of a succession of changes, 

 of which we can find the evidences to-day; and it is he 

 who first drew the observation of all investigators to the 

 phenomena by which these changes can be unraveled." 

 Buffon's work on natural history commenced to be 

 put forth in 1749. But we must pass again, after this 

 momentary digression, to those biologists who wrote 

 fifty years subsequent to the date I have just mentioned. 

 I will refer, however, to but a few. In human anatomy, 

 works comparable with the modern system of treating 

 the subject appeared first rather less than a century ago. 

 The second or German edition, of the work on anatomy, by 

 Sommering,inaugurated a new era in this branch of human 

 knowledge, for that eminent authority grasped the sub- 

 ject in a most masterly manner, and his published labors 

 are characterized by marked accuracy, philosophical ar- 

 rangement, and by evidences of exhaustive research. In 

 1801 the French philosopher, Bichat, brought out in four 

 octavo volumes an equally excellent treatise upon human 

 anatomy, and both he and Sommering greatly advanced 

 the knowledge of physiology. These two great men 

 were the center lights of the French and German schools 

 at the time they flourished. About each were workers 

 in the two countries of scarcely less celebrity, while in 

 Great Britain John Gordon, Bell, the third Munro, Jones, 

 Quain, and others carried the subject fully up to the 

 time. Great precision was now being gained by the use 

 of the microscope and other instruments ensuring more 

 accurate results in dissecting. Means of more extensive 

 criticism and reviews reacted most beneficially, and 

 many special treatises rapidly appeared in Germany, 



