1876 THE WOEK ON MEDUSAE 39 



I gave my careful consideration to all you said 

 about publishing, and at one time nearly decided to 

 wait another year. But eventually I sent in the 

 paper. 1 It seems to me that the histology can very 

 well wait for future treatment that its absence is 

 not sufficient justification for withholding the results 

 I have already observed. These results, after all, are 

 the most important ; for they prove that some struc- 

 tural modification there must be ; whether or not this 

 modification is visible is of subordinate interest. 

 Besides, I do not, of course, intend to abandon the 

 microscopical part of the subject altogether. In my 

 view, inquiry into function in this case must cer- 

 tainly always precede inquiry into structure ; for 

 although, when all the work shall have been collected 

 into one monograph, the histology must occupy the 

 first place in order of presentation, very little way 

 could have been made by following this order of in- 

 vestigation. 



I also had to reflect, that if I postponed publica- 

 tion, it would be impossible to expect the R.S. to 

 publish the results in extenso, i.e., I should have to 

 bring out the work through some other medium. 



And in addition to all this, there came a letter 

 from Foster preaching high morality about it being 

 the duty of all scientific workers to give their results 

 to others as soon as possible. 



As I said before, I thank you very much for the 

 consideration and advice you have given, but I know 

 that you would not like me to feel that the expression 



1 To the Koyal Society. 



