May 5, 1898] 



NATURE 



opinion. The formation of " membrane bones " had 

 been asserted by Nesbitt in 1736, and since his time by 

 Rathke, Jacobson, and others ; but the researches of 

 Sharpey in this country, and von Kolliker in Germany, 

 gave the first intelligible account of the process from a 

 histological point of view. The chapters dealing with 

 the spleen, and with the organs of reproduction, must be 

 mentioned ; and the account of the ear is especially 

 interesting, from the remarks upon the work of Corti, 

 which had recently been carried out in Wiirzburg itself, 

 and described in the third volume of the Zeiischr. f. w. 

 Zoologie. It is characteristic of Prof von KuUiker's 

 scrupulous care that, although this work had been done 

 so lately in his own University, he investigated the whole 

 matter again for himself before writing the chapters 

 dealing with it. 



During the next ten years many important papers were 

 published. In 1853 Kolliker paid a visit to Messina in 

 the company of H. Miiller ; and after their arrival the 

 two naturalists were joined by Gegenbaur. The visit 

 has become celebrated among zoologists because of the 

 investigations which were then begun. An account of 

 the work done by each of the three naturalists is given 

 in a joint paper {Zeitschr. f. w. Zoologie^ Bd. iv.). Prof 

 Kolliker occupied himself chiefly with observations on 

 the structure and development of hydrozoa ; a sketch of 

 his observations is given in the paper referred to, and 

 his fuller quarto work on the Siphonophora was pub- 

 lished in the following year, while a paper on the de- 

 velopment of Pneumodermon, by Profs. Gegenbaur and 

 Kolliker together, appeared in the Zeitschr.f. iv. Zoologie 

 for 1853. 



Between this time and 1861 appeared a series of 

 papers on the vertebrate notochord, in its relation to 

 the adult vertebral column and to the skull. The in- 

 vestigations recorded in these papers constitute an 

 important step in the detailed knowledge of the cranial 

 notochord of the lower Fishes ; while the description of 

 the post-cephalic notochord leads to a classification of 

 vertebral columns generally, based upon the degree to 

 which the chordal sheath persists, and the share taken 

 by this structure and by the " skeletogenous layer " of 

 tissiie outside it, in the formation of vertebral centra. 

 The classification suggested was not accepted for many 

 years ; but it has lately been justified, and has formed 

 the starting-point for important recent work. Of great 

 value are the papers on the minute structure of the bony 

 skeleton of adult fishes, published during the same 

 period. 



In 1861 the first edition of the "Entwicklungsgeschichte 

 des Menschen u. d. hoheren Thieren" was published. 

 This edition is of interest not only from its scientific 

 value, but because of its form. It is printed, after some 

 revision, from the shorthand notes of a course of lectures 

 delivered in Wiirzburg m i860; and one can, therefore, 

 gather from it some faint idea of the author's method 

 and style of exposition. As usual, the book contains the 

 result of several original investigations. Especially in- 

 teresting are the lectures on the nature of meroblastic 

 ova, and on segmentation of ova generally, and those 

 relating to the development of the nervous system and 

 the organs of special sense. 



In the meantime the " Handbuch der Gevvebelehre" | 

 NO. 1488, VOL. 58] 



had passed through three editions, and had been again 

 translated into English. In 1863 the fourth edition 

 appeared. 



In 1864 Prof V. Kolliker made his first statement of 

 opinion upon questions raised by the publication of the 

 "Origin of Species." While he accepted a doctrine of 

 descent with modification as a statement of the way in 

 which species had appeared upon the earth, he refused 

 to admit that Natural Selection had been the agency by 

 which the modification had been produced, and he argued 

 against the assumption that " utility " in the Darwinian 

 sense had determined the survival of varieties. He also 

 urged the possibility that variations of considerable mag- 

 nitude might suddenly appear and survive. In his sub- 

 sequent writings he has maintained essentially the same 

 position, postulating an allgemeine Eniwicklungsgesets, 

 working independently of any utilitarian effect, which 

 determines the evolution of living things. His concep- 

 tion of the process of evolution is, therefore, allied to 

 that of Nageli and his school rather than to that of 

 Darwin himself 



From 1865-1875 appeared a series of papers dealing 

 with the anatomy of Coelenterates, and including the 

 celebrated memoirs on the Alcyonaria (on Reftilla, 1871 ; 

 on the Pennatulida, 1872 ; on Umbellula, 1875). These 

 papers, with their account of the remarkable dimorphism 

 of the pennatulid zooids, and the mass of anatomical in- 

 formation they contain, are of fundamental importance 

 to the student of the Alcyonaria. In 1879 the report 

 on the Pennatulida collected during the voyage of 

 H.M.S. Challenger \i2i% written. 



A fifth edition of the " Gewebelehre " appeared in 

 1867. 



Other work during these years deals with the develop- 

 ment and resorption of bone, and with various points in 

 the development of Vertebrates, especially of Mammals. 



In 1876 the second edition of the "Entwicklungs- 

 geschichte des Menschen u. d. hoheren Thiere" was 

 published. This edition is much larger than the first, 

 and contains what Balfour, in his notice of the book 

 calls " the most complete description which has yet beer 

 given of the early development of the Bird and Mammal ' 

 {Journ. Ana/. Physiol.^ 1876). Especially interesting are 

 the account of the development of the Fowl during the 

 first three days of incubation ; the statements concerning 

 the origin of the heart and the Wolffian bodies ; and the 

 whole account of the early development of the Rabbit. 

 The great number of original figures shows how largely 

 the whole work is based on personal observation. 



The considerable series of embryological and other 

 papers published since that time cannot here be 

 noticed. The little space remaining must be given to a 

 mention of the last edition of the " Handbuch der 

 Gewebelehre," of which the first volume was published 

 in 1889. This is, as the author declares in the preface, 

 rather an altogether new treatise than a new edition of 

 an old one ; and as usual every page shows how largely 

 it is based on Prof von Kolliker's own observations, 

 whether original or in confirmation of results obtained 

 by others. The first volume deals with the simple 

 tissues, with the skin and its derivatives, with bone and 

 with muscle. The second volume, which deals with the 

 nervous system, appeared in parts from 1893 onwards. 



