I°0 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



Nevertheless, the work of Straus-Durckheim is conceived 

 in a different spirit/ and is the first serious attempt to make 

 insect anatomy broadly comparative. 



Comment. — Such researches as those of Swammerdam, 

 Lyonet, and Straus-Durckheim represent a phase in the 

 progress of the study of nature. Perhaps their chief value 

 lies in the fact that they embody the idea of critical observa- 

 tion. As examples of faithful, accurate observations the re- 

 searches helped to bring about that close study which is our 

 only means of getting at basal facts. These men were all 

 enlisted in the crusade against superficial observation. This 

 had to have its beginning, and when we witness it in its early 

 stages, before the researches have become illuminated by great 

 ideas, the prodigious effort involved in the detailed researches 

 may seem to be poorly expended labor. Nevertheless, though 

 the writings of these pioneers have become obsolete, their 

 work was of importance in helping to lift observations upon 

 nature to a higher level. r 



Dufour. — Leon Dufour extended the work of Straus- 

 Durckheim by publishing, between 1831 and 1834, researches 

 upon the anatomy and physiology of different families of 

 insects. His aim was to found a general science of insect 

 anatomy. That he was unsuccessful in accomplishing this 

 was owing partly to the absence of embryology and histology 

 from his method of study. 



Newport. — The thing most needed now was not greater 

 devotion to details and a willingness to work, but a broaden- 

 ing of the horizon of ideas. This arrived in the Englishman 

 Newport, who was remarkable not only for his skill as a 

 dissector, but for his recognition of the importance of embry- 

 ology in elucidating the problems of structure. His article 

 "Insect a" in Todd's Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiol- 

 ogy, in 1 841, and his papers in the Philosophical Transac- 

 tions of the Royal Society contain this new kind of research. 



