200 LECTURE XII. 



lity in the supposed flowers than seemed quite con- 

 sistent with the generality of plants. 



A very few years after Count Marsigli's dis- 

 covery and description of the supposed flowers of 

 Coral, Dr. Peysonel, a French physician, from ob- 

 servations made on some parts of the European 

 coasts, as well as on those of the West Indies, ven- 

 tured to propose to the French Academy a new 

 theory relative to the nature of Corals ; in which 

 he maintained that the supposed flowers were real 

 animals, allied to Actiniae, and that, in conse- 

 quence, the corals should be considered as aggre- 

 gates of animals, either forming, or at least inha- 

 biting the calcarious substance of the coral in 

 which they appeared. 



To this theory no great attention was paid; 

 and several years elapsed before a farther advance 

 \vas made in the knowledge of these bodies : but 

 at length, about the year 1730, a Mr. Trembly of 

 Geneva, in searching after some small aquatic 

 plants, happened to discover the animals now call- 

 ed Polypes : these had indeed been discovered long 

 before by Leewenhoeck, in Holland ; but he only 

 gave a general description of the animal, and ob- 

 served that it multiplied by an apparent vegeta- 



