OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 87 



Baer's own countrymen, has, so far as I know, made any 

 allusion to this passage. Indeed, he does not appear to have 

 been himself aware of the value of the observation, as he 

 adduces it merely in the form of an argument in illustration 

 of another subject, and does not again recur to it. For my 

 own part, having ascertained, on independent grounds, and 

 publicly taught and illustrated for some years, the principle 

 stated in this communication, I feel gratified in having this 

 opportunity of rescuing from temporary oblivion, and of 

 adducing in support of my own statement of the principle, the 

 original announcement of it, made twenty-eight years ago, by 

 one of the most philosophic of modern anatomists.* 



* I accidentally discovered, a few weeks ago, that Professor Huxley had 

 published translations of portions of Von Baer's works in the Scientific Memoirs 

 for 1853. This judicious selection contains the passage referred to in my paper. 

 (Dec. 4, 1856.) 



