276 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



tellas and the Haliotides, has recognised that in these 

 Molluscs, the aorta (or large artery given off directly 

 from the heart) encloses a portion of the buccal 

 apparatus. These curious facts cannot be explained 

 by the cellular theory. Indeed, we cannot under- 

 stand how a cell, in the course of its development, 

 could enclose, within its interior, organs which had 

 first been situated outside of it ; it would rather 

 tend to displace them in proportion as it increased 

 in volume. It is easy, on the contrary, to suppose 

 that these organs which have been formed in the 

 midst of a perfectly free space, must have been sur- 

 rounded by walls which, being subsequently formed, 

 convert the lacuna into a vessel or a heart. 



The general ideas of which we have endeavoured 

 to give a brief abstract, met, as we have already 

 remarked, with a most violent opposition. They 

 were stigmatised with the epithets of incredible, 

 absurd, and ridiculous ; whilst many of the facts on 

 which they were based, were regarded as impossible. 

 It was at Paris, we regret to say, that this opposition 

 was most strongly manifested, which would have been 

 worthy of respect if it had always originated in 

 purely scientific and conscientious convictions ; but 

 it unfortunately was too often to be attributed to 

 motives of personal rivalry. Foreigners, in a more 

 disinterested spirit, comprehended the value of these 

 results, and promptly recognised and accepted them. 

 The most distinguished physiologists of England, 

 Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, gave 

 these questions their most serious attention ; and 

 the greater number soon expressed their concurrence 



