and credited him with "contributing to the history of 

 development in general and development of the intestine in 

 particular." 



The evaluation of Wolff's work was given by Meckel in 

 the following statements: 



This exactness of observation, this step-by-step 

 tracing of organs from their first appearance to 

 their final development, only this could lead to 

 creation of a true history of embryonic development. 

 The author did not follow preconceived opinions, did 

 not report more than he saw, and did not promote only 

 probable propositions as law. The work is considered 

 a model in all respects, so that I do not think that 

 I can be reproached for translating the work of 1768. 

 Knowing that it remained almost completely unknown, 

 and also that it was found in a journal, available to 

 only a few readers, completely eliminates my indecision 



"This work until this time remained unknown to the 

 physiologists," Meckel continued, "as attested to by the 

 fact that Oken, who published in 1806 an article about intes- 

 tine formation, did not possess any knowledge of Wolff's 

 work, as he did not mention it anywhere" (Introductory 

 article, p. 5). In many following pages Meckel compared 

 Oken's results with Wolff's data and showed that Wolff had 

 established much long before Oken. 



Wolff's discoveries were much ahead of his time; he 

 remained misunderstood by the majority of his contemporaries. 

 About forty years after Wolff's death, his great successor 

 in the Petersburg Academy, K. M. Baer, said the following: 

 "Not only superiority of work assured its success .... 

 Academician Wolff, after untiring work, discovered tb? law 

 of organic transformation; but at that time the time lad 

 not yet come to investigate this law, and science disregarded 

 him (24) . After half a century, others succeeded with little 

 reinforcement in obtaining laurels themselves in this same 

 field, noticed his existence, and exalted the memory of 

 Wolff." 7 As is well known, Baer praised Wolff's work on the 

 intestine. ° 



(Footnotes on next page) 



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