On its face is the lower jaw with the large structure 

 of the mouth; two dark half-circles here designate 

 the eyes; two small holes on the sides of the head 

 indicate the place of the future ears; and four 

 small pimples, two upwards and two downwards of the 

 body, are the beginning of the arms and legs .... 

 In the period of the fourth day . . . development 

 of the tactile and visual organs begins; subsequently, 

 the embryo is transformed from a worm into a mollusc 

 and a fish.^2 i n subsequent periods of development, 

 the embryo passes on to the condition of insects, 

 amphibia and birds, as this observation shows. After 

 fifty-two days . . . two depressed points appear at 

 the place of the nose, and the ear helix formation 

 begins as cut-out knots. By the fifty- fifth day, 

 the sides of the nose appear somewhat raised, with 

 closed openings . . . ; thus the basic formation of 

 the nose as an organ of smell is equivalent to the 

 insects, and ear formation starts as equivalent to 

 the birds. 3 ^ 



In concluding his digressions on embryology, Vellanskii 

 turned his attention to how parental features are given to 

 children, and criticized Buffon's "atomistic theory," 

 according to which 



particles (les molecules) from each organ of the body 

 are related to the (testicles) and ovaries; 

 and each of them, representing a certain part, 

 unites at the place of conception with others, and 

 together they produce a new animal like the parents. 

 But material organs and the particles themselves 

 are in essence only transient features of life and 

 not the parent's transitory body giving birth to 

 offspring. The idea of immortality thus produces a 

 reflection of itself. Consequently there is no need 

 to assume that the sperm contain the miniature of all 

 the parts of the body in order to produce a whole 

 embryo . . . ,^ 4 



32. Ibid., pp. 425 - 426. 



33. Ibid ., pp. 426 - 427. 



34. Ibid., pp. 422 - 423. 



159 



