work which we know in the field of description 

 in the natural sciences, in his treatise DE 

 FORMATIONE INTESTINARUM. It was published 

 in the twelfth and thirteenth volumes of the 

 NOVI COMMENT ARI I ACADEMIAE PETROPOLITANAE . 

 Meckel performed this work and issued it in the 

 form of an individual book under the name of 

 C. F. Wolff, 0BER..DIE BILDUNG DES DARMKANALS 

 IM BEBRUTETEN HUHNCHEN (Halle, 1812), accompanied 

 by an introduction, in which he discussed the 

 concurrence of mammalian and avian development. 

 I refer to Wolff's book not only for the study of 

 the development of the intestine, but also for the 

 early history of development in general .... 

 This book had an unfortunate fate, because its main 

 content, the discovery of the method of intestine 

 formation and physiology, in great part was 

 incorrectly understood. To Wolff an opinion was 

 added, that the intestinal plates grow out from 

 the vertebral column and are put together with each 

 other. However, Wolff, in many places, says 

 definitely that the intestinal plates represents 

 parts of his false amnion, and the false amnion of 

 Wolff is our "title cap," i.e. part of the vegetative 

 layer of the blastoderm. 7 (II 7s, fn. 161 (121)) 



Baer's words testify to his high evaluation of his prede- 

 cessor's classical work, as well as in the work of the 

 Petersburg Academy of Science. 



It is known that Oken, not understanding Wolff's work, 

 considered intestine formation as if both ends of the 

 intestine grow into anterior and posterior regions of the 

 embryo. Arguing with Oken, Baer affirmed that the embryo 

 develops not from parts isolated at the beginning, but from 

 a common rudiment; the anterior and posterior intestines 

 from the beginning occupy fixed places in the embryo. 

 Before the connection of the mouth and posterior-communicating 



7. About this work of Wolff see Chapter 5. 



395 



