W. G. STEVENSOX. 91-(61 



of Montpellier, accepted vitalism but rejected animism." 

 The principle of life was believed to be distinct from the 

 soul, though it was thought to operate independently of 

 mechanical or chemical laws. 



Haller inaugurated the inductive method in physio- 

 logical science and, by experiments, located irritability 

 in the muscular tissue, and sensibility in the nervous tis- 

 sue. Buifon explained vital phenomena through the in- 

 strumentality of "organic molecules'' which, differing 

 in form and nature, were indestructible and endowed 

 with the "properties of vitality." These molecules, 

 when associated, not only gave specific character to each 

 part of the organism, and provided for its physiological 

 activity, but became the perennial source of life. 



In order to explain how the organic molecules became 

 arranged into the specific forms of life, and preserved in- 

 dividual and type identity in nutrition and reproduction. 

 Buffon projected his theory of "interior moulds," by 

 which, in connection with the "organic molecules," he 

 sought to account for all the phenomena of the organic 

 world. It was not until 1827, when the ovule in the ova- 

 rian follicle of mammalians was discovered by DeBaer, 

 that the theory of "organic molecules"' and "interior 

 moulds" was overthrown. A single demonstrated fact 

 destroyed the speculations of an age. 



Bonnet's theory of " included germs 1 ' was another ex- 

 ample of reasoning from premises that had not been ver- 

 ified, and the result was disastrous to the subjective meth- 

 od. He taught that the germs of all life forms not only 

 pre-existed in their first created representative but actu- 

 ally contained within themselves, already formed, all the 

 parts of the future organism. The question of entozoa 

 gave him some perplexity but his "inner conscious- 

 ness " evolved a solution for the difficulty. "The tape 

 worm is never found," he said, "except in the human 

 form, and yet Genesis states that all animals were cre- 

 ated before Adam, hence the taenia must have first lived 

 under different conditionsthan now." He thought that 

 taenia existed in Adam at first only as eggs which were 

 not hatched until after his disobedience ; to transmit 

 these parasites to posterity they must needs enter the 

 body of Eve, which some thought had been accomplished 

 by the "worms entering and passing through the 



