188 METAMORPHOSES OF MAN 



small number of facts, observed by four naturalists, 

 in a single and very limited group of this extensive 

 class. Are generalizations framed in a similar manner 

 in all cases ? It would form a very marked exception 

 to what we have seen elsewhere. From all that we 

 know of Insects, Mollusks, and Radiata, or even of so 

 limited a group as that of Batrachia, we are justified 

 in believing that, in the Infusoria likewise, the meta- 

 morphoses present various and complex phenomena 

 which remain to be discovered. 



This view is further borne out by Jules Haime's 

 observations upon Aspidisca lynceus. I am aware that 

 M. Claparede declares them to be erroneous from, 

 beginning to end ; but then, he has not repeated 

 them himself, and notwithstanding the decided tone 

 of his condemnation, we cannot accept his opinions 

 till he has brought forward some proofs in support of 

 them.* 



* In speaking of Jules Haime, M. Claparede thus expresses him- 

 self, in a note of four lines appended to the splendid work I have 

 so often alluded to. " There has evidently been a series of con- 

 fusions, the result of which has been the co-ordination of organisms 

 which have actually no relationship to each other." This is exactly 

 what was said of Kiichemneister's and Van Beneden's first researches 

 on the intestinal worms. It is well known what happened to this 

 hasty condemnation. I cannot think that Jules Haime's work is as 

 unworthy as M. Claparede imagines. The conscientious manner in 

 which this young naturalist laboured is well known, and I am 

 personally aware that the memoir in question occupied a very con- 

 siderable portion of his time, and that he took the greatest precau- 

 tions to isolate the objects under observation, and to avoid all pos- 

 sibility of mistake. Do such care and pains usually terminate in 

 but a series of confusions ? Certainly the thing is possible in such 

 instances. The history of science generally, and of microscopic 

 science in particular, shows us too frequently that it may be so. 

 But it would be only simple justice to begin by endeavouring to 



