HISTORY OF ZOOFHYTOLOGY. 
9 
vocacy of the new doctrine was in a more popular style, but not 
the less excellent. He gave a short exposition of the ascertained 
facts, — reviewed with the clearness of an eye-witness the dis- 
coveries of Trembley, — pointed out their relations to the ex- 
periments of Jussieu and Guettard, and how they mutually lent 
and borrowed strength,- — palliated and explained away his for- 
mer opposition to Peyssonnel, — and declared his complete faith 
in the animality of Zoophytes, and his conviction that a nume- 
rous list of productions hitherto unexamined would be found to 
be of the same nature. C£ All that we have said,” he thus con- 
cludes, “ of the polypes of the sea, is merely a sort of adver- 
tisement which, however, cannot fail to produce the effect which 
we promise ourselves from it : it will direct undoubtedly the 
curiosity of naturalists who reside by the sea to insects so worthy 
of being better known. They will seek out the different species ; 
they will delight to describe to us the varieties presented in 
their forms never but remarkable ; they will study the figure 
and disposition of the cells of the various species, their manner 
of growth and reproduction and wherewithal they are nourished ; 
they will in short, place in a clear light every thing that has 
reference to the different polypidoms and their formation, so 
that a department of natural history, so interesting, so new, and 
as yet only sketched in outline, may be rendered as perfect as 
it merits to be.” * 
The appeal, eloquent as it was and from one having great 
influence, was however made in vain ; for whether from the in- 
veteracy of habit and our fondness of opinions long cherished, 
or from the fewness of the published observations whence the 
general conclusion was drawn, it seems certain that the new doc- 
certains temps, et qui dans d’autres rentroient en entier dans leur petite cellule, 
hors de laquelle leur partie posterieure ne se trouvoit jamais. Enfin, il (B. de 
Jussieu) reconnut que plusieurs especes de ces corps, dont chacun avoit l’ex- 
terieur d’une tres-belle plante, n’etoient que des assemblages d’un nombre pro- 
digieux de cellules de polypes ; en un mot, que plusieurs de ces productions de 
la mer, que tous les botanistes que les ont decrites ont prisesjaour des plantes 
et ont fait representer comme telles avec complaisance, n’etoient que des poly- 
piers.’' — Preface, Vol. vi. p. 71, 72. See also Amoenitates Academic*, Vol. i, 
p. 185, for an enumeration of the species of Sertularia, &c., which Jussieu had 
examined, and considered to be animal productions. His account, however, of 
the animal of the Sertularise is altogether erroneous. 
* Memoires pour servir a l’histoire des Insectes, Tome sixieme, Paris, 1742. 
Quarto. Preface, from p. 68 to p. 80, 
