38 
MEMOIR OF BARON HALLER. 
study of the animal economy. Irritability is a pro- 
perty entirely different from all those which were 
known before in the body; and being essential to 
all animals, as perhaps likewise to all vegetables, it 
will henceforth be justly reckoned amongst the 
principal qualities of organized bodies. It must 
appear Tery surprising, and at the same time not a 
little mortifying to mankind, that a property which, 
as Zimmerman says, constitutes perhaps the very 
basis of life, should have escaped the eyes of all who 
imagined themselves to be observers, and some of 
whom were actually such. Perhaps it would not 
be impossible to assign the reason for this, but all 
that we shall say is, that it resembles other instances 
of a similar kind : attraction, and the weight and 
elasticity of the air, showed themselves to the senses 
every day, but it required a Toricelli and a Newton 
to illustrate them. As the whole animal economy 
revolves on this principle, it is easy to imagine what 
a change this discovery must produce. To England 
we owe philosophy, and to Switzerland physiology, 
the immovable basis of which is irritability.” 
Much praise is undoubtedly due to those, who, 
neglecting their own aggrandizement, endeavour to 
augment the popularity of others by introducing 
their works to notice, whether as translations from 
a foreign language, or by bestowing commendation 
and publicity on memoirs calculated to promote the 
progress of science, or in reviving discoveries which 
run a risk of being forgotten. This labour, less 
brilliant than useful, is one of those to which Haller 
