layer") he gave the name of the "alimentary-fibre layer"; this forms
the outer envelope of the alimentary canal, with the mesentery, the
heart, the blood-vessels, etc.

On this firm foundation provided by Remak for histogeny, or the
science of the formation of the tissues, our knowledge has been
gradually built up and enlarged in detail. There have been several
attempts to restrict and even destroy Remak's principles. The two
anatomists, Reichert (of Berlin) and Wilhelm His (of Leipzic),
especially, have endeavoured in their works to introduce a new
conception of the embryonic development of the vertebrate, according
to which the two primary germinal layers would not be the sole sources
of formation. But these efforts were so seriously marred by ignorance
of comparative anatomy, an imperfect acquaintance with ontogenesis,
and a complete neglect of phylogenesis, that they could not have more
than a passing success. We can only explain how these curious attacks
of Reichert and His came to be regarded for a time as advances by the
general lack of discrimination and of grasp of the true object of
embryology.

Wilhelm His published, in 1868, his extensive Researches into the
Earliest Form of the Vertebrate Body,* (* None of His's works have
been translated into English.) one of the curiosities of embryological
literature. The author imagines that he can build a "mechanical theory
of embryonic development" by merely giving an exact description of the
embryology of the chick, without any regard to comparative anatomy and
phylogeny, and thus falls into an error that is almost without
parallel in the history of biological literature. As the final result
of his laborious investigations, His tells us "that a comparatively
simple law of growth is the one essential thing in the first