However, in spite of the fact that van Doeveren and Pallas correctly recognized the significance of the eggs in the transmission of intestinal worms, these statements remained disregarded, as did Abildgaard’s observation, experimentally confirmed, that the (immature) cestodes from the abdominal cavity of sticklebacks became mature in the intestines of aquatic birds. Moreover, at the end of the eighteenth and the commencement of the nineteenth centuries, after helminthology had been raised to a special branch of study by the successful results of the investigations of numerous authors (Goeze, Bloch, Pallas, Müller, Batsch, Rudolphi, Bremser), many of whom experienced a “divine joy” in searching the intestines of animals for helminthes, some authors reverted to _generatio æquivoca_, without, however, entirely denying the existence of organs of generation and eggs. The fact that a few nematodes bore living progeny--a fact of which Goeze was already aware--had no influence on the erroneous opinion, as in such cases it was considered that the young continued to develop beside the old forms. There were also many helminthes known that never developed sexual organs and never produced eggs, and which therefore were referred to _generatio æquivoca_. People were convinced that the intestinal mucous membrane or an intestinal villus could transform itself into a worm, either in a general morbid condition of the body, or in pathological changes of a more local character. The appearance of helminthes was even regarded as useful and as a means for the expulsion of injurious matter. These views, firmly rooted and supported by such eminent authorities as Rudolphi and Bremser, could not easily be overthrown. First, a change took place in the knowledge of the trematodes. In 1773, O. Fr. Müller discovered _Cercariæ_ living free in water. He regarded them as independent creatures and gave them the name that is still used at the present time. Nitzsch, who also minutely studied these organisms and who recognized the resemblance of the anterior part of their bodies to a _Fasciola_, did not, however, arrive at a correct conclusion. He regarded the combination rather as that of a _Fasciola_ with a _Vibrio_, for which he mistook the characteristic tail of the cercaria. He also noticed the encystment (transformation into the “pupa”) on foreign bodies of many species of these animals, but was of opinion that this process signified only the termination of life. Considerable attention was attracted to the matter when Bojanus first published a paper entitled “A Short Note on Cercaria and their Place of Origin.” He pointed out that the cercariæ creep out of the “royal yellow worms,” which occur in freshwater snails (_Limnæa, Paludina_), and are probably generated in these worms.