316 M. Pictet on the Writings of Goethe 



when it deduces consequences from them, and by these means 

 throws a vivid light upon a subject which without its aid would 

 have remained inert and obscure. It was this species of 

 imagination that directed the labours of Goethe. It is the 

 glory inherent in its results that he lays claim to ; a glory 

 which we shall justify by an inquiry into the services which 

 he has rendered this science, and into the manner in which he 

 has viewed some of the important questions which have been 

 debated in these latter years. 



It was natural for Goethe, a German and a poet, to set out 

 from the principle of the unity of organic composition in its 

 widest acceptation ; and in fact, the greater part of his labours 

 were directed to the demonstration of this law, which tends 

 every day more and more to become the basis of comparative 

 anatomy. In this respect he preceded all the naturalists of 

 his age ; he has indeed been outstripped since, and some Ger- 

 man anatomists have gone much further in this path, at that 

 time new. Time will show whether they have proceeded in 

 it with as much success. Goethe quickly perceived that ana- 

 tomical determinations were tainted with a diversity opposed 

 to the progress of the science ; he felt that a rallying point 

 was wanting for these conclusions, that they must be uni- 

 form in all animals, and that, without this principle, confusion 

 and the want of a rule must necessarily make the study of 

 comparative anatomy difficult and even impossible. He was 

 not slow in observing that this rallying point was the principle 

 of unity of organic composition, and that the discovery of this 

 law must alter the face of the science, by giving it for a basis 

 the unity which reigns in nature. It was he, it seems, who 

 if he did not catch the first glimpse, at least, who first clearly 

 comprehended this important fact. But he did not imme- 

 diately publish his ideas upon this subject, so that the con- 

 stant progress of science led to its being discovered in the in- 

 terval, in France, by Geoffroy St. Hilaire. The regeneration 

 of comparative anatomy set out then at the same time from 

 these two countries ; and if these discoveries have brought on 

 such animated debates, we should, I think, only attribute 

 them to the too great promptitude which the innovators have 

 been desirous of displaying, for the principle of unity of or- 



