86 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 



mucli interwoven with a mass of useless philosophical 

 fancies, that the latter greatly detract from the former. 



Nothing is perhaps more characteristic of the extraordi- 

 nary interest which Goethe took in the investigation of 

 organic nature than the lively way in which, even in his 

 last years, he followed the dispute which broke out in 

 France between Cuvier and Geofiroy de St. Hilaire. Goethe, 

 in a special treatise which was only finished a few days 

 before his death, in March, 1832, has given an interesting 

 description of this remarkable dispute and its general im- 

 portance, as well as an excellent sketch of the two great 

 opponents. This treatise bears the title " Principes de 

 Philosophic Zoologique par M. Geoifroy de Saint Hilaire " ; 

 it is Goethe's last work, and forms the conclusion of the 

 collected edition of his works. The dispute itself was, in 

 several respects, of the highest interest. It turned essentially 

 upon the justification of the theory of development. It 

 was carried on, moreover, in the bosom of the French 

 Academy, by both opponents, with a personal vehemence 

 almost unheard of in the dignified sessions of that learned 

 body ; this proved that both naturalists were fighting for 

 their most sacred and deepest convictions. The conflict 

 began on the 22nd of February, and was followed by 

 several others ; the fiercest took place on the 19th of 

 July, 1830. Geofiroy, as the chief of the French nature- 

 philosophers, represented the theory of natural development 

 and the monistic conception of nature. He maintained the 

 mutability of organic species, the common descent of the 

 individual species from common primary forms, and the 

 unity of their organization — or the unity of the plan of 

 structure, as it was then called. 



