FIFTEENTH LECTURE. 



CASPAR FRIEDRICH WOLFF AND THE THEORIA 



GENERA TIONIS. 



WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER. 



Mag 's die Welt zur Seite weisen, 

 Edle Schiiler werden 's preisen, 

 Die an deinem Sinn entbrannt, 

 Wenn die Vielen dich verkannt. 



Goethe, Morphologie, p. 256. 



The universe which we apprehend — reducible in last analy- 

 sis to various sequences and coexistences in time and space — 

 seems to have a twofold aspect to the contemplative mind. 

 The minds of some men are vividly affected by the succession 

 of phenomena, the ceaseless current of events, the changes 

 that alter the complexion of the world, the great qualitative 

 and quantitative differences produced by these changes in that 

 which we call matter. These observers may note the rhythm 

 that is forever recurring in nature, the alternate repetition of 

 day and night, the return of the seasons, the cyclical recur- 

 rence of stages in the development of living organisms — in 

 short,' the regular emergence from time to time of typical 

 forms and conditions from the flowing current of events. This 

 rhythm and repetition does not, however, produce the same 

 deep impression on these observers as the successive and 

 multiform changes themselves. 



The other class of observer, although he may note the on- 

 rushing current of events, is more vividly impressed with the 

 similarity of the forms and conditions that recur from time to 

 time and from place to place. The attention is fixed on these 

 recurring objects and conditions, and gradually builds them 

 into general concepts that ultimately acquire a stability which 



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