SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES iSy 



when, moreover, according to its tenets, the elect possessed the right to be 

 hailed as geniuses, it is easy to realize the enthusiasm which the new wis- 

 dom evoked. The result was that there developed at the universities such 

 student insolence as had never existed since the days of scholasticism; and it 

 survived for a long time, especially at the academies situated in the provincial 

 towns, where neither masters nor pupils had much contact with practical 

 life. This very academic isolation explains to a certain extent how it was 

 that these theories, so out of accord with reality, could survive for so long, 

 and explains the fact that they were localized in Germany and Scandinavia, 

 while in western Europe, with its more lively and practical activities, 

 speculation at least adopted more dispassionate forms. 



One of the most notable and influential personalities in German natural 

 philosophy was Lorenz Oken (1779-185 i). He was of south German peasant 

 stock, his family name being really Ockenfuss, and was brought up in poverty, 

 though he managed to obtain a school education and afterwards studied 

 medicine, eventually becoming a doctor, in 1804. Medicine, however, was 

 not of very great interest to him; at an early age he had formulated a natural 

 philosophy of his own. After having maintained himself under severe pri- 

 vations at several universities, he was in 1807 appointed assistant professor 

 at Jena, where he published as his inaugural address his paper on the subject 

 of the cranium's being composed of several vertebra;. This resulted in his 

 falling into disfavour with Goethe, which caused him considerable un- 

 pleasantness, all the more so as he was of a passionate nature and found it 

 difficult to exercise discretion in his behaviour. Being an ardent German 

 patriot, moreover, he was enthusiastic for his country's unity and was con- 

 sequently suspected by the authorities in the reaction after the War of In- 

 dependence, for which he zealously agitated. At last, in 1819, he was forced 

 to resign, although he had the support of the entire University; he was for a 

 time without an appointment, but afterwards became a professor at Munich; 

 there too, however, he was unable to get on with the authorities, so that he 

 was glad to accept a post in Zurich in 1831. He carried on his work there, 

 respected and esteemed, for the rest of his life. 



Oken's activities were many-sided and his influence upon the develop- 

 ment of culture considerable. For many years he published the journal 

 his — the name is characteristic of his half-mystical philosophy — which 

 became a focus for the scientific life of Germany; with great impartiality it 

 accepted papers by scientists of different camps; the discussion of problems 

 was encouraged, and prizes offered for solutions, with the object of promoting 

 scientific research. Oken took the initiative in another idea which has proved 

 of value to the future of science; he organized meetings of scientists for the 

 purpose of exchanging views and encouraging sociability. Thus it was he 

 who originated those gatherings that are so much appreciated in our own 



