450 THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 



— and at the same time Hegel's philosophy — at Heidelberg and became a 

 lecturer there, but was dismissed on account of his "materialistic" views. 

 He then became professor at Turin and afterwards at Rome. He introduced 

 research in experimental physiology into Italy and carried out valuable 

 investigations, especially in the sphere of the phenomena of respiration. 

 These brought him into conflict with Liebig, whose theory of the influence 

 of food-substances upon breathing he rejected. But at the same time he made 

 a violent attack upon Liebig's entire conception of the cosmos. In a series of 

 popular papers, Chemische Briefe, the latter gave an account of the progress 

 of chemistry, in the course of which, confirmed Schellingian that he was, he 

 extolled in fervent eulogy the wisdom and might of the Creator. In opposition 

 to these letters Moleschott wrote a book, Kreislauf des Lebens, in which he 

 attacked Liebig in vigorous though courteous terms, and in connexion there- 

 with produced a purely materialistic conception of the world. This he bases 

 on the theory of the permanence of energy and on the syntheses of Wohler; 

 on the other hand, unlike Comte, he propounds no original ideas on evolu- 

 tion. To him life is a magnificent process of metabolism; thought is a product 

 of the activities of the brain. As a confirmed Hegelian he delights in abstract 

 speculations; through combining these with physiological theories he often 

 becomes involved in a helpless confusion of thought. Albert Lange in his 

 Geschkhte des Mater ialismus quotes some amusing instances of Moleschott 's 

 muddled attempts to get away from the contrasts between subjective mental 

 impressions and objective reality, and of his still more confused ideas of 

 matter and energy; after quoting a more than usually vague page of Moles- 

 chott's book, he asks: "What part of the philosophical backwoods are we in 

 now?" In fact, Moleschott has no idea of the limits of scientific research; in 

 accordance with the idealistic philosophy that he once embraced he imagines 

 that he can explain the whole of existence by a few artificial ideas. On the 

 other hand, Liebig certainly had no thought of letting natural science hold 

 its own and leave it to religion to satisfy the ideal requirements of life — 

 showing that he too was a victim of the vagueness of thought that romantic 

 philosophy left in men's minds. 



Another important naturalist who was involved in a similar controversy 

 was Rudolph Wagner (1805-64). He had studied medicine and taken his 

 degree at Wiirzburg and afterwards worked under Cuvier in Paris, eventually 

 being appointed Blumenbach's successor at Gottingen. He was a creditable 

 investigator and teacher; among his pupils were such men as Leuckart and 

 the philosopher Lotze, and among his works his investigations into sper- 

 mato- and ovogenesis and into the tactive corpuscles are especially worthy 

 of mention; he was also reputed as an anthropologist, in the spirit of Blumen- 

 bach. At a scientific meeting at Gottingen in 1854 he gave a lecture on 

 Menschenschopfung und Seelensubsfan^, in which he discussed the question of 



