ON THE MORPHOLOGICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 207 



globe, or in the depths of the ocean ; of visiting the real 

 dwelling-places, the habitat of living beings : thus coun- 

 teracting and enlarging the narrow and pedantic views 

 which the older, purely systematic, and lifeless treatment 

 of natural objects was in danger of fostering. We know 

 how the germs of two of the greatest generalisations of 

 science were laid in the minds of Mayer and of Darwin 

 during their visits to distant countries, and how fertile 

 in natural knowledge of all kinds have been the voyage 

 of the Challenger and many other similar expeditions, 

 and with what interest and curiosity scientific and 

 popular audiences listen to the narrative of such daring 

 explorers as Fridjof Nansen. 



The other and much more concentrated influence, 

 which from the opposite side co-operated with the labours 

 of the great explorers in remodelling the descriptive 

 sciences and infusing new life and vigour into them, 

 has been not less marked. There has always existed 

 one great interest, in which nearly all the descriptive 

 branches of natural knowledge have found a common 

 rallying ground and a uniting purpose namely, the The J^ 

 art of healing, the alleviation of human suffering and interest - 

 the curing of disease. During long ages, when the purely 

 scientific interest was almost dead, physical and chemical 

 research was created or kept alive by the physician, the 

 alchemist, and the apothecary ; medical works like those 

 of Celsus and Galenus in antiquity } have been the ency- 



1 It may also be pointed out 

 that Aristotle was descended from 

 a family of doctors, that accord- 

 ing to Zeller (' Philosophic der 

 Griechen,' vol. iL, part 2) the 

 assumption is warranted " that 



the medical art of his father 

 Nicomachus, who was the medical 

 adviser and friend of the Mace- 

 donian king, Amyntas, had a 

 prominent influence on the mental 

 development of his son." 



