240 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



ledges yet another prominent influence in the forma- 

 tion of his ideas. Cuvier, the zoologist, contemplating 

 the existing forms of nature from one of the two main 

 points of view, was impressed with the contrast be- 

 tween the lifeless and the living, seeing in the latter 

 stability of form, not of substance, what we should 

 now term dynamical equilibrium. To him the vor- 

 tex is the symbol of life. De Candolle in studying 

 plants is struck with the underlying regularity and 

 symmetry of their formation. His views were formed 

 after very extensive practical occupation with descriptive 

 botany, which was followed by a lengthy residence in 

 Paris, where, next to Cuvier, he came greatly under 

 the influence of the Abbe Haiiy, the founder of 

 crystallography. 1 From the Jussieus he learnt the im- 

 portance of looking at the " ensemble," the " port et 

 aspect " (facies, habitus) ; 2 from them and Cuvier the 

 value of the principle of the subordination of characters, 

 and the correlation of parts in the organisation of the 

 whole. 3 But he fastens mostly upon the underlying 



1 De Candolle, 'Theorie e"le"men- 

 taire de la Botanique,' 2nd ed., 

 Paris, 1819, p. 72 : " Je dois encore 

 compter, au nombre des causes qui 

 ont influe" sur 1'am^lioration des 

 me"thodes botaniques, d'un c6t6 les 

 perfectionnemens importans que la 

 classification zoologique a reijus, 

 principalement par les travaux 

 philosophiques de M. Cuvier, trav- 

 aux qui ont reagi sur quelques 

 parties de la Botanique elle-meme, 

 et dont je m'honore d'avoir profite" ; 

 de 1'autre, les importans travaux de 

 M. Haiiy sur les lois de la crystallisa- 

 tion, et notamment sur les de"crois- 

 semens des rangees de molecules des 

 cristaux, lois par lesquelles j'ai e"te" 



conduit a quelques-unes 'des idees 

 que j'exposerai dans le livre sui- 

 vant." Cf. also ' Organographie 

 vege"tale,' Paris, 1827, vol. ii. p. 

 237. 



2 ' Theorie Clemen taire,' p. 89 ; 

 also, p. 216. 



3 This principle is stated very 

 clearly by Cuvier in many places 

 e.g., in the celebrated " Discours " 

 prefaced to the 'Recherches sur 

 les Ossemens Fossiles' (3rd ed., 

 4to, 1825, vol. i. p. 47): "Tout 

 etre organise" forme un ensemble, 

 un systeme unique et clos, dont les 

 parties se correspondent mutuelle- 

 ment, et concourent a la meme 

 action definitive par une reaction 



