434 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



Secondly, this process of analysing, so prominent in 

 the mechanical and chemical sciences, was in the be- 

 ginning supposed to have some finality. In the sequel, 

 however, it was found to lead further and further away 

 from the starting-point, to be in fact interminable. 

 Molecules were analysed into atoms, and these again 

 enormously subdivided into electrons or particles. The 

 cell, the unit of organic structure, was found to be 

 a very complicated system, and even the nucleus or 

 kernel with its nucleolus in the cell presented itself 

 as a microcosm, an assemblage of an enormous number 

 of units, which, being far beyond the powers of the 

 microscope, are indeed most hypothetical and have 

 received fanciful names, of which a whole catalogue 

 might easily be written down. 



For these two reasons the atomising process of 

 scientific thought proved ultimately to be quite as end- 

 less in its application as it was hopeless in its capability 

 of ever grasping the reality of things. Promising on 

 the one side unlimited discovery of new facts and many 

 practical results, it discouraged on the other side all 

 hope that by and through it any comprehensive view 

 could ever be attained. Thus it has come about that a 

 contrary tendency of thought has made itself increas- 

 ingly felt, the tendency to look at things in their 

 together, not in their isolation : in their complexity and 

 not in their simplicity. This was recognised, first of all, 

 in the biological sciences. 1 It was seen that things 



1 There are, however, notable 

 instances in which the same tend- 

 ency showed itself also in the 

 purely physical and mathematical 



sciences. Among these, two may 

 be mentioned. How little the new 

 methods fell in with the prevalent 

 trend of ideas in their respective 



