302 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE ASTRONOMICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 



i. So far I have only treated of the scientific spirit, or of 



The scien- . . 



tiflc spirit the method of exact research, in a general way ; showing 



in the first J ' 



half ofThe 1 ^ 1OW ^ was fi rm ty established and developed in France, 

 ;ury- how it spread into Germany, and received there larger 

 and more systematic application, and how in this country 

 it gradually and almost imperceptibly grew out of the 

 older experimental philosophy. This growth, as we have 

 seen, took place partly under the influence of foreign 

 science, but still more through the individual and un- 

 aided labours of a small number of native intellects of 

 the very highest order, to each of whom was for a time 

 allotted the enunciation of some specially fruitful idea. 

 The period referred to in this survey was mainly the first 

 half of our century ; in it were most clearly marked the 

 characteristic differences between the three great civilisa- 

 tions of France, Germany, and England. A step further 

 in time would lead into the midst of our own period 

 into the age which has largely reaped the benefits of those 

 earlier labours, both in theory and in practice, fully realis- 

 ing in many directions the predictions and even the ideals 



