NATURAL SCIENCE TO GENERAL SCIENCE. 7 



the natural philosophers, and especially against Sir Isaac Newton, 

 as the first and greatest representative of physical investigation. 

 The philosophers accused the scientific men of narrowness; the 

 scientific men retorted that the philosophers were crazy. And 

 so it came about that men of science began to lay some stress on 

 the banishment of all philosophic influences from their work ; 

 while some of them, including men of the greatest acuteness, 

 went so far as to condemn philosophy altogether, not merely as 

 useless, but as mischievous dreaming. Thus, it must be con- 

 fessed, not only were the illegitimate pretensions of the Hegelian 

 system to subordinate to itself all other studies rejected, but no- 

 regard was paid to the rightful claims of philosophy, that is, 

 the criticism of the sources of cognition, and the definition of 

 the functions of the intellect. 



In the moral sciences the course of things was different, 

 though it ultimately led to almost the same result. In all 

 branches of those studies, in theology, politics, jurisprudence, 

 aesthetics, philology, there started up enthusiastic Hegelians, 

 who tried to reform their several departments in accordance 

 with the doctrines of their master, and, by the royal road of 

 speculation, to reach at once the promised land and gather in 

 the harvest, which had hitherto only been approached by long 

 and laborious study. And so, for some time, a hard and fast 

 line was drawn between the moral and the physical sciences ; 

 in fact, the very name of science was often denied to the 

 latter. 



The feud did not long subsist in its original intensity. The 

 physical sciences proved conspicuously, by a brilliant series of 

 discoveries and practical applications, that they contained a 

 healthy germ of extraordinary fertility ; it was impossible any 

 longer to withhold from them recognition and respect. And 

 even in other departments of science, conscientious investigators- 

 of facts soon protested against the over-bold flights of specu- 

 lation. Still, it cannot be overlooked that the philosophy of 

 Hegel and Schelling did exercise a beneficial influence ; since their 

 time the attention of investigators in the moral sciences had 

 been constantly and more keenly directed to the scope of those 



