36 PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN THE CENTURY. 



expressions of the developing human spirit. Irri- 

 tated by the way in which others misunderstand him, 

 he often misunderstands them. Thus as an expres- 

 sion of the recoil of the scientific mood from meta- 

 physical speculation — a recoil which seems to us 

 largely due to misunderstanding of aims — we may 

 quote what Liebig said of Schelling : ^^ I myself 

 spent a portion of my student days at a university 

 where the greatest philosopher and metaphysician of 

 the century charmed the thoughtful youth around 

 him into admiration and imitation; who could at 

 that time resist the contagion ? I too have lived 

 through this period — a period so rich in words and 

 ideas and so poor in true knowledge and genuine 

 studies; it cost me two .precious years of my 

 life.'' * 



The above citation expresses the opinion of many 

 scientific workers, and yet is it not, to say the least, 

 arrogant, to attempt to ignore the attempts which 

 have been made throughout all the ages to re-express 

 the order of nature in transcendental or metaphysical 

 terms. " The search after ultimate causes," says 

 Dr. Merz, " may perhaps be given up as hopeless ; 

 that after the meaning and significance of the things 

 of life will never be abandoned : it is the philosophi- 

 cal or religious problem." 



We cannot readily understand a phenomenon 

 which seems to occur — that of an active and well- 

 disciplined brain in which there are, so to speak, 

 idea-tight compartments, the contents of which are 

 prevented from mutual influence. The mental like 

 the bodily life should be a unified system of correla- 



* Ueher das Studium der Naturwissenschaften. On the 

 Study of the Natural Sciences, 1840, cited by E. von Meyer, 

 History of Chemistry, 1891. 



