44 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



culture, from which he had obtained, through 

 his life-long studies, valuable information, we 

 meet him in the history of the physical 

 aspect of the universe, the knowledge of 

 the gradual development and extension, regard- 

 ing the unity of all forces of nature. This is at 

 the same time a part of the development 

 of the human mind in general ; for the endea- 

 vour of humanity to become acquainted with 

 earth and heaven, to comprehend the united 

 activity and actual co-operation, of the great 

 forces of nature, in both spheres, is, in its origin, 

 perceptible in the most primitive endeavours of 

 peoples. Beautiful are the words of Gothe : 



" Wie Alles sich zum Ganzen webt, 

 Eins in dem. Andern wirkt und lebt, 

 Wie Himmels-Krafte auf- und iiiedersteigen, 

 Und sich die goldiien Eimer reicheii ! " 



The consideration of the phenomena of 

 nature, and the laws of evolution, have been 

 recognized, by the more educated portion of the 

 human race, in the earliest periods of human his- 

 tory ; and the gradually extended and developed 

 insight in nature, and the continuity of all 

 forces in the universe, advanced always side by 

 side with the history of the moral culture 

 of human kind. It commenced like all other 



