SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



and the conditions and laws of its existence. In 

 his " Biology, or Philosophy of Living Nature," 

 published in 1802, he defined life as the " uni- 

 formity of reactions on unlike stimuli of the outer 

 world." He thereby established a principle in 

 natural science, which has been all too frequently 

 overlooked by scientists and philosophers, namely 

 the interrelation of the individual and its en- 

 vironment. But a few remembered it and used it 

 with the most revolutionary effect. The living 

 animal and plant now became the objects of study 

 as well as the dead, and the most intimate proc- 

 esses of nature were stripped one by one of their 

 mysterious character. 



It is interesting to note, though quite natural 

 from pur point of view, that, the ideas of the 

 ancient natural philosophers re-appeared simul- 

 taneously with the new accomplishments of sci- 

 ence. Irrespective of confessional differences, 

 scientists of various nations returned to materi- 

 alist and monist methods. And evolutionary 

 ideas unavoidably accompanied this tendency, for 

 as we have seen, the ancient natural philosophers 

 were all more or less imbued with evolutionary 

 (dialectic) ideas. 



When Goethe published his " Metamorphosis 

 of Plants," in 1790, he intimated that a mysterious 



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