THE OFFSPRING OF SCIENCE 



iology, psychology, physics and chemistry, the 

 combination of the dialectic method with science 

 and natural philosophy led to a universal cor- 

 roboration of the general conclusions established 

 by Marx, Engels, and Dietzgen. In the course 

 of the i Qth century, nearly every science gradually 

 made front against metaphysical dualism and 

 worked its way towards materialist monism. 

 But while the proletarian mind pursued its steady 

 and conscious course along a consistent materialist 

 monist road, the bourgeois mind never succeeded 

 in fully divesting itself of metaphysical relics. 

 Its class-environment proved too great a handicap 

 for a complete emancipation from all vestiges of 

 metaphysics. 



In the beginning of the igth century, the 

 microscope began to exert its influence on phi- 

 losophy by a succession of discoveries, which en- 

 abled scientists to abandon speculation for facts. 

 The beginnings of the cell-theory, established by 

 Grew in his " Anatomy of Plants," and the first 

 description of the cell-nucleus by R. Brown, in 

 the i /th century, now bore unexpected fruits. 

 Schwann and Schleiden showed that all organic 

 structures are built up of cells, and Van Mohl 

 described a certain substance which forms the 

 lining of cells and called it protoplasm. No one 



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