SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



realized as yet, that the essential basis for a 

 mechanical explanation of life had thus been dis- 

 covered. 



But the microscope gave rise to an entirely 

 new science, histology, the study of the micro- 

 scopical structure of animal and plant tissue. 

 Specialization became more and more an indis- 

 pensable necessity for thorough research, and with 

 the multiplication of special departments the need 

 of correlation by means of philosophical gener- 

 alization grew apace. Specialist science and 

 natural philosophy thus became more and more 

 indispensable to one another. 



From the study of structure to that of function 

 was the next logical step. Thus dialectics in- 

 evitably accompanied the new evolution of things 

 in science. 



As soon as this stage had been inaugurated, 

 the battle against metaphysics and the survivals of 

 Mosaic philosophy in natural science began to 

 rage all along the line. Vitalism was compelled 

 to reorganize its lines, even though no consistent 

 theory of vital evolution had then become known. 

 In 1833, Johannes Miiller attempted to give a 

 physical basis to this metaphysical theory, by 

 comparing the physical processes in animals and 

 man, in his " Handbook of the Physiology of 



130 



