GOETHE. 183 



wholly with Geoffrey St. Hilaire and his conten- 

 tion for Philosophical Anatomy and Philosophical 

 Biology. Showing that to the very last Goethe took 

 the keenest interest in science, and placed the 

 movements of scientific thought above political 

 revolutions, we learn of his following the debates 

 between St. Hilaire and Cuvier ; here is the 

 famous incident of his eighty-first year, told by 

 Soret, and quoted by Haeckel: — 



"Monday, Aug. 2d, 1830. — The news of the outbreak of the 

 revolution of July arrived in ^Veimar to-day, and has caused 

 general excitement. In the course of the afternoon I went to 

 Goethe. ' Well,' he exclaimed as I entered, ' what do you think 

 of this great event? The volcano has burst forth, all is in flames, 

 and there are no more negotiations behind closed doors.' ' A 

 dreadful affair,' I answered ; ' but what else could be expected 

 under the circumstances, and with such a ministry,- except that it 

 would end in the expulsion of the present royal family ? ' ' We 

 do not seem to understand each other, my dear friend,' replied 

 Goethe. ' I am not speaking of those people at all ; I am inter- 

 ested in something very different. I mean the dispute between 

 Cuvier and Geoffroy de Saint Hilaire, which has broken out in the 

 Academy, and which is of such great importance to science.' 

 This remark of Goethe's came upon me so unexpectedly that I 

 did not know what to say, and my thoughts for some minutes 

 seemed to have come to a complete standstill. ' The affair is of 

 the utmost importance,' he continued, ' and you cannot form any 

 idea of what I felt on receiving the news of the meeting on the 

 19th. In Geoffroy de Saint Hilaire we have now a mighty ally 

 for a long time to come. But I see also how great the sympathy 

 of the French scientific world must be in this affair, for, in spite 

 of the terrible political excitement, the meeting on the 19th was 

 attended by a full house. The best of it is, however, that the 



