192 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



may be said to date from these and other simultaneous 

 labours of Liebig and Wohler.^ But although the pure 

 sciences, mathematics, physics, and chemistry, advanced 

 on new lines in the hands of German students, and 

 although theoretical investigations have always been 

 favourite pursuits of theirs, as we shall have ample 

 opportunity to note in the course of our further survey, 

 the greatest contribution to the progress of science, and 

 the most brilliant performances of the exact spirit of 

 research which emanated from Germany during the first 

 half of this century, lay in a different direction. And it 

 is hard to believe that the conditions favourable to this 

 peculiar growth could have been found anywhere else 

 than in the German universities. The many elements of 

 thought which meet on that ground, the equal dignity 



^ The joint labours of Liebig 

 (1803-73) and Wohler (1800-82), 

 which have become of such im- 

 portance to science, form one of 

 the most interesting instances of 

 scientific co-operation between two 

 men pursuing different lines of 

 thought and trained in different 

 schools. See the preface to Hof- 

 mann's edition of Liebig and Woh- 

 ler 's Correspondence. In Liebig's 

 autobiographical sketch, quoted 

 above, he thus enlarges on his re- 

 lations to Wohler : "It was my 

 good fortune that, from the be- 

 ginning of my career at Giessen, 

 similar inclinations and endeavours 

 secured me a friend, with whom, 

 after so many,'years, I am still (be- 

 tween 1860 and 1870) connected 

 by ties of the warmest affection. 

 Whereas in me the tendency pre- 

 dominated to look for the likenesses 

 of substances and their combina- 

 tions, he possessed an incomparable 

 talent for seeing their differences ; 



acuteness of observation was joined 

 in him to an artistic aptitude and 

 to a genius for finding new ways 

 and means of analysis such as few 

 men possess. The perfection of 

 our joint researches into uric acid 

 and the oil of bitter almonds has 

 been frequently praised ; this is his 

 work. I cannot sufficiently estimate 

 the advantage which both my own 

 and our joint aims derived from my 

 union with Wohler ; for in them 

 were combined the peculiarities of 

 two schools, and the good which 

 each had, attained its value through 

 co-operation. Without grudge or 

 jealousy we pursued our way hand 

 in hand ; if one required help, the 

 other was ready. An idea can be 

 formed of this mutual relation 

 when I mention that many of the 

 smaller productions which bear our 

 names belong to one alone ; they 

 were charming little presents which 

 one gave the other " (p. 39). 



