SCIENCE IN GERMANY 



was still the handmaid of anatomy, and she was domin- 

 ated by the metaphysical idea of a vital force. This 

 idea hindered investigators from examining many 

 physiological phenomena which are under the same 

 forces as those at work in the inorganic world, and the 

 notion that vital actions were dependent on molecular 

 and chemical changes in living tissues, had not yet 

 been entertained. 



In France, however, science was not in this dormant 

 state. The intellectual unrest, which culminated in 

 the Revolution, led to almost universal scepticism, a 

 state of mind which found expression in the writings 

 of the Encyclopaedists. For a time men lost faith in 

 the methods and conclusions of philosophical and 

 ethical systems, and thought was determined towards 

 physical and chemical science. Then arose Coulomb, 

 Lavoisier, Laplace, Cuvier, and many others, and 

 France became the leader in scientific investigation, 

 more especially in physics and chemistry. This state 

 of things was not without its influence on Germany. 

 Many young scientific men from Germany, such as 

 Alexander von Humboldt, Mitscherlich, and Liebig 

 received their training in Paris, and imbibed the 

 scientific spirit of the French savants. Such men 

 returned to their own country, and soon occupied 

 positions of influence in the universities. In these 

 days, as now, Paris was to a large extent France, and 

 this produced a concentration of scientific effort which 

 did not take place till a later period in Germany, owing 



