PROFESSOR AT KONIGSBERG 121 



'The view that all phenomena of sensation, from the least 

 of the infusoria to the most stupendous solar system, are 

 transitory, follows of course from a philosophic conception 

 of Time and Space, and of an eternally creating Idea; but 

 I rejoice in this thought, already familiar to me in M tiller's 

 physiology, since even the much-abused natural science is 

 finding its way by physical experiments to the same goal as 

 that which the philosophical development of the idea has 

 reached already; and thus to those for whom the reality of 

 the spiritual has no meaning, the Eternal Idea is revealed in 

 the external creation. It is only when we perceive that nature 

 and history are the expressions of the divine life, objectively 

 immovable, dependent on no subjectivity of the individual or 

 epoch of development, laid down for each in every age as the 

 sacred tables of revelation in imperishable bronze, that we enter 

 upon the sure and never to be abandoned way that leads us 

 to the knowledge of God. 



' The only thing I do not like in your lecture, though I quite 

 appreciate your motive, is the introduction of the Mosaic 

 Creation. That is fundamentally untrue, and a weak concession 

 of science which we should not make to our opponents, who 

 are idly or childishly clinging to the letter of their beliefs. 

 I found fault with Fichte for this when he sent me his last 

 great philosophical work ; he admitted my point, and promised 

 not to do it again. No enemy is converted by it, while the 

 weaker minds are confused, either as to the meaning of the 

 Bible, or of the conclusions reached by Science/ 



Even du Bois-Reymond, whose style is incomparable, writes 

 to him about this lecture: 'I find it unique, especially at the 

 beginning and close, and wonder at the way your style has 

 developed. It has been welcomed in all quarters/ It did 

 indeed fulfil all the conditions Helmholtz elsewhere laid down 

 as essential to a popular treatment of science. 



Nor did Helmholtz content himself with giving a masterly 

 exposition of the Law of the Conservation of Energy, in a style 

 that made it intelligible to all, along with the historical develop- 

 ment of the mechanical principles involved in it, and a generous 

 recognition of the fact that ' the first who conceived and stated 

 this universal law of nature correctly was a German physician, 

 J. R. Mayer, of Heilbronn, in 1842*. Taking his stand upon 



