218 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



17. 

 Vitalistic 

 and psycho- 

 physical 

 aspects. 



physical views of nature. Thus four distinct chapters, 

 dealing severally with the morphological, the genetic, 

 the vitalistic, and the psycho-physical aspects of nature, 

 will together attempt to describe the manifold and 

 changing methods of reasoning by which our century 

 has approached the actual things and events which 

 surround us. 



" Nature does not employ all figures, but only certain 

 ones of those which are possible : and of these, the deter- 

 mination is not to be fetched from the brain, or proved 

 a priori, but obtained by experiments and observations." 

 These words, set down nearly two centuries ago by a 

 now forgotten natural philosopher,-"^ express clearly the 

 object of a study which, towards the end of the eigh- 

 teenth century, had received definite expression in vari- 



or not is not yet decided, makes 

 it necessary to retain in a history 

 of Thought a special term com- 

 prising all speculations which deal 

 with the purely scientific solution 

 of that problem. In fact, the ques- 

 tion what is life is still unanswered. 

 A fortiori, these remarks refer 

 also to the question. What is mind 

 or consciousness ? But the two 

 chapters referring to these problems 

 will limit themselves to an historical 

 exposition of what has been done 

 to solve them by purely scientific, 

 i.e., exact, methods. The full name 

 of the author of the ' Biologie ' 

 was Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus 

 (1776-18.37) of Bremen. Though 

 introducing the larger conception 

 of biology, his own original lab- 

 ours were mainly in the domain 

 of zoology. His brother, Ludolf 

 Christian Treviranus (1779-1864), 

 devoted himself mainly to botanical 



science, and was largely influenced 

 by the doctrines of the " Natur- 

 philosophie. " On the former, see 

 Carus, ' Geschichte der Zoologie ' 

 (Miinchen, 1872), passim: on the 

 latter, Sachs, ' Geschichte der Bo- 

 tanik' (ibid., 1875, p. 291). 



^ They are quoted by Whewell 

 ('Hist. Indue. Sciences,' 3rd ed. , 

 vol. iii. p. 165), from a work en- 

 titled ' Dissertatio de Salibus ' 

 (1707), by the Italian Professor at 

 Padua, Dominico Gulielmini (1655- 

 1710). He was a practical physician 

 as well as a natural philosopher. He 

 was the forerunner of Rom^ de Lisle 

 and Haiiy, inasmuch as he estab- 

 lished the principle, not then suffi- 

 ciently appreciated, that the con- 

 stancy of the angles is characteristic 

 of all crystals. See Kopp's ' Gesch- 

 ichte der Chemie,' vol. ii. pp. 83- 

 404. 



